Fall fun

Claire has had some fun filled weekends lately.  A few weeks ago, we got to spend some time down the shore for a fall festival.  Claire was loving on her littlest cousin, Bridget.  She kept petting her head and saying "Ahhhhhh." 

And gave her lots of kisses.  It was too cute.

We snuck out for a walk on the beach with big cousins, Luke & Maddie.

And walked back under the boardwalk.  Something tells me this won't be the last time these little troublemakers will be hanging under there.

Unless of course our little troublemakers are too busy with their noses in books prepping for med school.

Or maybe not :)

After having some fun at the beach, we got to spend some time at home celebrating cousin Lilly's first birthday. 

Lilly was the cutest 1 yr old I've ever seen.  She burst into laughter and giggles as soon as everyone started singing to her.  It was hysterical.  Just look at that face.  

Looks like Aunt Laura has a mini-me.....loves her birthday just as much as her Mama does.  Watch out :)

After partying it up with Lilly, we celebrated the fall with another festival.  This time on South Street.  Claire played in some hay with one of her favorite neighbors, Brie.

 She wasn't so sure about it at first... 

 But ended up loving it.  "Cheeeeeeese"

We also made our first trip to Sesame Place!  Mommy wasn't so good about taking pictures there (ie. no pics with characters or even posters of characters...so you'll just have to take my word for it that these were all taken at Sesame).  We got to see a live show.  Here Claire is waiting patiently for it to begin.

She was very suspicious when she saw Telly come out....then Abby, then Zoe, then the Count.  She didn't really know what was going on.

 Then "MELMO" came out (her absolute favorite)!  She was so excited....clapping and bopping to the music.  

After the show, we walked around a bit.  Claire's new thing is walking through people's legs...good thing Daddy's so tall.

We watched the Halloween Spooktakular parade with Grammy and Poppy. 

And even went on some rides.  Claire didn't quite understand why we had to wait in line for the carousel when it was so close.  She tried climbing through the fence to get to it faster.

But finally it was our turn. 

After the carousel, Claire did some more waiting in lines to go for a ride on the teacups.  Grammy and Daddy were such good troopers waiting for at least a half hour with the little munchkin.

 Thankfully Claire made the wait worth while....smiling and having fun.

Besides all of the fun events, Claire has been up to some fun at home too.  She started brushing her teeth like such a big girl.

And even had her very first Mickey D's kid's meal.  She ate every last chicken nugget, french fry, and apple slice.  The kid's size might not be enough for her for very long.  Piggy.

Our good little eater, always makes sure she eats all of her Cheerios too.  "Where is it Mom?  I swear I saw another one."

"Oh my goodness it was on my face the whole time.  So embarrassing."

To continue our fall fun, we're heading to a pumpkin carving party later today with some of Claire's neighborhood buddies.  It'll be the first time Claire (and mommy) have ever carved a pumpkin.  Should be interesting. I'll make sure to take lots of pics.  It's probably pretty likely Claire will be making the same face as that last pic after seeing my artwork.  Stay tuned.

Getting so old

Despite the title of this post and the fact that last weekend was Daddy's birthday (and we wish him the HAPPIEST birthday ever), 

"Getting so old" really refers to our little Claire Bear.  It seems like all of a sudden, she's so grown up and learning things out of nowhere....like that keys unlock all sorts of doorknobs.  We've never once showed her how to do this....especially considering we don't even have a key to this door.  One day, she took our car keys, walked over to the door, and did this...

Our little grown up also carries her own wallet around (containing her YMCA and library card).

She takes US on walks around the neighborhood.

And tells us all about her friends at the park.

That she just loves chasing around (even though they're much older and faster than her).

She still does an ok job keeping up though.

She knocks for neighbors...

And finally poses for pictures...."CHEEEEEESE".  

She's even started to drink out of a big girl cup!  (Which I have a video of her doing but for some reason, it won't upload...I'll keep trying.)

The big girl still knows how to have some fun though.  She makes us laugh by climbing into tiny baskets.

Look at me mom!

Ok, enough laughing.  Get me out of here.

She also loves playgrounds.  Lucky for us, there's an amazing playground a few minutes from home, called Smith's.  They have a huge 3 story indoor playhouse seen here.  You can just imagine the number of toys in this place.

Outside, there are 3 football fields full of outdoor play area.  We didn't get pics of all of it but here are a few.

Claire couldn't decide where to start...and understandably so.

So she had a seat in the train while she thought about it.

For some reason, she loved this thing.  

 Daddy spun her around a little bit.

 She got pretty daring and tried to climb out in the middle of her spins.

 Couldn't get out below so she tried climbing out from above.

After finally figuring out how to jump off, the little cutie pie made her way to the swings.  

To spice things up a bit, she now throws her body backwards when she goes forward....and then forward when she goes backwards....makes Mommy a little nervous she'll flip out....she hasn't yet.  Phew.

Besides going to the playground, the social butterfly LOVES going to the park...especially with Daddy.

She doesn't stop talking/yelling/laughing the whole time.

Can not believe how fast our little girl is growing!  We're loving every second though :)