On Wednesdays we are now attending classes at a gym for kiddos in Redmond called Great Play. We did a trial class through the Issaquah Mom's group and Clara really enjoys the activities, singing and interacting with other kids.
She LOVES to swing and since there are only 2 swings and 10 kiddos, we are getting a good lesson in patience!
Parachute activities!
Her current favorite is the trampoline. She has improved so much with jumping in the past few weeks! 
This year we decided to try out a different pumpkin patch since we are lucky to be close to so many great ones. Daddy selected Fall City Farms and it was a big hit for us. We got a lot of pumpkins when Mommy & Clara went in Chehalis earlier in the month, so this trip we were just looking for fun activities. We lucked out and had a dry morning - the rain started right as we were walking to the car and really hasn't let up much so we timed it perfectly. There were lots of neat pumpkins and displays of produce, fresh cider and donuts, animals, a bluegrass band, a hay maze and hayrides. Clara had so much fun, especially dancing to the music! 
The Pumpkin House
Watching Chickens
Pretty Pumpkins
Talking about pumpkins with Daddy
Clara & Mommy
We put her in the hay maze and she took off. It was fun for her to follow the older kids around.
On the hay ride. It was fun that the doggie rode right along with us!
Walking with Daddy!
Over the weekend we headed to Quincy to get some apples and spend a little time in the orchard with Kevin's parents for Michael Orchards' last harvest. This orchard was planted by Clara's great-grandfather, Zane, who has farmed the land since Kevin's mother, Carol was a child. When Kevin was 2 years old his parents moved to Quincy and took over the orchard. Last year, they sold the lower unit of the farm and this year the upper unit was sold making this Murray and Carol's last year farming. Kevin grew up helping his parents in their work and therefore the orchard has a special place in his heart. For me it is easy to understand why. It is such beautiful land, produces such delicious fruit and his experiences there have shaped such a large part of the person he is - hardworking, trusting and humble. While we are extremely happy for Carol and Murray to move on from all of the hard work and risk their line of work entails, we are also sad to say goodbye to Michael Orchards. We are glad that Clara has been able to experience some of farm and boy does she love it!!!
Beautiful and Delicious Fruit
Clara enjoys a Granny Smith apple that she got to pick.
Clara and Grandpa go for a ride on the mule. While Clara always talks about Papa Murray (even pretends to talk to him on her phone) she often gets pretty shy every time we see him. By the end of this trip she had really warmed up to him making this ride even more special.
It doesn't get much prettier than this!
Red Delicious that ARE indeed DELICIOUS!! They are SO much better than anything you can get in the store.
Scout and Kevin enjoying the last day of the last harvest for Michael Orchard. 
Gleaning is a family affair 
Clara is thrilled to have her very own apple.
Full bins lined up and ready to be sent to the packing house.
One of Scout's new cute behaviors is hiding. She likes to squeeze in small spaces and try and hide from us. It's like she is initiating Hide-and-Seek play without having ever being introduced to the game, although in this version Clara is always the hider and the game end with LOTS of giggles. Above she is hiding behind Daddy's rack of pants in the closet and below wedged in by our dresser. It is also funny how a lot of the hiding takes place in OUR room! 
We FINALLY did it...at 20 months old, we cut Clara's hair! Or should I say "trimmed". Clara's fine hair has been a little unruly for a while now and yet Mommy couldn't make any decisions about cutting it. It feels like we have waited SO long for her to grow this much hair, which is a lot less than many of her same-age girl pals. What we did know was that we wanted her first hair cut to be from Grandma Jan. When we were down there recently, we gave Clara a lollipop and she was content and relaxed while Grandma trimmed up her hair. She didn't take much off, but it does look better.
"Lollipop" just may have overtaken "Cupcake" as her favorite thing! 
Thanks, Grandma Jan!
Poor Daddy has been very busy with work this past week. We are so thankful that he works so hard so that Mommy can stay home with Clara Natalie and we try to be understanding when he has to put in the extra hours. If we can swing it, we like to optimize on Daddy's busy-ness and take a trip to Chehalis to visit Mommy's side of the family. Last Sunday Clara and Mommy took one of these trips. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt, Auntie Danielle and Cousin Taylor joined us on trips to a couple of fun pumpkin/Halloween places near Chehalis. The girls picked out pumpkins and had fun on the beautiful fall afternoon. 
Silly kiddos at The Story Book Farm
Riding along in the wagon at the Pumpkin Patch
Posing with the Zombie. Scout is not even phased by the spooky stuff this year. There were scary statues all over this place and yet she was most frightened of the bounce house - it is all the inflatable stuff that freaks her out! 
Scout posing with Mommy and our pumpkins
This past weekend we celebrated Mommy's 30th Birthday with our wonderful friends and family with a crazy 80's party. The next day a group of us attended the Salmon Days festivities downtown Issaquah. We have been attending the festival for the past 5 years and enjoy it in a whole new way now that Clara can have so much fun, too. This year we had beautiful weather which was glorious, but it also meant Salmon Days was SO much busier. Everything had a long line and it was especially hard to get around with strollers. 
Mommy was so excited for Clara to have her first pony ride. We beelined for the kid area and got in the lengthy line for the horses. Unfortunately some other children were enjoying these silly balloons (the same type that upset her so much at the Neighborhood Music in the Park event) that take off like helicopters in the vicinity. Clara immediately noticed them and got hysterical. She was tired from the night before and was getting close to nap time and this combination made it impossible to convince her that the pony ride would be fun. Instead, Daddy took her for a little walk out of the children's portion of the festival. Cousin Taylor did get to ride the pony and seemed to really enjoy it! 
Later in the day, Daddy & Clara went for a ride on the little train with Uncle Matt and Cousin Taylor.
On the Choo Choo Train
In our opinion, the best treat of Salmon Days is getting to see all of the fish, especially the ones that are jumping. It is so spectacular and really gets Uncles Matt & Ryan and Grandma Mark excited. 
Julie, Dan, Matt, Taylor, Grandma, Grandpa & Ryan. Auntie Pat, Uncle Mike, Papa Bob and GiGi Wanda also joined us, but we make too big of a group to stick together in the large crowd. 
Clara & Taylor liked getting out of their strollers and climbing on the kids play equipment. 
I loved this fun photo of Taylor with Clara in the background. It kind of sums up their sweet little relationship as Clara will follow Taylor around all day and is willing to copy everything she does. 
Clara found this little train car climbing toy and just liked sitting inside of it. She was in there for like 15 minutes before we had to drag an unhappy kiddo out! 
All in all, we had another fun time this year at Salmon Days. It really is such a beautiful time of year and we are all thankful for such a neat community. It makes it better when our family comes from out of town to share in the fun. Hopefully, next year Clara will ride a pony!
