Happy Birthday, Aunt Jennifer!

We celebrated Jennifer's birthday yesterday. According to Katie, Jennifer was turning 4 years old. She's accomplished a lot in her four years!

As we typically do, we went to one of our favorite places for a picnic - Lost Lake. The day was beautiful, and we enjoyed everything. After we ate lunch, Jennifer and I took Katie on a hike around the lake. Our dad thought the walk was probably too long for Katie, but we thought he was wrong.

Katie did just fine on our walk until she tripped on a rock, and then she wanted to turn around and go back to the picnic table. We got her past her fall, and she walked more, but about halfway around the lake, she was tired. Jennifer realized that it didn't help that we were walking during her usual nap time.

By the end, Katie was really tired, and we admitted to each other that our dad was right again. Here was what Katie was saying, "I'm hot! My shoes are hot, and my shoes are tired!" It ended up being a longer walk than usual, but it could have been a lot worse. Katie got rehydrated, went to the car, and promptly fell asleep when we started back home.

Once we got home, Katie helped Jennifer open her presents. Part way through the unwrapping, Katie said, "I'll help you. I'll unwrap the present and hand it to you. Okay?"

Like usual, we let Katie choose some presents for Jennifer at the dollar store. She really took her time to choose her presents carefully: a 4 leaf clover plant, lipstick, nail polish, a bunch of pink silk flowers, and some glittery nail files. We laughed a lot over the presents since Jennifer doesn't like to pretend to be a princess nearly as much as Katie does. Jennifer, as always, was a very good sport about it.

I was ready early for our picnic!

Grandpa was happy to get to Lost Lake!

Grandma was in charge of the water, and I was sure happy that she brought extra water. I didn't know I would need it later!

I got to sit next to the birthday girl!

 I tried to share my time with everyone though.

The food was delicious!

This was our view from our picnic table. It's always pretty there!

 Aunt Jennifer and I stopped for a picture on our walk. If there wasn't so much wildfire smoke in the background, you'd be able to see a really big mountain behind us!

We saw some pretty streams on our walk.

My favorite part of the walk was when we'd get to walk on a wooden walkway.

We saw lots of new plants that we don't have at our house.

Aunt Jennifer taught me that I can't pick everything that looks like a delicious berry.

When we were about halfway around the lake, we stopped for a bit so I could throw rocks in the lake.

I love to throw rocks and wait for the splash!

My mom and Aunt Jennifer let me choose a rock from the lake to take home for my collection.

The flowers were pretty.

When we finally got back, I was so tired that Aunt Jennifer had to hold my water bottle while I drank.

I wanted to read The Little Mermaid to Aunt Jennifer while she opened her gifts, but I was distracted when Chloe stole one of the presents.

Bingle was trying to eat the wrapping paper while Chloe ate the present. The animals were out of control!

Aunt Jennifer's friend, Michele, brought me a present with the rest of the presents. Thank you for the book, Michele! I love it!

I liked to help by unwrapping presents for Aunt Jennifer.
Happy Birthday!