KaRynn is here!

My cousin KaRynn arrived today and we are so excited. She is staying with us for the summer and we are thrilled. The girls have already claimed her as their own. And I even got to run off to catch the tail end of the Tour de Romandie, which came right through our town. We leave for Provence soon and we're looking forward to a fun vacation!

Happy Birthday Anna Claire!

We celebrated Anna Claire's 3rd birthday today. Her favorite friend Nicole is turning three also, so we decided to do a joint birthday party celebration. We did a flower and butterfly themed party with little flower pinwheels everywhere. I had a great time making a butterfly cake and little cupcakes with flowers and butterflies on them. They were a hit -- our non-American friends couldn't get over how deliciously sweet American cake is. We decided to take the risk and do the party outside in our apartment complex's beautiful garden. The weather cooperated marvelously -- all sunshine!
Anna Claire wanted a chocolate butterfly cake, just like the one in a little cake book that we have. I thought I made the cake even more yummy looking than the one in the cake book. (Except I forgot to cut little triangles in the side wings until it was too late. Frosting a chocolate cake with pink frosting is not easy.) I even made the butterfly pink -- Anna's favorite color. However, the first thing Anna Claire said was, "Mommy, it's not purple, like the picture.) I think she adjusted quickly and was only too happy to eat it!

A bird's eye view of the celebration. Anna Claire had the time of her life running around with all of her friends. We even had a piñata, which is quite the novelty over here.

Dance with me!

Here are some pics from Anna and Mariah's favorite pasttime -- dancing!

Anna does all kinds of traditional ballet pirouettes and twirls, while Mariah prefers the more modern interpretive dancing. Both girls seem to believe that they must put on dancing skirts when they hear fun music.

It's Springtime!

Since Easter, the weather has cleared up, allowing us to do more fun things outside. The great thing about where we live is there are loads of things to do near the lake. We took a great trip across Lake Geneva to Evian, France. There we could drink Evian water right from the source -- free! Here we are, in front of our ferry.
Hanging out on the boat.

The view from Evian. If you look carefully, you can see Morges in the background -- straight across the lake.

Anna Claire and her golden hair. Btw, she will NOT let her Mommy put anything in her hair.

Playing in the park by our house.

Hanging out with Daddy on the waterfront. Now, don't they look alike???
It's time to practice our biking again! Actually, the girls have a little race course that goes round and round and round the apartment.