Claire had a major role in the 5th grade musical play the year.
She was a flapper and got a brief solo singing part! She sounded amazing and looked great in her flapper outfit. She’s a natural flapper. Way to go, Claire!
Here’s Claire with her friends Susie, Wolfie, and another girl whose name I forgot. (oops!)
Claire turned 11 and had her birthday party at Altitude Austin, an amazing trampoline park. Altitude is extra fun compared to other trampoline parks because it has a special area for bouncy dodgeball. We played dodgeball for probably an hour and ended up exhausted and sweaty. Claire invited six of her amazing friends. Despite all their energy and the fun they were having, we managed to get them together briefly for a group photo (below).
Molly came along to Altitude too. Then the girls went to the house for a sleepover while Molly came to my place for some one-on -one fun time with me, including making a gingerbread house and our own little sleepover.
With the weather cooling off a bit and making it hard to to spend the day at Barking Springs, and Sno Beach shut down for the season, we’re having to move our weekend fun activities indoors. Today, we took Claire’s friend Susie to lunch at the always delicious Homeslice Pizza and then off to Pinballz arcade for some indoor fun. The girls had lot of fun playing ping pong and messing uncooked dough at Homeslice. And they did a crazy job as a team effort winning tickets at Pinballz, They won over 3000 tickets, with Susie digging into her own money for tokens after my budget had run out. They were picking rolls of 500 tickets out of the claw machines at will, and basically emptied one out in a matter of minutes. With the prize tickets, the girls each got a ping ping gun, plus an inflatable ninja doll and some miscellaneous small toys. We all went back to my place and had a ping pong gun fight and basically destroyed the place. We can have fun even when it’s not warm and sunny out!
Almost every weekend this summer, the girls andI have gone to our favorite hangout: Barking Springs. A cold, rocky, slippery, green water paradise downstream from Baron Springs pool, this shallow swimming spot is a favorite for dogs and all kinds of people. We walk over there and join the families, dog owners, slackers, fitness nuts, teenagers, and people on dates for an afternoon of splashing and floating in the water, and trying not to hurt ourselves or drown. We had a 100% success rate this year on not drowning, but we did see a couple of other people almost drown, including a toddler in a floaty that got away from her parents, so that was a disturbing lesson to see in person. Within five seconds on trouble, about a dozen people were scrambling to help the bobbing toddler, and they got her out safely. One of the great things about Barton Springs is that everyone is nice and in a good mood. You just can’t help it there!
The we run things is to go to the flat cement part on the west side of the river and wade into the current coming from the waterfall. We float downstream for a while and do it again, trying not to trip and kill ourselves in the process of getting out of the river. Sometimes we invite a friend of Claire’s to come along, which makes it even more fun. Managing three kids at Barking Springs is not easy, but it does make the day more fun.
On the walk home, we always stop by Sno Beach, a snow cone stand that makes the best snow cones in town. It makes for the perfect summer day.
Claire’s absolute most favorite thing in the world is having a sleepover with her friends. We host sometimes but tend to get a little worn out juggling Claire’s friends’ needs with Molly’s, and with our work often bleeding into the weekends and getting into the way. Anyways, here’s a rare picture of Claire enjoying a sleepover at her friend Susie’s house.
Claire had a great actual 9th birthday. He birthday party with her friends was the next day. Claire initially wanted to do a swimming or Jumpoline party, as she had done in the past. But we ended up doing a tie-dye party at a little art studio. It was a fun time, and her friends work their tie-dye shirts to school the next few days.
Halloween fell on a Friday this year. Claire had been asking to have some friends sleep over for several weeks, and we decided to go for it on Halloween. Why not get all the craziness over in one night?
So Claire’s friend Susie came trick-or-treating with Claire and Molly and us parents. Claire’s friend Dylan had trick-or-treating commitments in her neighborhood a few blocks away but joined us afterwards for the sleepover.
We did not expect anything but a lot of sugar- and friend-powered zaniness, and that is what we got. Many giggles were heard from Claire’s room. Her and Molly’s toys were spread all over the floor, so much so that they girls could not find anywhere to put the sleeping bags, so they all ended up sleeping in the hallway around 10:30 pm. Dylan got a lollipop stuck in her hair, which our dog Muffin tried to lick while Dylan was sleeping on the floor. Muffin also stole some of Dylan’s candy, which was on the floor too.
Molly got to sleep on the inflatable mattress in our bedroom, which she always enjoys despite of protests of “no fair” that she had to go to sleep before Claire and her friends.
The next morning there was a lot of running around, and candy wrappers could be found all over the house. The girls proposed to all take a bath together. That was too much; someone was going to get hurt in the tub or just drip water allover the house. And Kit and Molly were leaving for a Pre-K family gathering right around then. So the girls settled for making a haunted house out of cardboard in the back yard. It had fake candles, ketchup for blood, the whole works. They even put together a “play” about the haunted house complete with a storm and lightening.
Claire would spend the afternoon over at Susie’s house, making their time together over 24 hours. They even pushed for a second sleepover at Susie’s that night, or at least dinner. They had to settle for lunch together at Thundercloud with Susie’s dad and then back to much needed rest time with their families.
Well, Halloween doesn’t fall on the weekends that often, and I think we made the most of it!
Our neighborhood recently turned 100 years old. To celebrate, there was a neighborhood picnic and parade. Everyone was encouraged to wear 1914-inspired clothes. We did our best on a limited time budget and ended up with something vaguely old fashioned but probably more inspired by the roaring 20’s. Claire invited her friend Susie over, and they all had a great time being in the parade plus a horse carriage ride, crafts, face painting, and just enjoying being out in the late spring weather.
The letter of the week for Molly’s class was T, so for Show and Share on Friday, Molly brought in a tiara from her dress up collection. Molly had let the tiara idea leak the day before. Her friend Joycie showed up on Friday with a tiara too. They had a good giggle over the whole thing.
McG Kids 