Claudia is off at a movie with Grandma and may stay over night, I think Monique is with them as well. Should be fun.

Tomorrow Claudia should go running with me and the team. She has been asking to run "on the road". I think she thinks thats how the big kids do it.

Claudia got her haircut yesterday. She took about three inches off. Still long, but a bit more managable.

Claudia has been a really good sister, but we can tell she needs a break from Molly now and then. By the end of the day she starts to get worn down pretty good. It will be nice to get back into a routine again with her.

Today Claudia and Daddy went out for a special dinner. Claudia got dressed up very nice and even wore here special bracelet that Aunt Pat gave her. She was very excited to go out "just by herself!". Sometimes we think she needs a little time away from the Molinator.

She had pizza and coconut ice cream. The ice cream made her happy. She remembered that she had it at the Indian Restaurant last year!

Claudia is a very polite date and lots of fun. It was a special time that we really enjoyed.

Claudia won a free game!

Claudia just returned from her big trip to Virginia. She spent three days in Williamsburg catching up with the SanFanAndre/Box family at the reunion. She got to meet her great-great Uncle Ralph and Aunt Jane.

She also had fun at Busch Gardens. Her favorite rides were the TeaCups and she also liked the floating balloons. But she probably liked the German band and dancers at lunch time the best. She got to eat that meal with her whole family.

One really fun thing was taking the ferry from Delaware to New Jersey. We got pretty far out in the ocean for this ride.

Claudia got to spend two days with Aunt Pat who "spoils her rotten" thats for sure. We went swimming with Pat and she took us to the beach. This was the first time they had seen each other and they are now super-buddies.

Claudia had lots of fun visiting with the Kopecs the past two days. She got to play softball with Mr. PT, Kerry, and Margo. Today she swam and rode her bike. Big fun.

We are setting up for Mommy and Claudia to camp out on the porch. Should be interesting.

I try to stay in the habit of telling Claudia she can talk to us anytime about stuff or she can ask Uncle Marc, or Mimi, or Miss Kerry, etc...

"Well, Daddy, I do worry about ONE thing"

"Really, Claudia, what is it"

"Well, I worry about dinosaurs"

"ohhh"

Some things about Vermont:

• Claudia had a lot of fun going to concerts. It was a music festival week in Middlebury. She really, really loved Erin McDermott and bought her CD (she was really proud of that). We also saw one of the worst childrens concerts ever.
• Claudia swam a lot.
• She had lots and lots of pancakes.
• She had super fun with her sister and Mimi.
• She rode her bike a lot.
• She played mini golf.

Claudia is back from vacation in Vermont. More stories later.

Claudia was at the park yesterday climbing the big slide. At the top were three boys, about 5-6 years old, guarding the top.

Boy: "Whats your name"

Claudia: pause..."Claudia Lynn Schneider"

Boy: "You are beautiful"

Claudia: pause.... "I think you just like my shirt, my shirt is very beautiful"

Boy: "OK, you can pass"

One of my favorite old pictures.

Claudia is a very patient sister.

We had fun today. We found the cupcake truck in New Haven and each of us got a cupcake. Claudia ordered a Red Velvet with Marshmellow frosting and rainbow sprinkles. We then went up to East Rock and had a picnic. Quite a view.

On the way home we spent some time in the Yale Art Gallery which Claudia really likes.

Claudia had a fun trip to Pennsylvania this past weekend. She is a really good traveller. Claudia really enjoyed taking care of the horses. She rode Wendy and gave the horses some food each day. She even petted a few horses which was a big step for her.

Claudia did really good practicing her golf with her big club. She also had fun eating ice cream and strawberries.

Today Claudia had her first swim lesson of the summer and she did really well. She is a good student.

Weekend Update:

Friday: Claudia went to Quassy. She took a real big step and went down the slide all by herself. First, she climbed up with Daddy and rode down by herself. I followed her. She laughed the whole way down. When I got to the bottom she was hopping up and down saying "that was whippin!". We asked if she wanted to go by herself and she hopped a few more times then went off and climbed by up the steps all by herself. Big girl!

Saturday: We went to the Farmers Market and bought lots of good food (including Apple Pizza). We then went to the Yale Center for British Art where they had a puppet show. Claudia was really polite and listened real well, even though two big kids sat down right in front of her. She sang real loud and laughed a lot. She even got popcorn. It was fun to watch. Molly and her had fun looking at all the the paintings.

Sunday: Claudia went to the Strawberry Festival in town for awhile and then helped Grandma with some chores. We fixed a light fixture and Claudia was in charge of turning on the light and handing Daddy the parts. Later that night we went to back to New Haven for the big concert of They Might be Giants and had super fun.

Claudia just got back from a nice three day vacation at Cape Cod with her Aunt Judy. Lots of fun. More pictures on flickr.

Claudia loves the Frog Hopper at Quassy.

Claudia put on an entire concert last night.  She got dressed up and performed on stage.  Mommy even helped her make a banner for the concert.  For a time Molly accompanied Claudia on harmonica (Molly's best instrument).  Claudia sang "Twinkle, Twinkle" "ABCs" and her own dance-song improvisation.  She was very excited and did a great job.

Claudia had fun at Ben's party.  They had a bouncy machine, macaroni and cheese, and cotton candy.