Happy 4th Birthday, Sophia!!!

 Sophia's baby cousin, Ava, has a July 6 birthday, and Sophia's birthday is July 8, so we all headed to the lake this last weekend to have some family birthday celebrations!

 Sophia and her big cousin, DJ, spent some time hanging out in the new hammock...

 Cousins bath!

 Saturday morning (the 7th) we had a big birthday bash for Ava, Sophia, and even great grandma Snookie, who had a birthday at the end of June. The in-laws cooked up a feast and we had a birthday lunch and celebration on the deck. Beautiful day!

 Carmen with birthday girl, Ava

 The birthday girls! Sophia, little cousin Ava, and Great Grandma Snooki.

 Ava with Travis' brother, Tim

 The girls received presents from their extended family on Saturday, and had fun playing with them on the deck! Okay, I made that sound a little too peaceful... there were some "sharing issues." :) Sophia has a lot to learn about babies before her sibling comes along!

 Sophia expressed some birthday exuberance by attacking her daddy!

 Saturday evening was beautiful, and we went for a nice long boat ride

 Eagle!

 Sunday morning was Sophia's birthday! She received most of her mommy and daddy presents right away in the morning... we only saved one thing (a princess scooter!) for later.

 Birthday dress

 Sophia begged me to take this dramatic photo of one of her birthday presents... a car named Miles Axlerod from the Disney Cars movie. This is one of her favorite presents!

 We continued the tradition of serving up Strawberry shortcake on Sophia's birthday

 After shortcake it was time for another boatride!

 We stopped at a quiet beach across the lake for a long swim and play time

 Sophia with her Grandpa Ralph

 The cousins, Ava, DJ and Sophia piled on their grandpa!

 Why do babies eat sand??!!

 Sophia requested a birthday ride in Grandpa's Corvette, so daddy took her for a spin to pick up some pizza

 After pizza we piled 6 people in our Taurus sedan (there's actually a small middle seat in the front row!) and we headed to Grand Forks to meet the NEW BABY COUSIN!!!! Who was born July 7. So we have Ava on July 6, Hudson on July 7 and Sophia on July 8!

 Sophia meets her new cousin, Laura's son (#4) Hudson Michael Spicer.

 He is a perfect little doll!

 On Monday I worked and Travis enjoyed his last day of his work's shut down. After work we all headed down to Walcotte to see Margie. The stable owners' son, Hayden, was out playing and he and Sophia made a beeline for each other! Sophia barely glanced at Margie... she wanted to play with Hayden!

 Travis took Margie for a spin first...

 Then I took her for a fun little ride through some trees and a cornfield. She's such a great trail horse!

 Sophia finally had a turn double-saddle with daddy in the arena (Margie was a bit frisky so we had Sophia ride her in the indoor arena) and then had a little ride on her own. Her favorite part was riding Margie through some hanging obstacles... we'll have to try to get a picture next time!

 Barn kittens!

 While Travis put Margie away I watched Sophia and Hayden enjoy Hayden's family's horses.

Hayden and Sophia are both 4, and get along great! It's amazing how independent they are out on the farm... they are both so comfortable with animals big and small. A great team!

On Sunday the 15th Sophia is having her first "kids only" birthday party... more birthday pics to come!