Our Last Summer Hurrah!

We had just a couple last things to do this summer before school started. The first thing was to take a quick trip to Seattle. Marilyn, Lexa, Clara and I left on a Friday morning. We had grand plans to see Ikea and the zoo but had a little hiccup on the way and left a little bit later than we planned, so we decided just to do Ikea since I have never been there before. Werent sure how the girls were going to handle the store. Surprisingly enough, Clara was in love with the store. She opened every door and drawer, turned every knob and handle, and sat in every chair and on every couch. She was in heaven! Lexa was pouty and we wouldnt buy her everything she saw. Oh well. They did like the kids play area too. Then we had frozen yogurt before we left. We just handed the kids the ice cream cones and Lexa could tell it wasnt normal ice cream. I was impressed. She has a very good sense of taste. Maybe she will use that in a career someday.
We stayed in Lynnwood that night and headed to the American Girl Doll store in the morning. It just opened there this summer. Lexa forgot her doll, Julie, at home. It was the hiccup I meantioned earlier on the way to Seattle. Grandpa said instead of trying to bring the doll to her we should just buy a new one! Ha! He didnt really know how much they cost. (On Saturday morning Grandpa, Nolan and Brennan went hiking around Mt Rainier and then to a Seahawks game. They came home Sunday morning.) We finally got Lexa settled down and promised to come back after her birthday to get Julie's ears pierced. Lexa loved the store. She couldnt stay in one place for very long. Clara was just about done after 10 or so minutes because she couldnt play with all the dolls! After a fun time there we had cupcakes at a place called PinkaBella. I have never been to a real fancy cupcake shop before. It was kind of fun!
The next week was grandma camp. She took the girls shopping, did some fun crafts, including making their grandma camp t-shirt. She helped them make some beaded curtains for the doors to their rooms. They went and saw Mr Poppers Penguins. They had a lot of fun and I got a lot of stuff done! I am now an official Washington state resident (got my drivers license).
After that week, both girls had dance camps. Lexa had Musical Theater Camp and Clara had Cinderella camp. It was the first dance class for Clara and she was so cute!! She loved it. She would watch the really big girls afterwards and copy them. It was so fun to watch. Lexa was in love with her class because she felt she finally got to use her sassy attitude.
We also got to go to the County Fair. It is such a big deal here! Nolan got off work early on a Thursday and came with us. We let the girls ride the rides. Nolan went on the ferris wheel with them.  We met up with cousins, the Bambocks, for the rodeo. It was Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, honoring breast cancer awareness. Lexa loves the rodeo. It was fun to be there with Janet who knows a lot about the rodeo so we could ask her questions we had. We ended up leaving about halfway through to take Clara to home and Lexa stayed. Grandma and Grandpa were there watching the Kenny Rodgers concert, so they drove her home.
Today was the first day of school! Lexa is going into second grade and has Mrs Hogg as her teacher. She is so excited! Clara will start preschool next week and go Tues and Thurs from 9-11. I start school again at CBC on Sept 19th.
We had a very fun and exhausting summer. Here's to a great school year!