Life with kids in Seattle: Happy Birthday Jillian!

Jillian was happy to regularly point out she is the first kid in the family to celebrate a birthday after our move to Seattle. And we made it extra special by planning a family road trip over the holidays which meant celebrating her birthday in San Francisco. We started the day with a boat cruise to see some San Francisco sights from the water. Then we went to Golden Gate park where we visited the California Academy of Science. And finally we headed to Union Square for dinner then took a cable car back to the hotel.

This sweet girl is 9 years old now!

Birthday tradition in our house is opening birthday gifts first thing in the morning. Jillian assumed she would need to wait until we got home to open presents, but we surprised her in the hotel room with gifts we had brought from home. She was really happy to open them up!

Jillian is pretty amazing and I'm constantly impressed with her confidence, sense of adventure and abilities. She loves to try new things including new food and especially new activities. Horses continue to be her absolute favourite thing in the world (although we are on a temporary hiatus from riding lessons after the move). She still loves gymnastics and at her new school she has joined the yearbook club, circus arts club (stilts are her favourite), and is doing yoga. She is also starting sewing lessons soon. It's a full calendar for her but that's the way Jillian likes things.

Jillian also loves her friends and is very social. We still have tears sometimes about missing friends from home at times. Skyping and writing letters helps but it's not the same. Jillian is already making plans for our visit home in the summer. But things are going well here, Jillian has made many new friends here at her new school. She is doing very well in school and gets along with everyone in the class.