The Festival of Being One part two...

So I had a bunch of pictures left over from the weekend festivities that combined Sequoia's first birthday with a family reunion of sorts...

Becky came over on friday to help bake the cupcakes ... and there were lots of them to bake.

sequoia and Colleen looking festive in anticipation of the big event ... with the rain threatening we thought we were headed for our own little Woodstock.

Both sets of grandparents were able to get multi-day passes to the event.

There were plenty of old hands at turning one - like Elayne who is a whopping two weeks past the big ONE, here with her mom Christine.

The big show drew out some rare visitors to the woods of Gloucester, including Sequoia's Aunt Peggy.

Proving what side of the family Sequoia gets her clown gene from, Colleen's sister Kathleen flew in unannounced from Boulder Colorado and surprised everyone when she showed up dressed as a clown. It was extremely hilarious to say the least.

The youngest member of the rowdy crowd was our adorable little friend, Ava. Here she shows obvious joy in her first swing ride.

We had plenty opportunity to play the parts of the proud parents, showing off our perfect little girl. Actually more than showing her off, we handed her off. There were literally hours that passed between me seeing her sometimes...I think she had a good time, but I'll have to take her word for it.

There were 5 little ones under 15 months old at the party and they had amazing stamina. There was not a single meltdown or crazy fit during the party. That's astounding to me given the intense amount of stimulation that was everywhere.

I believe this was Sequoia's first adventure with a helium balloon. She has been having a ball with it all week.

The present opening ceremony was a sight to behold as Sequoia opened enough new toys and books to stock a nice daycare center.

Although every gift was perfect and will be well loved and used by Sequoia, one gift in particular has us all excited about family time together. I love the new bike seat that will allow us to put many miles on our bikes the next two years.

Cousin Ryley shows Sequoia about proper bike safety.

Aunt Kathleen shows Sequoia some special trampoline tricks - likely learned at clown college.

By the end of the day Sunday Sequoia needed some time to just sit back in her lawn chair and rest for a bit.

As we all know, the party isn't complete until there is a colossal hula-hoop throw down.
Here Sequoia prepares to dazzle us all with her three hoop performance.