Hi. I’m Ava and today’s weekly post will be a bit delayed. You see, we were in Las Vegas and need a few days of rest. Especially my Dada. Shhh, he’s sleeping.
Blankie? Check. Prairie Doggy (in the form of a naked doll… hehe)? Check.
So today is the last of our video week series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. I saved our favorite for last. This is a little video from our camp trip also. In this video, Ava keeps repeating ‘Dada, run like this‘… and the little dance she does at the start is my favorite thing in the whole wide world.
All you need for this video are two words: Dancing Queen.
Here is a little something from our most recent camping trip to Malibu Creek State Park. In this video, Ava pretends to be Dora while Dada is Swiper/Boots and I’m the Map. Check out her dancing and jumping skills too. Plus pistachio shells and pretending to be a kitty cat. All in under 2 minutes. I never said we didn’t have ADD.
Welcome to the beginning of video week!
Signing Ava up for swim class was a good move on our part. It didn’t teach her to swim but it did get her pretty comfortable with the water. Here she is jumping into the water the way she is supposed to… by getting out of the pool using the elbow elbow knee knee technique and then waiting for me to count to three before she jumps into the pool.
And here is Ava doing it a bit differently during the last swim class of the series… by adding a special dance and falling into the pool instead of jumping. Silly Ava.
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Our little camper is now 125 weeks old!!!
Ava’s 125th week began on Friday just as she was getting up from her nap at school. And here she is making her bed. Yes, making her bed. Something she has never done at home. Her teacher has magical powers, I think.
For the past week or so, I can not take a picture of Ava at school without her friends wanting to be in the picture… and then look at themselves right afterward. Cheese.
And Dan can’t get out of the room without making the kids laugh… and on Friday, helping the other Ava with her shoes. What a nice guy.
On the way out of school, Ava was wondering why we weren’t parked in our normal spot outside of the building. Why were we walking down the block? As soon as she saw our Airstream down the street, she got very excited. Yeah for camping!
We spent the weekend at Malibu Creek State Park. It was amazing up there. The hills were green. Wildflowers were blooming. And we were in vacation mode. Once Dan finished setting up the Airstream, we headed out to explore the campground.
We walked over to the group campfire area to play on the stage. Ava had a blast pretending to be Dora while Dada took turns being Boots and Swiper and I was the Backpack. After lots dancing and jumping, she ran over to the benches and before long…
… had multiple splinters in her hand. Her first… and second and third and fourth. Ouchie.
After lots of screaming and crying (from all three of us), Ava had a Dora band-aid… and preceded to flip us off show us her boo-boo all weekend long.
For the rest of the evening, we stayed nice and safe indoors.
No splinters in here… I hope.
As soon as it got dark, it was bedtime… but not before someone wanted to say good night to the moon.
On Saturday, we packed up some snacks and went on a hike through the local mountains with our buddy Nicole.
The hike was probably longer than we should have went on but we took lots of stops along the way. There was a visitor’s center with different types of stuffed wildlife… like this scary coyote.
And a bridge that had a creek running under it. Little did we know what was coming up.
What the?
The wide and smooth hiking path turned into a rocky, muddy one-person lane. Oh boy. Poor Dada had to carry Ava in his arms for about half a mile…
… and SUPER nicole carried the stroller with her bare hands. I think someone is going to get a cape for their birthday!
And me? I was in charge of carrying Baby #2 and telling the others when to stop for breaks.
After about 3 miles, we made it. We made it to the old site where they used to film the TV show and movie M*A*S*H. There wasn’t much there besides two rusty trucks and a shed full of pictures but it was nice to have final destination.
After a few rounds of ‘on guard’, we were off to the bottom of the hill again.
Ava did great on the hike. She wanted to stay in the stroller the entire time until the last mile… where she practically ran and danced down to the end.
To reward ourselves with a job well done, we went to the Cheesecake Factory to refill our bodies with all the calories that we lost along the hike.
Back at the campsite, Ava was hopped up on whip cream and ready to play.
Lucky for us, Super Nicole was still in full effect and had more energy to burn with her.
Ava was also busy finding airplanes overhead…
…and telling us to be quiet because the bees were sleeping in their ‘house’. Shhh.
Before we knew it, our weekend was over and we were back home. I set-up Ava with sidewalk chalk and toys outside to entertain her while we did some cleaning but she had other plans. Helping us clean was way more fun for her.
On Monday we were back to the grind and back to the coffee shop too…
… for some whip cream. I think my pregnancy cravings are screwing up my kid. 
After school, it was back to play time too. This week, Elmo turned in a tower destroying monster.
Bedtime has reached a new normal. I can now say good night to Ava (after a few songs) and have her fall asleep on her own. But I need to leave the door cracked open the entire time… which I never had to do before.
After an ultrasound this week, Ava started to shove her doll Mariana under her dress as if she is pregnant too. And during the ultrasound, Ava said hello to the baby several times. Baby #2 is looking good. He or she is already 2 pounds 12 ounces, which is in the 71st percentile. Yes, percentiles already. Sad, huh?
And back at school, all the kids (but Ava) are still obsessed with getting their picture taken.
There is a list at school where all the kids got to say what their favorite vegetables are. Ava said apples, bananas, corn and watermelon. First off, 3 out of the 4 are fruit. And watermelon? She spits that out every time.
On Wednesday, we hosted a play date dinner at our house. The girls and boys still tend to play separately. But this week, Ava got Matheus to join the girls with a little game called Super Buddy.
It’s a long post. I know. But we did a lot this week. Like teach Ava to crawl under the table to get to either of us. Probably not a good idea but our poor backs are grateful.
At the end of the week, we filled our bellies with Mickey Mouse pancakes…
… changed into our poo-jamas, packed our Dora backpack and hit the road.
We had a quick pit stop to show off Ava’s flying skills to her Grandpa…
…before we hit the road to Las Vegas. Our as Ava likes to say Las Biggest… a.k.a. Las Veliki. Hehe. BYE!
Hi. I’m Ava.
And I am at the Santa Barbara Children’s Festival on a free pony ride.
Mama and Baby were kind enough to walk in circles with us too.
That pony was pretty cool but the one I really wanted to ride was this minature one.
And guess what? I got him.
You probably can’t tell but I am having the best time ever on this shorty pony. Giddy up mini pony.
