Family Pictures

Here are some of us as a family.  I have a ton of them to go through, but these are some of my favorites.

Berry Pickin

Last Saturday, Avery's Great Aunt Lisa and cousin Rebecca came to visit.  We decided to go to the strawberry patch down the road.  There were several rows of red ripe berries along with a big sandbox for the kids and of course a funnel cake stand with fresh strawberry topping.
Avery was pretty interested in picking the strawberries... for about 5 minutes.  Then she was ready to try out the sandbox.  She watched the other kids digging in and decided it might be fun..... get this....she wanted to take her shoes OFF.  Now keep in mind last summer at the beach, she wouldn't go near the sand without her shoes and insisted on sitting on a towel.  She's growing up so fast :)

Thanks Aunt Lisa for our yummy strawberries!

 

We had to pause for dirt in her shoe.

BAREFOOT!!

2 year old pictures

We had some more pictures taken by Lauren Cardwell  a few weeks ago once Laura got done with her travels.  There were so many good ones I am going to have to break it down into several posts.  Here are some of my favorites of just Avery.

China Doll

Laura had bought Avery this dress during her trip to china.  It has been hanging up in our room for the past month.  Everytime Avery would pass by it, she would say "Look at my dress, soooo pretty!"  We would ask her if she wanted to wear it and she always said no.  Finally this past weekend for whatever reason she said yes and we got to put it on her.

Laura told her to hold her hands like this.

 Obviously you should put on your finest crocs and go on an Easter egg hunt when you are dressing up in your Chinese dress.

 Getting sassy with it, showing off the tummy.

Mother's Day

This year we were able to spend Mother's day at my Mom's house along with my brother and sister.

My mom being far more patient then us with Avery potty training.  Avery then took a large stuffed bear and sat him on the toilet, read him books, and occasionally lifted him up to see if he did anything.

 Mom and her two granddaughters.

 Miss Anna Kate was on her best behavior and even gave a few smiles to anyone that held her.

Party

This past weekend we went to Raleigh to hang out with some friends and their kids as it seems like whenever we get together the kids get left behind.  We cooked out (thanks to the Geo's for hosting) and let the kids run around like crazy people.

Avery getting a hug from Morgan.

 Who wants to Rock?!?!

 Macey getting a bite of her dad's cheeseburger.  She seemed to eat anything as opposed to our little toddler who refuses to eat most days.

The Marshall-Sawyer orchestra.

 Avery and another future not-boyfriend, Ant.

Running

This was before she got on the horse.  She was pretty excited to be there.  She decided to sprint around the barn with a big goofy grin.

Horses

So this past weekend we were in Vass to visit Laura's family and for Laura to go to a bridal shower.  While we were there, Laura's mom arranged for Avery to spend some time with a mini-horse.  Whenever we are in Vass, Avery has to participate in feeding the horses with Laura's dad and must visit them several times a day.  However, as you can imagine large horses are a bit tough for her to take in and interact with.  

So enter Bucky...  He is a mini-horse with a good personality and good for little kids.

Avery got to prepare him for riding.  First thing was to brush his coat.

 Then she cleaned out his hooves so there were no rocks.  She also brushed his tail.

 When we asked her if she wanted to ride, she of course said, "Yeah!"  We didn't get a lot of big smiles while she was on the horse because she was concentrating pretty hard.

A proud Mimi getting her grand daughter hooked on horses.  

 Pointing out what direction that she wanted to go.

 Here is a good smile.

 Telling Bucky that he was a good boy.

Mommy, the World Traveler (part 1)

I don't usually travel that much with my job and when I do, it's usually inside the US.  However, recently I had the opportunity to go to China to visit suppliers and go to Sweden to visit the global headquarters.

I flew to Shanghai on a Saturday morning and arrived Sunday night (12+ hour flight and I flew forward in time another 12 hours).  I was met the next day by a Bona colleague from China (he spoke English) and a colleague from Denver, CO.  We visited the plants that make our mops, trigger spray on bottles, and cleaning pads.  We (the guy from Denver and I) also had a few hours to go to the "copy markets" and bargain for some trendy handbags and scarfs.  The last day we took the subway and powerwalked out to the river to see the view before it was time to head back to the airport and everything in between was work with a few good meals scattered in.  Yes, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the food I was served.  They didn't try to shock me as much as my first visit (different company).
Luckily, I had the whole tourist thing under control (my male US travel partner was no help) because my awesome husband made me a Google map of my hotel and nearby attractions, along with downloading a few Shanghai Metro apps on my phone.  A city with 30 million is a bit intimidating.  Even if you see things that remind you of home, it's not the same... i.e. KFC for lunch.

An ally downtown with lots of shops and restaurants.

Shanghai World Financial Center a.k.a world's largest bottle opener.  (This is the "modern" architecture side of the river)

This is view from "modern" side looking to the "old" side, but nothing in this city is really that old.

One night for dinner, we were invited to the Bona Asia Celebration Dinner.  Many Bona customers/distributors were invited to eat a big meal and listen to the "band" -- pretty sure they covered Nirvana, The Eagles, The Beatles, and various other top 40 artists.

Yes, I tried the fish.  All of our meals were served "family style" so the dishes were placed in the center of the table and you could pick and choose what to eat.  It's the best way to get to taste everything and only go back for seconds on the good stuff.  

Bona Shanghai office.

More lunch photos:  Lotus root - sweet and tasty.  I did not try the dish with tentacles.

A booth at a market in Qingdao.

Just to prove that I really did some work, here's a shot of an assembly line.