Britta's 17th Birthday

 I can't believe my beautiful Britta is 17! Where has the time gone? She loves this lemon cake with lemon filling that I learned how to make from Aunt Karalee many year ago. She requests it every year for her birthday.

 What a pile of presents!

 Britta and her friends like to go to Starbucks and get milk steamers. Britta loves the vanilla bean flavor. Soon they will have the caramel apple cider for the fall, and she loves that too.

 A girl can never have too many clothes!

What's in here? 

 Some fancy lotion from Wade and Kimberlea. Britta will smell good and have soft hands!

Coloring books for grown ups is a new thing. Research says coloring is relaxing and reduces stress. Britta got this coloring book and it looks so much fun, I might have to try a coloring a page! Happy Birthday Britta! We are so blessed to have you in our family! 

Experiencing the New Recreation Center

Britta took Austin and Melissa and kids to the park at at the new Rec Center. It is called the MAC. They have an amazing playground with lots of new equipment that I haven't seen before. We call it the park for big kids because most of the things seem pretty adventurous for little ones. I stayed home with Dagny and made dinner. Austin took these pictures. This is a big teeter totter swing. I think Claire must have been pretty brave to try it out!

Britta and Melissa give it a try.

Cute sisters sharing a swing!

Austin's turn!

This is probably the longest slide I have ever seen! It is a good steep walk to get to the top.

Fun in the Colorado sun!

Lots of ropes to climb on makes you feel like Tarzan!

Sweet Camille loves every minute being at the park.

Claire climbs on everything like a monkey!

Austin and Melissa took the kayaks to Chatfield one day. Originally we were all going to go, but decided at the last minute that this late in the summer the water is probably too cold for swimming and the little girls wouldn't have much fun, so Austin and Melissa decided to make it a date for just them.

They paddled all around the gravel ponds and loved every minute!

Hiking With Austin and Melissa

 I wanted to plan a hike while Austin and Melissa were here and I did some searching on the computer. I found a place called Maxwell Falls up above Evergreen that sounded like a fun place.  It took us longer than I thought it would to get there. We brought a picnic lunch, but there weren't any picnic tables at the trail head, so we just ate in the car.

 Happy Camille thought it was fun to be in the back of the car.

Our lunch was sandwiches, grapes, and Kit Kat candy bars.

 Heading down the trail. We borrowed Landon's baby backpack, but we couldn't figure out how the straps hooked, so part of the time Camille walked and part of the time she got carried.

 Camille loved walking and wanted to explore everything.

 We saw this giant wasp nest! Good thing Ryan was at school and not with us, he would have been terrified. He hates bees!

 My hiking buddies!

 Wade and Kimberlea came too, and they brought Leo. There were lots of rocks to climb on.

The scenery was beautiful!  

Colorado mountains are the best! This was looking down the ravine. 

 A perfect resting rock.

 According to the trail head, the waterfall was supposed to be a mile away. We hiked for quite awhile, this was the only thing we saw that resembled a waterfall. We didn't even see a place that looked like a waterfall was supposed to be there.

 Austin let Camille put her hands in the water--it was very cold!

 Claire wanted to touch the water too.

 Camille was just happy to walk along, holding our hands. I was surprised she didn't get tired, she actually walked quite a bit.

The girls taking a break and doing what kids do best--play in the dirt! We had a fun time, but I was disappointed about a few things.

1. It took longer than I thought to get there.

2. There were no picnic tables at the trail head.

3. The trail was more rugged than I was anticipating, and Mom decided not to go. She stayed in the car and read a book.

4. The biggest disappointment: After all that driving and hiking--no waterfall!

I learned a lesson: Don't take people on an adventure that I haven't done first or checked out a little bit better!  Everyone was a good sport about it, but the hike was just an average one and probably not worth the drive. There are a lot of hikes closer to home that would have been just as fun.

Austin and Melissa's Visit

Austin and Melissa and their girls are here for a visit--Yay! Mom is here too. She has never seen Claire and Camille, and she is so excited to get to spend some time with these great granddaughters. We took these pictures when we got home from church. 

 Camille wasn't sure what to think about Gracie.

Landon, Megan, and Dagny came over for Sunday dinner, so of course I wanted them in some pictures too. 

 Mom was also excited to see Dagny again. She has grown a lot since February. Landon and Megan also made an announcement today: They are going to have another baby in May!! Yay!! So exciting!

 I wanted a picture of my three beautiful granddaughters. Trying to get all of them to look at the camera at the same time was quite a challenge! This was the best we could get.

 Dagny is always happy. She is such a pleasant baby.

Camille loved to pet Gracie and play with her. 

 Great Grandma Collins and Claire shared some popcorn.

 Camille is always happy.

 Great Grandma loves to rock the babies.

 Great Grandma had a lot of fun with the girls: playing, reading to them, and getting to know them. It didn't take them long to love her! They weren't shy at all, and that made Grandma so happy.

  A little bit of heaven! Being a Grandma is so much fun--I sure love these girls!

 The weather was perfect the whole week and we spent a lot of time outside. We ate dinner on the patio almost every night and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of that.  These little ones love books, and Austin was so good to read to them and watched them while Claire jumped on the trampoline.

These two are only five months apart, and they are so cute together. 

 Claire out-jumped all the adults and teenagers. We were all tired long before she was.

 Austin always says, "Grandma has good treats!" Popsicles are a good treat after jumping on the tramp.

 Sweet cousins! Claire wanted to hold Dagny.

We had Swedish pancakes for breakfast one morning. Claire was really excited about the strawberries and Nutella, two of her favorite foods! 

 We played Tumbling Monkeys and Claire loved it. You try to pull the sticks out without spilling any monkeys.

 I wanted a new picture of Claire to hang in the living room. This is the one I am going to use.

  

This is the picture of Camille I am going to hang up. She is such a happy girl.

 Cute sisters loved these chairs and playing outside.

 Me and my girls!

 Claire gathered the eggs a couple of times while they were here.

 Claire pushed Camille around the circle several times. She is such a good big sister.

 We looked at some baby pictures of Britta, and Camille looks a lot like Britta. They both have round Palmer  faces. It has been a super fun week! So glad Austin and family were able to visit!