We took a family trip to the Maneo Acquarium, which, for some reason, has a killer exhibit with life-sized, animatronic dinosaurs that roar at you. The expression on Kaya’s face is real and is something she does all the time when she hears noises that she doesn’t like. (She has become quite noise-sensitive these days.) My facial expression is fake to match the scene, and the T-Rex is of course, real.

Laney loves the beach too!

We took the Forester up past the paved roads in the Outer Banks and went wild horse searching and…success! We found them pretty quickly, then spent the rest of the day on the beach eating Cheese Curls. Heaven.

We have arrived in OBX. For one week a year, we lounge by our private pool, drink in the hot tub, swim in the surf, and play in the sand with the kids. It’s pretty awesome.

Laney got her first tooth! And by the time I got around to taking this picture, she had two!

We had 17 of Kaya’s closest friends over for her birthday party last weekend. It was a bit chaotic, but she had a great time. She had a shared party with her classmate named Laura – and luckily Laura could show Kaya how to blow out candles.

I spend my available energy with Laney reading to her and trying to teach her how to bear weight/stand.  What does Tommy teach her? How to hold her own bottle.

Neither Kaya nor Laney were too excited about sharing the cab of our grocery cart truck today. Laney strongly prefers lounging capabilities, while Kaya prefers more elbow room. But we managed to pick up dinner and Laney didn’t fall out – so I call it a win.

Thus concludes my week in Vail at cancer camp. This is a picture of my small group protocol development section – a group of very inspirational and brilliant people. Headed home in the morning!

Kaya is celebrating her birthday today with Grandma Baba. She woke up to new pajamas and has an action-packed day planned. I’m sad I can’t be there to celebrate with her, but someone has to cure cancer and hey, I was there for her most important birthday 3 years ago. I can’t believe it’s already been 3 years! Happy birthday my dear Kaya!

(Picture compliments of Grandma Baba):