Summa Time!

We've been having a blast this summer.  There's been nothing extra special to report, but Ava and I are having such a wonderful time cruising around together.

She's such a big girl now.  For example, I retired the diaper bag a few weeks months (apparently I've had this post as a draft to be posted for a while) ago.  It was bittersweet.  I mean, I'd come to really love the cadillac of all diaper bags.  Oh, and also it really means that I no longer have a baby on my hands.  But on the sweet side, it means that we travel that much lighter... and can do all sorts of things.

For example, following is a sampling of our summer...

The Santa Ana Zoo - yes, the biggest animals they have are two camels, but at two years old, they don't really care.  Here they're peering in on a non-releasable bald eagle named Spirit.

And otherwise, the monkeys hold A LOT of attention.

The girls wander around like this:


(Proof that the world NEEDS little girls.)













What!?  They're all seated at lunch?!  Impossible.

We got passes in the end of June, around when Disney blacked out, so we've been adventuring there quite a bit.

But on warmer days, we've been chillin' at the pool with friends.

(As you can see Matthew is a good swimming buddy!)

And Ava is not exactly afraid of the water.

We hang at the beach, too.




















We hit the park occasionally also.

And the puggles do get some attention in between all these activities.

Ava's been preparing for our first camping trip (pictures, oh so many pictures, to come!).

And also got her first pedicure....

a halmark that she announced two days later in the middle of library storytime.  It went something like this: 

Background: All - roughly 40 - children seated peacefully on the large rug after the opening song in storytime. Ava, one of the younger ones, is front and center.  Parents seated in chairs in a semi-circle around children. I am in the very back ("promoting her independence.") 

Ava: "Excuse me."

Librarian: (Ignoring her) starts the first story.

Ava: "Excuse me."

Librarian: (Ignoring her) continues the first story.

Ava: "Excuse me" (slightly louder.)

Me: Silently calculates weather reaching her would cause more or less of a raucous, if it could even be done in the next four "excuse mes." Sitting tight wins by a small margin.

Librarian: Looks down, continues the first story.

Ava: "Excuse me" (again, slightly louder.)

Librarian: Looks down, pauses, contemplates next move, continues the first story.

Ava: "Excuse me, excuse me!" (definitely not a yell, but assertive nonetheless.)

Librarian: Looks down, pauses, likely figures that she has no other choice... says "yes."

Ava: "Oh, I got my first pedicure."

Room erupts in laughter, followed by 39 children beginning to tell said librarian the story of their latest adventure. I shrink and hide my freshly pedicured toes.

That was such a highlight, it deserved front and center here, not on My Tot's Tales.

We've also been hitting every concert we can get to.

Here're the kids at Hullaballoo. (Don't mind the look on Jake's face; it was fun.)

And the fam at RSM concerts in the park.

We also made a little trip down to the Sawdust Festival with some neighbor friends. Posing the kids for a picture always garners a good laugh.  The bottom left is Ava, after I asked her to be a good example for the babies. Ha.


Equally as challenging is posting her with me... or in any picture for that matter.

But paint she will do.

One of the bigger bummers of the summer fun was a case of croup that had her pretty down and out for several days. Kids are just so sad when they're sick and feverish and won't eat.  However, the latter was no match for a plate of berries and real whipped cream. You can survive on that, right?

Lastly, there's been a lot of running around like crazy kids lately, too.

After all that activity, sometimes there's nothing left to do but sit and chilax on the couch.

This concludes the picture stream of consciousness post. :)