German Miss

Emma modeled her first dirndl from Great Aunt Phyl. She stands next to the horse that Aunt Phyl sent before Emma was born and is a favorite toy for Claire. The dress fits perfectly! What a moment - I think all us Keely girls remember our first dirndl!

Playin in the rain

Okay, so maybe there are some benefits to this walking thing! Look at all the trouble that we can get into together!

My Cous!

I made a picture frame today with a picture of me and my cousin. Just a little shout out to Oregon!

Emma's First Day at Cannon

Emma had a great first day at school!

First Day of Pre-K!

Goodbye, Mom - have a great day! I am off to Jr-Kindegarten with Dad at Cannon! I am so excited! Note: Dad will not actually be in my Jr-Kindegarten class - he just teaches there. Apparently he passed JrK quite a while back.

Here I am in one of my awesome new "schooliforms". I am so ready for school!

A little jaunt on our bikes!

Hi! I am Claire and today we went for a little bike ride on the Greenway - it was so fun! I like humming the whole time I am back in the trailer with Cooper.
We stopped and had a little bite to eat in the park. Yum! PB&J!
and then we took a little nap... Shhhhhhhhh!

Caught hoofin' it!

See! She does walk and has for a while... it just takes a little motivation to a 15 month old - sweet! Mom's bike!
Very carefully now... any false moves and I drop like a baby and bear crawl-it! I still don't understand the big deal with being up-right. It takes so long to get from here to there carefully - I am not just going to nose-dive like Cooper did when he started walking. The bear-crawl is so much safer!

Beach Music Festival

Hi there! I am Cooper and we came to a beach music festival today! I met lots of wonderful people who just thought I was as cute as pudding today - I just walked up to them on their little blankets and smiled just like this!
Here I am playing with the camera while everyone else was busy playing ball - see my sisters in the background?
I love dancing! Everyone thought I was SO cute dancing with my hands in the air!

Chimney Rock, NC

We went on a three mile hike (no four milers like my cousin Brooke!) to see this amazing "waterfountain", which is more of what it was than a waterfall.
The fam at the top of Chimney rock. What an amazing view!
Snack break!
Sisters!
The Northrup girls being silly! Even Claire can be as silly as we are!

Sliding Rock, NC

Dad completed his first Olympic distance triathlon and then we got to go to Sliding rock - you'll see why it is called that! The water was no Lake Anna, though, at between 48 - 58 degrees in the summer. Quite a shock to our southern systems!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! BUrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Paco and Emma

Emma brought Paco along to cheer on Daddy in his race. Barney stayed at home for this trip, but that is okay because Emma left him a pizza on her pillow for supper for him. Daddy and Mommy hoped that there was no "real' pizza on the pillow. Barney was fine when we got home and there were no traces of pizza.

MIni-vacation - Horseback riding!

"Gypsy" took us on Emma's first horseback ride ever! We stopped on our way up to Lake Logan in the mountains of NC and Emma loved riding Gypsy. Now every horse we see in a pasture must be Gypsy!
While big sister was riding, Cooper and Claire made new friends.

Tuesday is Trash Day!

Tuesday is always exciting - we race out of the house to watch the garbage man come by in his big truck and pick up our trash - this is just one of the many fascinating events that occurs at the Northrup household on a regular basis! Sometimes, as a bonus, we even get to see the street cleaner!!!!!

New Bikes - just like Keira and Grant!!!

Emma got a new double-bike - now she can ride super fast with Mom and Dad! We went on a 6 mile ride and Emma did great - the ice cream in the middle of the ride was a little incentive for everyone!
Cooper and Claire got prime rides behind Dad. They loved the ride once they got moving. Now they are just like their cousins Keira and Grant!