Weekend of Firsts

Happy FIRST Father's Day Daddy!

We spent Father's Day weekend at the river. Claire made an album of her favorite pictures with Daddy and wrote a little poem to him. (I helped.)

Claire's FIRST boat ride!

OK, so we didn't even get past our front yard, but it still counts!! I put Claire in her baby life vest and got ready for a little boat ride. As soon as we started the engine, an alarm went off and we started smelling something burning...not a good sign. We had to turn around and go back inside. What is it with boats?!

First time pulling up to a stand!

She started out pretty shaky, but then got the hang of it. The girl's going to be walking before I know it! Here she is hanging out with her Uncle Jake. (She's already got stars in her eyes for him...)

Hanging out with PoPa

Why is this a "first" you ask? Well, PoPa has tried and tried, but this is the first time Claire has let him hold her and play without crying! (It's kind of a thing she has about men!?)

Rivah Rats

The summer has officially begun! OK, so I think summer actually technically begins in late June, BUT in my opinion Memorial Day weekend is when the summer season begins....and for us, that means it's "river season"! Growing up, my family would spend Memorial weekend at the "rivah" boating, fishing, swimming, and tubing. It was always our favorite weekend because the water would be cold enough that the stinging nettles weren't in yet so we could actually get in the water! Now that Rob's Dad has a river house, we have started the same tradition with our family. We headed down Saturday morning and spent the night. Claire did great! We celebrated Bob's birthday with a cookout and enjoyed some time with family and friends.

It was absolutely beautiful weather! While Daddy took his turn riding around in the boat, Claire and I sat outside for a picnic.

More prunes please!

Race for the Cure

This morning, we woke up bright and early to go downtown for the 2008 Race for the Cure. The weather was great and Claire was as happy as could be, despite missing her morning nap.

I remember doing the race last year with Rob while I was pregnant. I remember seeing all the strollers and thinking about how special it would be to do the race with Baby Barnes the next year, in honor of her Grandma Barnes!

Here we are, ready to go! Doesn't Claire look super-excited?! It was barely even sunny, but she just looked so cute in her sunglasses!

Here's a proud Daddy carrying Claire on his shoulders and walking with Uncle Matt. We missed you today Aunt Alison!

So...Race for the Cure 2009...I'm challenging all the Barnes crew to come out and walk with us! I'll even make t-shirts :-)

Little Mermaid

Saturday was a big day for Claire - her first swim in the pool!! We headed over to Grammy and Papa Jim's house to try out their indoor pool before it closes for the summer.

She started to cry at first, but we very slowly got into the pool and let her check things out. I held her pretty tightly at first (not just because she seemed to like it, but because I was NERVOUS!). We never got any kicking or splashing from her, but we stayed in the pool for over an hour so she must have enjoyed it! She had fun with her rubber duckies...she clung to those things the whole time!


Her super cute bathing suit!


Swimming with Grammy


It's hard to see, but that's a duckie in her hand - she would NOT let go of that one!

I love my Aunts!

I love my Aunt Tara and Aunt Alison! (Don't worry Uncles, I love you guys too)

Too Cute

Sweet Dreams

Sleeping so peacefully....
I normally would never take the chance of sneaking in to take a picutre while she's napping (why take that risk?!), but I had to wake her up to go somewhere and when I saw how cute she was, I just had to take a video! She moves all over the crib now, but usually sleeps with her butt sticking up in the air! Is that static you hear?....No, that would be the fan AND vacuum CD! Claire loves her white noise!