Summer Family Fun

At the end of August, Claire and Natalie's Oma and Opa came to visit.  Emile's aunt and uncle from the Netherlands, Anneke and Norbert, came with them.  The first time they got to meet the girls and see where we live.  The girls spent a lot of time playing with everyone.  We also went to the Capital building in downtown Raleigh and took Natalie to Build a Bear for the first time.  She picked out a bunny, which Anneke helped to name "Trudy".



Claire had a few other big moments recently too.  Right before Oma and Opa got here, Claire started pulling up on furniture.  She's all over the place now.  She's even starting to cruise some on furniture although not a lot yet.  Now that she is so mobile, she is determined to get to what she wants even if she has to climb over us and toys to get to what she wants.  And anything Natalie is playing with is what Claire wants to be playing with to.  I hear a lot of "No Baby Care, that's my toy" from Natalie right now.  But Natalie is doing a great job of sharing with Claire.

Claire also started eating table food while Oma and Opa were in town.  She's now eating a lot of dishes that Emile makes.  Her table foods were peas and bananas, and her first meal was curry chicken.  She loves the spices in Emile's cooking.  She likes to store food though in her chunky cheeks :). 

We finally took the girls to Falls Lake to play at the beach and go swimming.  It was the first time Claire was in the Lake.  Both girls had a blast.  Natalie loved jumping and splashing in the water. It's too bad we didn't get there until the end of the summer but it has been so hot, that even sitting at the beach would have been too hot!