Whew! It’s been a wonderful whirlwind the last week. Grandma T returned to the lower Pacific Northwest last Wednesday to visit Clare – I mean, us. It was great to see her, Clare enjoyed some good Grandma time and I enjoyed having a happy baby-sitter while I ran errands. Oh yeah, the grown ups had some nice visiting time together.
We celebrated two birthdays over the week – Grandma Carol and mine. To celebrate we all went to Bend and enjoyed the last weekend of summer. Happy Birthday Mom!
Grandma T talking to Clare. Clare is getting quite vocal these days and makes the cutest little coo sounds.
Great-Grandma offered to rock Clare to sleep one night – and when we looked over both of them were asleep! 
Clare got lots of Grandma T loves! 
Helping Daddy plan a hiking trip.
We went for a hike along Falls Creek towards Green Lake. We didn’t go all the way to the lake, but it was a lovely hike and Clare really enjoyed it.
We took Clare out at one point – she loved the waterfall. She couldn’t stop staring at it.
Peeking out of the Beco Carrier – not napping since there was so much to look at!
We said good-bye to Great-Gramma and Grandma T on Tuesday – I think we all cried a little bit to see everyone off. Today was a big day though, since it was my first day back at work after maternity leave. I was a little apprehensive about it but it went much better than I expected. We have a wonderful nanny who we share with another family (1 nanny + 2 babies = happy families), so I felt much better knowing that Clare was in loving and capable hands. Still I’ve never been in such a hurry to get home before in my life – I needed my Clare cuddle fix.