The Day She Turned Four...

She had been so excited about this day... as an August born myself, I am all too familiar with the suspense leading up to your birthday... when all your friends have turned of age long before you, and you are left waiting and waiting... the last to turn four! But we got there, and boy was it worth the wait!

This was one little Princess who was literally thrilled with every single one of her presents!

Perhaps the favourite of all was her Princess dress... my Mum and Dad, who had joined us on a surprise visit from England for my 30th (still getting over the lovely shock!) had bought her a Rapunzel dress, and I think its fair to say that she has worn it pretty much every day since!

After a birthday breakfast, we all headed off on a walk along the peninsula. It seems even when you're going raspberry picking on your birthday, a Princess dress is the necessary attire...

And it wasn't just the birthday girl who was enjoying them (although Jonas' main method of enjoyment at the moment remains sleep!!)

Ava gathered raspberry after raspberry in her little green tub. Heidi, on the other hand, prefers the "eat as you go" method of raspberry picking...

Yes! Her little tub was still empty by the end of the walk!

We wandered through my in-laws orchards, talking our time, picking (and eating) as we went, and I breathed in that fresh-fjord air, and thought again how fortunate my children are that this gets to be part of their childhood every summer. This freedom, this beauty... I hope they will never take it for granted...

We paused for some family photos - they'll be appearing for "Me and Mine" on Monday, but here's a little sneak preview of our girly shot!

The orchards are beautiful... and nearly ready... by the end of next month, these apples will be fresh for picking and my parents-in-law will pick a good few tonnes and ship them off to be turned into delicious apple juice!

It was so lovely to have my parents with us... to be able to share this special place with them. The girls loved having both sets of grandparents on hand!

And when we reached the bottom of the orchard. We all just paused and were a little bit awestruck by this view...!

In the afternoon, we were joined by the wider family for coffee and birthday cake... cousins, second cousins, cousins once removed, Uncles, Aunts and Grandparents. It was wonderful to see everyone, and Ava was perfectly happy to be the centre of attention!

She was just so thrilled with her birthday cake... thank you Bestemor!

 

Ava spent the afternoon playing with her cousins and second cousins, and enjoying all her birthday presents... (look at the concentration!)

When she rolled into bed, she wrapped those little arms around my neck and said she'd had a lovely birthday... and when I asked her what had been the best thing, she answered in the typical four-year-old way...

"Getting all my lovely presents!!!"