Family fun, and a really cool outing.

Once again, better late than never.  Here are a couple of the things you've missed over the last several weeks.

Let's start with the Really Cool Outing...

When was the last time you drove an hour and a half just to go to the zoo?  If you live anywhere but here, I'm hoping the answer is "never".  It's just a zoo, people.  But if you do live here, let me recommend packing a nice lunch and heading up to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  It's a haul, but well worth the drive.  The whole thing is built into the side of the mountain and has incredible views, but if that doesn't do it for you, maybe this will: you get to hand-feed the giraffes.  And if that doesn't do it for you, then I don't know if we can be friends, cuz hand-feeding giraffes is awesome.

This zoo is also in possession of what I'm certain is the world's fastest carousel.  After watching it spin around at what looked to me like a terrifying pace, we decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot.  Andy had some trouble catching us on camera as we went whizzing by, but I think you can get a pretty good idea what Ava thought of the whole thing from this shot.

She turned to me halfway through the ride and, smiling ear to ear, yelled, "This fun!"

To top the whole experience off, she got to pet a goat, and look into the eyes of a bear with only a sheet of glass between them.  Wildlife, up close.  We will be going back.

4th of July
4th of July weekend at Joel and Kristen's was, once again, fabulous.  Time on the lake, long walks, good food, sweet kids, and the comforting feeling that comes with knowing that everyone in the room loves your baby almost as much as you do. 

Joel even managed to talk us into taking Ava on the floating loveseat that he pulls behind his boat and confusingly refers to as "the tube".  Check out the Murphy's blog for some pictures of all of us trying it out.  And yup, that's Ava falling asleep. 
http://lisaandryanmurphy.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Joel and Kristen!  We can't wait for next year!

There's more to tell, but I need some sleep; Ava's birthday party is coming up!

So Happy Together...

I hope you can hear the title song playing in your head while you're grinning at these pictures.  And don't try to tell me these don't make you smile...

I gotta figure out how to add music to this blog.

A Brilliant (yet slightly shortsighted) Plan

I got the idea from a picture in another blog I follow:  Kid not interested in going to the grocery store?  Make them feel included; like they're part of the process.  Let them "shop" alongside you.  How much fun is that?!  So this morning I packed Ava's little plastic grocery cart into the car and headed for Target. 

She was in heaven.  She pushed her cart along behind me, smiling and waving at the other shoppers, only occasionally getting distracted enough by something to try taking off on her own.  And I felt like a genius.  Which, as I'm sure you've picked up on from reading this blog, was bound to be short lived.

Check out her right hand.  She refused to relinquish the car keys.  Drove that cart with one hand the whole time.

 What I neglected to take into account was the fact that - even under the most entertaining of circumstances - toddlers have the attention span of a wooden spoon.  It wasn't long before the cart had been abandoned, and our usual game of Cat and Sparkly-Shoed Mouse was in full swing.  I never win this game. 

After I finally caught up with her - and with far fewer tantrums than usual  - she agreed to ride in my cart and keep track of the grocery list for me. 

Yup, that's her cart in the back of mine.  I was really glad it fit.

We will be attempting this again - if only because my kid looks really cute pushing a tiny plastic grocery cart.

Irish Skies are Rainin'

Once again this year we packed up and headed to the local Irish festival to celebrate part of Ava's heritage.  Marianne was in town, so with the sun shining we arrived at the gates with high hopes for the evening: good food, a few cocktails, and watching Ava shake her groove thing to some fabulous Irish tunes.  The perfect night. 

And then came the rain.  Buckets of it.  But never one to let a little thing like weather get in the way of a good time, Ava rose to the occasion and made the best of a wet situation. 

She talked Marianne into a little game of airplane.

Marveled at the music...

Found the best splash-puddle this side of Rocky Mountains...

And showed these nice folks a thing or two about dancing in the rain.

By the time we left she was soaked from head to toe, and completely exhausted.  Not at all what had we planned, but still, the perfect night.

So from Ava and all of her Irish friends, old and new:
Bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part.

G'night.

Yum!

Ok, so once again I'm way behind and have a million things to catch you up on.  And I'll get to all that I promise, but for today, I just want to show you this...

Little Mama got her chef on tonight and made some rice krispie treats.  And after eating half a pan of them, Marianne and I are here to tell you that they are freakin' delicious.  The girl definitely has some skills.

She took the marshmallows out of the package, and measured out the rice krispies...

Did some stirrin'...

And patted the krispies into the pan.

And in the process, tasted her very first marshmallow.  Let's just say, she's a fan.

Such a fan in fact, that she never actually agreed to eat the finished product.  She happily sucked on this one marshmallow for half an hour until I finally had to scrape the remnants off her hands and face so I could brush her teeth and put her to bed. 

If you're nice to her, maybe she'll make you a batch on your next visit.  If I don't eat them all first...

A New Frontier

Our Girl is a brave one.  Swings?  The higher the better.  Carnival rides?  No fear.  Big dogs at the park?  She'd hop on them for a ride if they'd let her.  But the one thing that has inexplicably always freaked her out is - are you ready for this? - grass.  Yup, grass.  The yard has always acted as a kind of invisible fence for Baby, effectively keeping her on the porch better than any play pen ever could.  Andy has made it his life's mission to change this, and finally a few days ago...

She ran back and forth chasing the dog for a solid 15 minutes.  Victory!  Now maybe we'll work on her fear of fruit.

(Do your best to focus on the joy in her eyes, and not her mismatched pajamas.  Laundry day.)

$10 bills are magical.

Not only can they provide water park-like fun right in your own back yard (see below), but they can help snag a rocking horse at a garage sale that moves its tail, shakes its head, and makes spot-on horse noises.  Score 1 for Mommy and the Magical $10 bill!!