Ava & Mila

Howdy partner! Our little Ava is now 98 weeks old and on a road trip!

We hit the road the day after Thanksgiving with Carrie, Yoda and the Airstream. David had a show to play on Sunday so he would meet up with us half way through the trip. The first day was mostly a driving day. We made a couple pit stops and ate dinner in Palm Desert but made it all the way to Phoenix in one day. Dan did most of the driving at night so Ava wouldn’t be stuck in the car all day long. But when she was awake in the car, she was happy if she had a snack in hand and a movie playing on her new portable DVD player. Ava’s very first movie ever was watched on this day. And it was Finding Nemo. We fast-forwarded through a couple ‘scary’ scenes because those Pixar/Disney movies are a little more violent than I remembered. Well anyways, Ava loved them so much that I think we watched Nemo at least five times. Which meant that Dan ‘listened’ to movie 5 times. In addition to snacks and movies, we also passed the time by singing the ABC and Happy Birthday songs.

We woke up bright and early on Day 2 of our trip to Christmas music blasting through the speakers in a Walmart parking lot. Yes, we spent the night in a parking lot. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Plenty of RVers make use of Walmart if they are driving a long ways. Plus, there is 24-hour security and bright lights so it’s as safe as you can hope for. We walked over to a little breakfast place across the way in the morning and Ava found a ‘playground’ of rocks to enjoy herself in. She kept throwing the rocks up in the air, in hopes of catching a few in her new hat.

We were on our way to Tuscon after breakfast but since we have a toddler and cat with us, we can no longer just drive to the next destination. We need to make pit stops now which makes our drives even longer but makes our days way more exciting… for all of us. Our first sight-seeing stop of the day was the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. If you think ostriches are sweet gentle creatures, you are dead wrong. These guys will take your hand off if you are not paying attention. Ava trusted her instincts and stayed far away from them. She didn’t let those sweet long eyelashes fool her.

As you saw in the miniature donkey video last week, Ava kept away from all the animals at the farm. If they got too close, she would run. But she did feed one animal for the first and last time. This sweet little deer. I think its tongue kind of freaked her out.

And forget about feeding the lorikeets. Ava really kept away from them. They were screeching so loudly for nectar and so open about landing on all body parts that Ava knew better than to hold one of those nectar cups we were begging her to hold.

After a long stretch of highway, we made it to Catalina State Park. Ava didn’t like all the dips in the road as we were driving there. I had to hold her hand during each dip. But once we got there, Ava was a happy camper. Not sure if she remembers this place, but we first camped here back in January. Yes, the trip that she got sick on.

On Day 3 of our road trip, Ava got funny. Real funny. While we were waiting outside of the Airstream, I noticed that Ava started to pick her nose. Something she really doesn’t do. Then out of nowhere, she pulls out her finger, examines it and exclaims ‘I GOT ONE!’. I died laughing. She must of picked that up at daycare and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to spring it on us. So proud.

When we camp, we do a lot of drawing in the dirt with sticks. Carrie ended up drawing a smiley face and asked Ava what it was. And what response did Ava give? She said ‘DADA!’. I died again. So so true, Ava. It is Dada!

After wiping the tears from our faces, we headed to the Sonora-Arizona Desert Museum. We got there just as Ava fell asleep in her car seat. Bad timing. So I ended up holding her or pushing her in the stroller for most of our visit. Here we are looking at wolves. Mexican Gray wolves, I think. As soon as we left the exhibit, Ava asked me where Little Red Riding Hood was? HAHAHAHA. I told you she was getting funnier!!

The one exhibit that really woke her up from her no nap sleepiness were the prairie dogs. This is the place where she fell in love with her sleeping buddy. She loves that thing so much that we bought her an extra one, just in case she loses it one day and freaks out.

For dinner, we got invited to a fellow RVers house. Ava ended up falling in love with their daughter Emma. They did a lot of running and jumping and twirling and rolling around together. Emma even gave Ava one of her dolls before we left their house with our full bellies.

Day 4 of our trip started as all of our mornings do. Ava screaming from her tent in the hallway for me and some milk. I move her into the bed with Dan as I warm up some milk on the stove top for her. Then I climb into bed, she drinks her milk and then hands her empty sippy cup to Dan. For some reason, she insists on giving the sippy to Dan and not me anymore. Not sure why. It is now Dada’s job to take her empties away. Then after that, we try to keep quiet so Dada and Carrie can sleep in a little bit longer. It is 6:30am after all. There will be no sleeping in for Ava, vacation time or not. But keeping a toddler quiet is no easy task. She likes to roll around the bed, head butting us. Well, mostly Dan. She also likes to yell ‘Dada, wake up’ and ‘Dada, walk’… on top of yelling ‘Carrie?’ over and over again.

