Naomi turns 7

Naomi turned 7 on July 24th.    She wanted to celebrate our our friends' cottage.  Brent and Joanne Gilchrist have been our good friends for what seems like forever -- or at least since we moved to Ottawa 15 years ago.  So for her birthday that is where we went.  We stayed the night.  Favourite activities included making a cat cake to bring with us, making smores, catching fish and riding in the boat.

Birthday Cake #1

Naomi -- fish-catcher extraordinaire!!!

Xavier -- fish-holder extraordinaire!!

Xavier tubing with our friend Aubrey.  Naomi preferred the safety of the boat.

Fallen tree at the secret lake at the end of our walk through the forest.

On our walk through the forest to the secret little lake (lac Riopelle) I found spearmint.  Joanne had shown it to me the last time I have visited in the fall.  If you chew on the leaves you will get a hint of that childhood flavour -- green leaf-shaped spearmint jellies covered in sugar.  I was so pleased with myself that I remembered it and spotted it even without Joanne on the walk.

Party number two with the friends occured the following Saturday.  The theme?  Horses of course.

Birthday Cake #2

The horse pinata purchased weeks in advance was so well loved Naomi couldn't bare the thought of destroying it.  So instead, ribbons were hung from a hole in its back.  You pulled a ribbon out and it had a number attached to the end.  The number led you to another ribbon with your same number hanging from the fence.  Pull that ribbon and it was attached to a bag of candy.  Yipeee!!!

Rhiannon choosing her ribbon.

Everyone painted a wooden cut-out horse to take home.  Naomi is queen of crafts!!

Happy Birthday Naomi!!