Fun at the Park

I took these pictures sometime last week when Laura was working late.  Me and Avery decided that we should go to a park to play after work since the weather was nice.  We found a park nearby that had a ton of slide selections for Avery.  While most of them required my help to get her up to the top, she tried her best to climb the ladders and steps to get to the top.

There was also a big purple dinosaur on a spring.  As you can tell from the picture she had a good time rocking it back and forth.  She wasn't big enough or strong enough to get it rocking too much so I had to help push some.  She kept on running back up to it and pointing at its mouth and teeth saying "mouth" or "teeth"

 I don't think she could be any happier to be on a dinosaur.

 She also had no problem running from slide to slide to try and get on whatever slide captured her attention at that moment.  Fun to watch, but since most of the playgrounds were not toddler safe, I had to be sprinting behind her to make sure she didn't try to follow a big kid and jump off something big.

The Fair

So last weekend we went to the SC State fair.  We were pretty excited about letting Avery see some animals, eat some junk food, and ride some dangerous rides.  She had a pretty good time, but it is certainly not anywhere near as good as the NC State fair.

She enjoyed looking at the goats and making goat sounds.

Pointing out different animals for daddy.

 We could only keep her in the stroller for so long before she needed to get out and strut her stuff.

 So the rides...  It was tough to find rides where both a parent and a small child could ride.  It was either the kid only could ride (we were afraid of this mostly for the chance of Avery freaking out that we are strapping her to something and walking away) or that only adults could ride.  So we went through the tortuous process of asking her if she wanted to go on a particular ride, getting a reply of "yeah", and walking up to it only to be  told no by the operator despite the signage.  This of course was followed by Avery getting upset.  Rinse, repeat.  

This is what a disappointed toddler looks like when she is told she can't ride something.  She refused to get in the stroller to go find another ride until she watched the other kids go around a few times.

Riding on the train with mommy.

 She seemed pretty happy with the whole train experience.

 Big smiles while riding.  Of course the moment the train stopped, Avery said "more."  Then proceeded to get upset as we drug her kicking and screaming off the ride.  It didn't last long, but it was still pretty funny/sad.

 She was also pretty happy go on the bumblebee with mommy.  Afterwords...upset.

 On the merri-go-round with Daddy.

Babies

This past weekend we went up to Sara's house to have dinner with the families.  Sara and Mark had a party to tell us what the sex of their upcoming baby was going to be.  There was also a balloon festival going on flying balloons directly over their house.  It was tough to say which was better, the enjoyment Avery got out of the balloons or watching Sara's dog freak out about the balloons.  

Avery and Laura posing in front of a car.

 Avery had a blast watching the baloons fly over Sara and Mark's house.

 Avery even showed Mark's sister how to play cornhole.

Oh yeah, Sara and Mark are going to have a girl.  So look forward to a similar blog as this one in a few months with familiar clothing and toys as featured here, but on a 24 month delay.  Actually it may be on less of a delay than that, because I am guessing that they will have a much taller baby than Laura.

Cleaning Up

In order to avoid bed last night, Avery picked up her clothes from the floor and put them in the hamper, filled up Charger's food bowl, and swept the kitchen. I wonder how good she is with a hedge trimmer...

She definately likes things in a place and not on the floor.  This her attempting to put a party decoration (from her birthday party 9 months ago) in a drawer out of the way.  It is nice to have Avery around to pick up after her mother.

Toddler Eating

Avery's eating habits are pretty well documented but here are some new ones.  We went out to lunch and ordered her Grilled cheese and fruit, fully expecting no fruit to be eaten.  She wanted to only eat fruit and with a fork like an adult.

 This was Monday night.  She wanted nothing to do with mac and cheese, fruit, veggies, bread, milk, or yogurt; but was completely happy to eat on a bag of craisins while riding in the stroller.  Only then would she eat dinner afterwords.

 And of course everyone knows that there is only one good bite (max two) out of each ritz cracker...

A week or so

So I have been a little slack recently, but we haven't taken a lot of pictures.  Avery has been teething at night and we have been on the road for the past month.  We are "home" the next 2 weekends so we will be able to take a ton more pictures.  This past weekend we went down to Greenville, SC for a engagement party for Mary's sister Laura.  Avery had a good time playing with some other kids and partying all night long.  She went to bed around 8, but got up at midnight and stayed up with the guys until we finally crashed at 1:30.  Thankfully she slept until 9am or so the next morning.  If there is a party going on she wants to be a part of it.

At the park one afternoon when mommy had to work late.  This was an elementary school playground so I had to carry her to the top of the slide.  She would give me a kiss for thanks each trip. (because I asked)

 Cabinets are fun to open and dig around in.  Luckily Mary and Jimmy had baby safe contents.

 Avery got to eat out on the way down to Greenville and as usual had a good time saying "Hi" to every server that walked by.

Playground

This past weekend we were in Greensboro to drop Avery off to head to the football game.  My parents once again did a good job of spoiling Avery by taking her to the park.  In greensboro they have a toddler sized park which is perfect for Avery to play on.  I need to find one around here before the weather gets too cold.

Enjoying one of her favorite things...slides...

 Toddler stairs that she can climb to get up to the top of the slide.

 Waving hello and being goofy.

Sliding is hard work, especially if you are teething.

 Getting some refreshments with Ru.

Climbing a big staircase to get to the big slide. 

Happy Birthday Laura

Happy Birthday to the best wife and mom that Avery and I could ever ask for!

Fun at the Beach pt 2

Here is a second batch of pictures featuring just Avery...

She did enjoy pointing at all the birds that flew by.

 This is how she played in the sand.  She sat on the edge of the blanket so her legs and butt wouldn't get dirty.  She would then reach out to scoop sand to fill up her bucket.  When she filled up the bucket she would pat it down (after mommy showed her) and flip the bucket over to make a castle (pile of sand).  Then of course kick the pile of sand over, smile, and start over.

 Barefoot at the beach!?!?!?!?

 Getting in the dirty water barefoot?!?!?

 Enjoying the waves and the beach.

Fun at the Beach pt 1

So these are the other pictures from the beach trip that don't involve babies.  

Helping daddy dig a hole in the sand.  Notice that she was holding on to my shirt so that she wouldn't fall in.

 Standing in the hole helping scoop the sand out.

 Avery getting in the water and taking a few waves.  I could hold her and take her out to jump waves for about 5 minutes at a time, so a big improvement from the first time at the beach.

 Avery pointing at a bird, while walking with Mommy in the water.

 My two girls chilling at the beach.

 Running barefoot on the beach with daddy...  I cannot believe that we got her to take her shoes off in the sand.  Maybe the third trip she will really enjoy it.

Friends at the Beach

This past weekend we went to the beach with some friends (and their kids).  It was a very different trip then the ones we took in college, but we all had a lot of fun.  Avery had a better time on the beach and taught some other babies some new tricks as the oldest kid there.

Sharing her toys with Easton (Mary and Jimmy's kid).  For some reason Avery was not the best at sharing her toys, but we caught her at a good moment.

 Hanging out with Easton on the blanket.  Avery actually played in the sand some.

 Getting a hug from Charlotte (Pete and Ashley's), somewhat reluctantly...

 On the beach with Easton and Ryan (Helen and Joe's).  Ryan sure did love eating that sand.