We headed into town for some sight-seeing. First stop was the Hotel Congress. I prepped Ava for some ghost hunting before we climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor. She said she saw a man in the hallway but couldn’t decided if he was wearing shoes or not. I know it’s kind of weird that I ask Ava to tell me if she sees dead people but I think it’s there in kids for a reason. And if she ever sees my favorite great-grandmother in whole wide world, I sure want to know about it and say hello. Wouldn’t you?

After the hotel, we drove a little ways out of town to visit the San Xavier Del Bac Mission. And just like the day before, Ava fell asleep just a few minutes before arrival so she was a bit out of it when we arrived. Nap time is hard when you are out and about! If you are ever in the Tucson area, you must go see this mission. It is just lovely. The place seemed so familiar to all of us. Not sure why but it just did.

The inside was just as spectacular if not more. As soon as we walked into the church, Ava looked at the massive ceilings and knew this was the perfect place to yell ‘ECHO!’. I thankfully caught her just in time and told her that in churchs, we whisper. And guess what? It worked like a charm.

This has to be my new favorite Ava photo. Saying shhhh, the wrong way. I could just eat her up. Umm ummm ummmmm.

You know how we felt that the mission seemed familiar? Well we thought it might have been in the beginning scenes of Tombstone. But we were wrong. Ava and I played outside while Dan was reviewing the movie. Ava walked into the Airstream just as Dan was turning the TV off and caught a glimpse of some of the actors. And do you know what she said? She pointed at them and said ‘Barba Frank’!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Dan and I started to cry. Barba Frank is my uncle with a mustache. Maybe the only man Ava knows with a mustache. So in her eyes, all men with mustaches are Barba Frank. God, I love having a kid with one-liners.

We had to do our dishes outside on this night of our trip. Our gray water tank was full because we didn’t realize we were being so wasteful. The three of us walked to the dish washing area but Ava refused to walk near us, let alone hold our hands. I told her she had to stay near because of coyotes. Her eyes got really wide and she shot up Dan’s leg in a blink of an eye. Oh oh. I wasn’t expecting that reaction. For the next several nights, she refused to step on dry land if it was dark outside.

On Day 5 of our trip, we were headed out of Tucson and onto Bisbee. Ava fought her nap in the car. Bad. Luckily, her Uncle David was meeting up with us today after his 12 hour bus ride to save the day. We popped in his CD (who am I kidding, it never leaves the CD player) and she fell asleep within minutes. Oh, and the CD always has to be his second album. She still refuses to believe his first album is actually him.

As soon as we arrived to our next destination, a vintage trailer park called the Shady Dell, Ava hopped into Carrie and David’s trailer…

…and had a tea party.

Day 6 of our road trip was going to be a mellow one. We woke up and explored the property. Here are the two troublemakers playing in the gazebo…

… and throwing leaves. I packed tons of toys for Ava in the Airstream but she hardly touched any of them. She preferred to explore her surroundings with all of us. And scrapped her knees a few times doing so.

Next, we headed into town for some Mexican Food. The restaurant had a gumball machine that had all of her favorite Nickelodeon characters in it. Whenever we pass a gumball machine, we just look. We never put money in. That way, we avoid all possibility of crying and begging for money.

Someone must of spiked my lemonade because during lunch I put money in the machine. Twice. Say hello to Diego and Pablo. They are covered in lead paint. I just know it.

After lunch we took Diego and Pablo and Ava to the center of town to climb around the old mining carts. She loved it.

No nap time for Ava in the car today. We set up her tent on top of our bed so she could have a proper nap. Yoda liked that idea too.

Here are Ava and Yoda bird and cat watching on Day 7 of our road trip.

And here we are just hanging out in the morning before our day of activities begin.

One of Ava favorite games to play is still ‘pas party’. We only brought 5 out of the 10,000 stuffed animals with us but it still did the trick.

Next stop. Tombstone. Check us out. We all had fake mustaches. It was awesome… and a little itchy too. We were the big hit in town that day.

Especially Ava. She wore it the entire time we were filming our yet to be released movie around town.

I’m actually surprised that she didn’t call herself Barba Frank all day long. Hehe.

Well, Tombstone was awesome. Come back tomorrow for the continuation to our trip. Yeah!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am by mama marlene and is filed under airstream, family, News, trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.