Shannon's 5th birthday party a little early. It didn't really seem like we got any good pictures. However, I did finally manage to make her a pretty cake that actually turned out well.

And just so no one thinks that we are just ignoring our old pet...

Look at that face!

Shannon and Calvin really get along well, although Calvin mostly thinks that she is just another puppy.

Shannon and her Meep.

Chloe and Calvin sitting so nicely. One last picture of Chloe.

New Puppies

This chronicles our first week with the new family members. There so cute...!

Shannon the Puppy and all of her friends. Too bad the face painting got done about 2 hours before bedtime. I doubt it will look so good tomorrow!

We went to Valley Fair and only got to be there for about 2 hours before a huge thunderstorm rolled in. Still, we had fun for those 2 hours.

Shannon's preferred tea party outfit today was black shorts, a plain white T-shirt (all at her specific request), and a nice long doubled up "pearl" necklace.

Shannon and her friend Audra decided to play dress up. Shannon was Princess Jasmine, while Audra was Christine.

More car washing fun. I think we get a picture of this every year.

Just in case anyone wondered, Alex does not enjoy wearing Meepie's skirts.

We got to take a ride on a large sailboat, although sadly it was so calm they actually had the little motor on the entire time and I don't think any actual sailing occurred. The skipper did let Shannon steer back into the harbor and he had her doing an obstacle course through all the berths. I am sure the owners of all those boats would have been thrilled to know that a 4 year old was driving this large sailboat right next to their boats.

Just up the river from our campsite was Hidden Falls. The whole park was full of these areas where the river narrowed to around a foot across and went through some very turbulent falls. There weren't many walls or barriers either so we spent most of the trip hanging on very tightly to Shannon's hand (or else sitting her somewhere with strict warnings about NOT MOVING).

One of the rocks on the beach had a hole all the way through it.

We had a great time on the North Shore. We stayed at Temperance River State Park after the RV decided it didn't want to go in reverse anymore and our original campsite didn't have any pull through camp sites. Despite that, we had a great time. These pictures are from Temperance River.

Notice anything different about Shannon today?

Shannon likes to make her own flower bouquets.

Glow in the dark worms!

Hurray for Easter and glow in the dark science experiment kits!

Meepie and Shannon showing off their matching dresses. Nina made them for Shannon - aren't they cute?

It's a Meepie party!

Every day I ask Shannon what she wants to wear and she usually says "dress". Yesterday she said "1979". I couldn't figure out what she wanted so I jokingly asked if she wanted to wear something from 1979. She said yes (which I doubt she meant since I am pretty sure she couldn't say what year this is, much less what the year 1979 means). So lucky for her I happened to have a dress of mine from approximately 1979. Here she is in it. She got a ton of compliments on it, too.

Pogo sticks are fun!

This is Shannon's new favorite outfit (thanks, Taylor). She likes it because I said it looked like she was wearing a school uniform. Now every time she wears it she asks everyone she meets (random strangers included) if she looks like a school girl. Hard to imagine what they are thinking.

Shannon and her buddies Galen and Otis.