To California and Back!!!

We had quite the kick-off to summer this year with a fantastic trip to California to have a family reunion of sorts with Joel's family out there. We flew into San Francisco and had a great lunch at the Franciscan at Fisherman's Wharf.


Afterwards, we walked down the wharf to see the sea lions. On the way, we had to have a shot of the bay with Alcatraz in the background.

Claire was so excited by the air conditioner in our hotel room. She spent quite a bit of time "drying" her hair.

Of course, she had to use the real hair dryer too.

On Saturday, we were at the open house of our cousin Kelly, who graduated from high school that weekend. There were many other VanElderen relatives there and as I was sitting on the front porch this little girl walked out and I totally did a double take. She looked so much like Claire. Turned out she is the daughter of one of Joel's 2nd cousins (I think). It was crazy how similar they looked. Claire wouldn't cooperate for a good picture but I'm sure you can see what I mean. :)

Keep checking back b/c I have many more California pictures to post! :)

The Step Nap

Soooo....the other day we had a little issue. I got home from an errand and Joel said to check on Claire b/c she got up from her nap but never came upstairs. For those of you who don't know, Claire's room is in our basement. I started to walk downstairs to check on her and I found a sleeping girl ON the steps.

Here is a picture of what happened next, somehow she managed to move herself, without falling, to a more comfortable step position. When she eventually woke up, she acted like this was no big deal at all. :)

Ethan had his first piano recital this spring. Here he is flying through his two pieces. I never knew he could play that fast!!! He really did great, though. Many of his friends take lessons from this same teacher so they had alot of fun at their recital.

This is what it looks like when Claire does her own hair. This is why I insist on doing her hair myself.