Happy birthday, Juniper!!!

July 30th marked a rather epic milestone - little baby Juniper became an officially grown-up one year old.  I still can't believe it.  We had been toying with the idea of staying in Halifax and just having a nice quiet low-key celebration, but then decided there were enough reasons to go to Fredericton that we would flip that idea on it's head and go for broke. Like usual, this meant full-out, non-stop activity, jam-packed into less than a week.  I've got more pictures from this week of birthday goodness than I know what to do with, so I'll try and keep my explanations minimal.

Juniper's actual birthday (a Friday), was spent in transit.  It was not without celebration, however - we stopped in Sackville NB for a short but lovely visit with our good friend Matt Brennan and his girlfriend Anna, who are living in Scotland, but home for a few weeks of vacation.  Oddly, we would not actually be able to overlap in Fredericton, but they were in Sackville for Sappyfest as we were passing through, so we jumped on the opportunity to connect.  Here we all are, with Juniper holding her newly acquired "Highland Coo".

Also on Friday, Juniper got to meet our friend Sean, who was in Fredericton visiting for vacation, and leaving the next morning. 

Barkeep!  Another on the rocks!

Then on Saturday, we hightailed it off to St. Andrew's for my aunt Suz's wedding. Juniper, of course, was dressed for the occasion - here she is sporting her birthday gift from my mom and dad - a hand smocked dress and bonnet. 

Here she is at the reception afterwards, having found a chair that was just her size

Juniper's actual party was on Monday.  My mom hosted a lovely brunch, and Elizabeth (Clark's sister) made a delicious, fancy cake for the occasion.

Crazy sparkler!

Juniper loved the cake, but wouldn't eat it until we gave her a fork.  True story.

Here's a shot of the four kids at the party:  Simon, Noni, Juniper and River.  They refused to all look at the camera at the same time.

The next day we headed to the Richards family farm to visit Clark's grandmother.  It was a slightly overcast day, but that meant that Juniper had an excuse to wear her brand new one-piece rainsuit from her Grandma and Grampa Richards (Bill and Barb).  There *might* have been a bit of a photo shoot... I couldn't resist the combination of the rainsuit and the farm.  I'll post a few of my favourites - I'd be interested to know which one is your fave!

Of course, Sunday and Wednesday (the only other two days that I didn't account for yet), were also very full.  Here are a few pics:

One of Juniper's favourite daily activities: going to the back yard and picking my dad's high bush 

blueberries.

Juniper's new "padded swimwuit" from my mom.  Flotation built right in! It was, unfortunately, a bit of a fail.  Juniper hated it, and we had to take it off shortly after getting in the pool.

SPLASH!

(much more fun without the suit)

Group hug!  (with Simon and Noni).

Modelling her birthday gift from Andrea - what she thought was a dress for a 12-month old, but was actually a shirt for a 12-year old!  I'm going to try and alter it.  The bow that goes with it,  however, is pretty darn cute

OK, that's all for now.  I have loads more non-Fredericton-birthday related things to post, so stay tuned!