The End of May

What an exciting week we've had!
We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather for Memorial Day!
There are a lot pictures here so I put in some collages to make things a bit more simple.
(In case you're wondering, I used fotor.com--completely free and easy)

Trains
Peter had the day off and we took the opportunity to go and see trains! (What else, seriously?)
We drove up to Heber to look try to catch a glimpse of Thomas the Train at the Heber Valley Railroad. We ended up paying to enter the impromptu fair to play with the toys and enjoy more of the train atmosphere.

Claire got a balloon shaped like a flower and she LOVED playing with the trains.

She has also added the words "Tahta" (Thomas) and "choo choo" (train) to her vocabulary. Cute.

We then went to dinner at Dairy Keen where everything screams trains! They have a Thomas model train running around the ceiling of the restaurant and a Harry Potter themed train scene inside of a huge fish tank. Their menu is train themed and so are the workers' outfits. They also have "best-in-state milkshakes." Yum. We tried the nutella and "thinnest mint" (like Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints).

Cousins
On Friday Claire's cousins came over to Grandma's house while their parents went to a wedding.

It kinda felt like the house exploded. Those of you with multiple children, I hope you have dedicated play rooms!

This little ham was super shy at first. Then she decided that I was "mom" and didn't like Claire getting my attention. She was a little aggressive, but in a normal 2 year old kinda way.

I convinced them to play together. Claire was nervous at first--she had been pushed down one too many times :-) And as long as Claire didn't touch the blocks Erica wanted, everything was perfect.

They soon became friends and began a game of "do as I'm doing" which lasted through the weekend.

That evening I took their family pictures. I think we got some really cute shots.

Breakfast
Saturday morning we all headed down to the church where our ward held their annual June breakfast. This was the first time Claire had gotten her face painted. Claire also had a blast running around after all of the kids and weaving her way back to her parents through the crowd.

Her model pose and clips of her running away.Great game!

She also got to play with knobs and stand inside of a firetruck.

A progression of Claire's smile:

Birthday
That evening we had a surprise birthday party for Constance! Phillipa planned the whole thing so that Lydia and her family could participate before they traveled home again.
Dinner Guests:

Franccesco made dinner: gnocci.
And he brought gellato :-)

I made cake.

Claire did better with Erica this time. They had a blast burning off the sugar by jumping and running around in circles.

Claire also kept holding her hands up with her palms together (like in the bottom right picture here) and saying "cheese!" as she ran around the kitchen, living room, and dining room.
Oh to be almost two!