Manzanita!

Oh how we LOVE Manzanita! 

What a great trip our little family had down to the beach house this past June.  We we not able to use all the days that we had reserved so we had Grandma & Grandpa Stevens enjoy it for a few days and then had a morning of fun on the beach with them before they headed home. 

Since Janie had just started to crawl during out last trip down, we were so excited to see how she received the beach, sand, water and sea life.  As expected, Clara LOVED being in the water and making things in the sand!  Both girls were getting over spring colds while we were there and the runny nose seemed to hamper a bit of Janie's fun at times.  She often melted down once she got wet and sand stuck to her hands, but all in all it was a blast to have some sunny days on the beach together. 

Our handsome Daddy! 

Janie bug with her binkie!  We have not even tried to get her to give it up yet, but hopefully soon!

This trip we did a lot of relaxing back at the house insted of trying to cram in day trips every day to neighboring towns.  We never went further South than Manzanita and it one of the few times we have passed up on The Blue Herron & Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Instead we played puzzles, took walks, watched a few classic movies and just really enjoyed one another.

One tradition we did not pass up on was getting ice cream! 

It was fun to see our sweeties explore the new enviornment. Clara's immagination was in fine form and Janie got some fun thrills experiencing things for the first time. 

We spent one morning over on the bay while the tide was out and couldn't help but remember our trip down with the family just two years before. 

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We are so thankful for our wonderful memories of that trip with Grandpa! 

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Absolutely beautiful!

Manzanita is a very special place for our family and look forward to many more fun trips in the years ahead!

Farm Party

Clara & Janie have some pals across the street, Kellen & Taylor, who celebrated their 4th birthday in style with an amazing farm party at a great local venue, Fox Hollow Farms.  Their mama is an amazing event planner and despite the rainy day in late June, the party did not disappoint!

The farm girls in Janie & Clara came out after the rain let up and they had a wonderful time checking out the animals and exploring this amazing venue.  Clara & I had been there when I was pregnant with Janie, but they had added so much, it was a fun afternoon for all three of us. 

Check out how adorable all these farm treats look! 

Janie thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake!

Another little girl...Evie!

Something very exciting happened recently in the Michael household...

We got our sweet, new bunny, Evie!

Evie is a black Himalayan doe that we purchased when she was 12 weeks old from a 4-H breeder in Central Washington.  She is very pretty and possesses the wonderfully docile demeanor Himalayans are known for.  She came with the name "Eva" and in the process of trying to come up with a fitting & fun name for her "Evie" seemed to stick.  Clara did suggest we call her Daffodil (okay, except for we didn't love "Daffy"), in addition to just about every Disney princess name, but the rest of us vetoed those options. 

It is hard to believe that it has been over 2 years since we lost our Vertigo.  In many ways, Evie has much of that same spunk as Verti did at this age.  She was timid at first, but has figured out how to fly up the stairs, climb behind furniture and jump up on the bed.  And I am sure it is only a matter of time before she gets caught chewing on something she shouldn't! 

For me, having a bunny somehow makes me feel a little more... complete?!  Strange as it sounds, being a rabbit person fits into how I defined myself for so long.  Walking into the WA State Rabbit Convention showroom after 15 years away from the hobby on the day we picked up Evie, flooded me with emotions I was surprised by.  I quickly identified familiar faces, delighted in the animals and felt at home.  Right now it really isn't feasible for me/us to take up the hobby again.  We just don't have any space for any more than our one house bunny, let alone the time commitment, but who knows what the road ahead holds.

On of my primary excuses for needing to get Evie is that Clara is a little timid around animals.  She is very jumpy still with Evie, even though she was fearless back with Vertigo.  Janie is in that fearless stage now and we are teaching her to be gentle and calm around the bunny. 

Luckily both girls instantly loved Evie and have adapted well to having a pet again.  Evie, being raised by a 4-Her is used to being handled by children and seems to like them a lot, too.  I smile inside looking at these photos of all of them together!

Not so sure about DANCE

~ Ballet ~

Clara had been asking to take a dance class for a while, would dance around the house in princess gear, and loved hearing about her big cousins who dance.  After unintentionally (maybe subconsciously) putting it off, I ended up enrolling her this spring at the Little Gym after winning some vouchers and decided to try the program.  Let's just say the program may not have been the best fit for our sweet lil' "dancer".  There were a lot of kids, mostly younger than Clara, and it combined dance, tap with a session of gymnastics which she was less than enthusiastic about.  The instructors were very relaxed and set really low expectations for participation.  Clara figured this out quickly and spent sessions doing her own thing in the mirror and avoiding activities that presented any challenge, behaviour completely opposite from her preschool classroom where she was encouraged to try everything.  She had a good friend in the class and of course liked getting all dolled up for class, so we continued through the rest of the session.

At the end of the season "recital" we got a good chuckle out of Clara, who stool there through most of the dances.  The pictures above show some of her sweet little moves.  When she attempted them, they were great and we felt proud!

~ Tap ~

The gymnastics portion...

This may have been the first time she did the high balance beam all year.  Istead she preferred climbing on the shorter one!

Clara received her metal and posed for a photo with both all the kids (both classes).

Janie at 21 months...{just photos}