A Birthday, A Hike and An Old Church

My little girl is four years old. How did she get to be so big? Just yesterday she was still a baby... And now?

Now she is a big girl. A unique individual, full of personality.

On April 13th we woke up and Lilli opened her birthday presents. Lots and lots of little things. Grandma Suzie sent all kinds of stuff - a princess sash, a headband, necklace kits... Each little gift was ooh'd and aaah'd over.

After gifts was a quick breakfast, then we hit the road. We met up with three other families for a hike to Nimis. Nimis is a series of towers made out of driftwood on a rocky beach.

The kids did pretty good on the hike down.

And at the bottom:

Tipton relaxes on a rock.

Tipton and Lilli plan thier next move.

I'm happy that I didn't fall down the hill on the hike down.

Jenn, Dave and Lilli sitting on a big rock in front of one of the drift wood towers.

A close up.

Lilli and her friend, Mia.

Tipton picking his way across the rocks.

This was the hike down. We climbed through the driftwood "walkway." On the way back we climbed up the side of the hill. Not enough room inside that "walkway" to pass if you met someone coming down.

Jenn and Lilli having a snack.

Once we made it back to the top, we had a picnic lunch. And since it was Lilli's birthday, we had brownies! I love how excited she is in this picture.

There was an old piece of (farm?) equipment that the kids used as a balance beam.

Action shot of Tipton jumping down off the beam.

We lined up most of the kids on the beam for a picture. There were four kids not in this picture.

When it was time to go, a few of us stopped off at an old church on the way back to Malmö. Brynnby Kyrka is listed in the guidebook as "If you will visit only one church other than the Cathedral of Lund, then you need to see Brunnby Kyrka, with it's incredible ceiling murals from the Middle Ages. There is no other place in Skåne where you can spot that many saints."

We did not take many pictures of the inside due to poor lighting. The murals were impressive, though. And Saints every where you looked!

Something that I found really charming was this tree. Hanging from the tree are little ceramic fish. On the back of each fish is written a name and a date. The names and dates of all the children born into the church. Very cool.

Tipton and Lilli by one of the doors.

We thought for sure the kids would have fallen asleep on the way home, but no. They stayed awake the whole ride back. Lilli played with the princess doll that one of Grandma Suzie's friends gave her for her birthday.

It was certainly a memorable day. I hope Lilli will remember it. This was the first year that she really got to celebrate her birthday. When she turned one - well, that is more a celebration for the parents and family. When she turned two - she was sick. We joke that she got antibiotics for her birthday. When she turned three - she didn't really have any friends of her own/her own age. But this year... This year she is four. This year she has many wonderful friends her own age. This year she is so much more aware of events and celebrations and special traditions. She is her own little person. She is four.