Happy 4th Birthday Camille!

I may be a month behind in posting Camille's birthday pictures, but better late than never!

Camille had quite the busy week for ringing in her 4th birthday. We had her party a week before her actual birthday to work with my crazy travel schedule. This year we chose to have Camille's party at White Deer Park Nature Center. It is a simple, yet nice building at our local park. In November, you never know what the weather will be like, so we needed to have an indoor option in addition to the fun playground that the park offers. Camille wanted a Bubble Guppies themed party as that is one of her favorite shows these days. I have to admit, I had fun trying to coordinate the food to our theme. Here are a few pics of the setup and the birthday girl in action. 

Our birthday girl sure enjoyed the extra attention for her special day. The fun wasn't over after the party though. While Mommy was away she got to go to the block party at our church with Daddy. The birthday princess even got her face painted with a special crown. 

On her actual birthday, since Mommy had been traveling so much, we had a special Mommy/Daughter Day. Nick and I had gotten Camille a mani/pedi for her birthday gift. She was overly excited to get her first official pampering. Don't let her fool you though, she knew exactly what to do and didn't have an issue telling the lady exactly how she wanted her nails done. 

After her nail treat, we decided to treat our bellies to one of Camille's favorite desserts... icecream. We went to one of the froyo places and Camille was shocked that I actually let her pick out everything herself, no judgement or comments :) She kept saying "Mommy, you never let me put anything I want on it. This is a special day." Ha. She even wanted me to take a picture of her icecream since she was so proud of her creation. Yes, that is marshmallows, m&ms, sprinkles, whipped cream, and oreos. She wanted more toppings than icecream. Go figure. 

I can't believe how fast the past 4 years have gone. My baby is 4! It's crazy! And we even remembered her 4th birthday questionnaire.

What is your favorite color? Pink and purple

What is your favorite toy? Cinderella baby doll

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

What is your favorite tv show? Bubble Guppies

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut butter & jelly

What is your favorite outfit? Cinderella & Hello Kitty pajamas

What is your favorite game? I Spy

What is your favorite snack? peanuts

What is your favorite animal? Elephant

What is your favorite song? Sunny Side by The Gravy Boys

What is your favorite book? A Mother for Choco

Who is your best friend? Maddie & Mary

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing at the park

What is your favorite drink? Milk

What is your favorite holiday? Easter

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? PT Bear

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes

What do you want to be when you grow up? A singer & a teacher

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Playing puzzles

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Playing puzzles

Halloween 2013

The Cox family had a wonderful, yet busy Halloween! 

We started out the holiday with a festival at Camille's school. The kids had so much fun "truck or treating" and showing off their costumes to their friends and teachers. 

Instead of the annual Halloween costume parade at her school, they decided to change it to "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up." Camille always tells us that she wants to be either a teacher (like her Mimi) or a singer. She liked the singer outfit better, so here is our little singer showing off her skills. 

Here is the class all dressed up as what they want to be when they grow up, though as you can see a lot just wanted to wear their Halloween costumes :)

On Halloween, we kept up with the tradition of Trick or Treating the Trails at White Deer Park. Camille and Madelyn (opps, I mean Tink and Doc) had a blast filling their bags with candy. 

 

And here is our little Tinkerbell showing off a bit more.

We managed to make it to a few houses in the neighborhood before Camille decided she rather hand out candy at our house. She loved running to the door every time the bell rang and she especially liked getting to pick the candy to put in each child's basket. 

Camille is already planning out what she wants to dress up as next year...... though I'm sure her mind will change one hundred times between now and then!

October Happenings

We've had quite the busy October. It included some pumpkin patch fun with Mary, Nick's birthday celebration, a trip to Atlanta to visit with our family, and of course pumpkin painting at Meredith College!

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year... Naylor Farms in Fuquay Varina. We kept the tradition of going with our good friends Matt, Megan, & Mary. It sure seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, but they had plenty of entertainment and it wasn't crowded.... double bonus! The girls enjoyed riding in the barrels, playing in the corn, and going on a hayride to pick out their pumpkins. The farm even had some cute animals to look at too!

We had a short and sweet trip to Atlanta too. Abe, Christy, and the kids moved down there this summer and have settled into their new home, job, and school. We had a great time visiting and best of all, Camille was the perfect passenger for the 6+ hour car ride each way! Maybe we'll brave that again in 2014. The kids had so much fun together and us parents even got a night to ourselves too!

We also got to participate in the annual pumpkin paining at Meredith College, which Camille always enjoys! Future board member? Maybe so!

Tweetsie Railroad is coming your way.....

I only have one memory of visiting Tweetsie as a child: the cowboys and Indians attacking our train car. I don't remember being scared, just concerned. Well, there is so much more to Tweetsie!

Nick and I decided that Camille was old enough this year and we were right! After a 6 hour day at the amusement, I think we can say we rode and saw everything possible! It was well worth the pricey admission! For anyone thinking of going, I highly recommend going early in the morning when they open. For the first few hours of the morning, there were no lines and we knocked out a bunch of to-sees. By lunch, the park was packed and the line for the chair lift up the mountain got longer and longer.

Camille wanted to start her visit with the train ride full of cowboys. Nick and I had prepped her for the cowboy vs. Indian show down on the train, but to our surprise, all that is now done off of the train from a short distance. The cowboys were quite funny and entertaining, though Camille was only focused on the loud gun noises and the Indians. Her eyes were wide the entire time, but she didn't get scared or upset. After the "show-down," Camille even asked for the Indians to come back and wondered why they didn't come onto the train with her. Silly girl!

There was so much entertainment aside from the train. Camille loved sitting on the horses, putting Daddy in jail, and pretending to drive the carriage.

We got to watch a magic show, some can-can dancers, and even some entertainment from Hopper and Porter.

Camille enjoyed riding the chair lift up the mountain too. I seriously think we rode it about 6 times. It became apparent when we got to the lift and all the operators would comment "We know you know what to do." The chair lift took us to the zoo area, gem mining, and kiddie rides.

Nick and I were amazed and Camille's excitement for the rides. We knew she would like the little kid train, plane, boat, and carousel. We had no clue she would be so into the scrambler, fast Ferris wheel, and go karts. I guess we have an adrenaline junkie on our hands. I could barely see her little head over the big kid rides, but she didn't seem to mind and kept a huge smile on her face.

We enjoyed some good meals in Boone too and the weather was perfect!!

On our way home we got to visit with Gran, Poppy, Pops, Marla, Michael, and Daniel. Camille was pumped full of excitement the entire time. It may be hard to top this mountain trip! She already has asked to go back :)