Dad's favorite ride at Great America is the Eagler Flyer. You sit in an eagle that is suspended by wires and it goes round and round. You can turn the big fin back and forth and it will make you go higher or dive lower. Ava had her hands held high in the air and proclaimed "I am the bravest kid in the whole world." She repeated this dozens of times during the day. Mom and Dad don't know if she was the "bravest", but she certainly was one of the "happiest"!
Sunday was the grand opening of Great America for 2010. It was a beautiful sunny day and Ava, Mom, and Dad spent they day at the Amusement park. Ava was so happy to be back to all of her favorite rides from last year. This picture is from the main entrance, you can see some fountains behind Ava and a large double-decker carousel. Ava was all lathered up in suntan lotion and wearing her new beach hat that you will see for the rest of the summer. Oh, and don't forget the pink crocs which are a staple of Ava's summer wardrobe!
Ava is determined to learn how to do the hula hoop and so that she can do it next year in the Canyon Heights Academy Circus. She has been "practicing" a lot in the past week. She has learned that if you spin it hard enough it might go around once or twice before it falls to the floor. She hasn't gotten the whole hip motion down just yet, but maybe Mom can help with that!
The cats have been afraid of Ava for years. Mostly due to Ava's energy and boisterous behavior. However lately Ava has gotten much more relaxed around the cats and they are starting to warm up to her. Dena will let Ava pet her and Simon occasionally will be still for a few seconds before running for his life. The other day Ava lay down on the floor with Simon as he was napping in the sun. She pet him gently and spoke softly to him. Pretty soon the cats will probably like Ava better than Mom.
Lately Mom, Dad, and Ava have been playing games after dinner. Ava likes all of her games. Sometimes we play Uno or Operation. But her favorite game right now is a Dr. Seuss game called "I can do that". It has a little foam thing called the "trick-a-mastick" and you need to do different things. In this picture Ava had to tiptoe around the trick-a-mastick with the ball on her belly.
Sunday was an Easter egg hunt! One of Mom's friends had a big Easter egg hunt at her house and lots of children were there. Ava wore little fuzzy bunny ears and used Dad's Easter basket from when he was a little boy. Ava found a bunch of eggs and had a really good time. We are looking forward to decorating Easter eggs and finding the baskets on Easter morning.
Ava had her favorite Wonder Pets with her at the beach. She pretended that they were swimming in the water.
After the boardwalk we went out and played on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The waves were a little high but Ava went out to get bucket after bucket of water. Mom and Dad were a little nervous but thought that it was probably okay. However it was not! One guy got a little brave with the waves and went out to far, then next thing we know the life guards came up with sirens on and had to swim out and rescue him! One of the buckets of water turned in to "lava" and Ava poured it all over the volcano that Mom and Ava made.
If you ask Ava what her favorite ride is at Santa Cruz she will probably say "all of them." But there are a few that we know she likes best. One of them is Dropzone. It takes you up about 20 or 30 feet in the air and then freefalls back down almost to the ground. She was a single rider and there was always one open seat so she got to go to the front of the line and ride it over and over again. She rode it about 5 or 6 times in a row!
Spring is finally here in NorCal. We made our first trip to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and beach. It was sunny and just warm enough for the beach. Ava got her year pass to the Boardwalk and rode all of her favorite rides. The first one that she always goes on is the Nascar ride. She rode it about three times in a row! She loves to raise her hands and slide to the outside of the seat on every corner. It is funny but none of the other kids on the ride look nearly as happy and smile and scream as much as Ava!
Friday was the Dad-Child Olympics at Ava's school. There were several different games set up for the Dads and children to play. The first was bouncing a ball around some playground obstacles. Ava was sure to tell me that the balls were brand new for the Olympics and not the old balls that they usually played with.
The next event was a sack race. Dad barely fit in the sack and it was actually pretty hard for Dad to hop in it. But Ava fit just fine and her feet were small so she quickly figured out that she could "run" in the sack. She was fast and ran down the field and back. The other parents thought that this was pretty cute and laughed. Some of the other children copied Ava's technique.
The third event was tricycle riding. Fortunately this was only for the children. Again Ava told me that these were the good tricycles that they only used for the Circus and the Olympics. The other tricycles were older and were kept in room 17 and that they had to go get them out when the wanted to play with them. Dad is amazed at all of the details that she knows and remembers.
The last event was balancing the buckets and walking on a crooked tape line. We each got one bucket of sand and one of water. Dad also had to put a pillow on his head. Then we walked down the crooked lines and back.
Friday was the Feast of St. Joseph. Ava's school has a special mass for all of the Dads and children. Ava was on her best behavior at mass. None of her occasional antics of talking or wiggling or anything else... Instead she was an absolute angel. After mass Ava presented Dad with a t-shirt that she made for him. It had a green frog on the front and said "I love you Daddy". Then Dad and Ava played some games that the school calls the "Dad-Child Olympics".
On Wednesday the Leprechauns must have visited Ava's classroom before the kids got to school. Everything was all messed up including turning Ava's folder upside down and putting her blanket on the chair. She thought that this was quite funny.
Ava usually gets a note from either Mommy or Daddy every morning depending on who went to work that morning. If Mom works she leaves really early so she leaves Ava a note. If Mom doesn't work then Ava is sometimes awake before Dad leaves, but if not then he leaves her a note. The note has a "good morning" and some encouragement to "be a good girl" and "do your best". Then there is usually some kind of a game, puzzle, or job. The note this morning was from Mom and the puzzle was a connect-the-dot of Linny (the Guinea Pig from Wonder Pets!) needless to say it was a big hit!
Mom got a science kit for Ava. This past weekend they did their first experiment. It was making crystals. They mixed some powder with water and it looked like they were making jello. But the next morning in the colored water were little crystals. The crystals were soft like gummi bears, but they were also shiny and actually looked like real rock crystals.
Sunday was finally another beautiful day in California after another cold and rainy couple of weeks. It was bright sun and about 65 degrees. Dad washed his truck and Mom's car. The whole time Ava played in the yard with a bucket of water and her "guys".
Ava and Dad had a couple of lucky trips in the truck this weekend. On Saturday night on the way home from dinner Dad spotted a "free" highchair on the curb. He stopped and threw it in the back of the truck. Then on Sunday on the way to the YMCA for swimming he saw a "free" baby swing on the curb. Both were in like new condition and will be perfect for the baby. Ava tested the swing out with one of her dolls!
Ava and Mom's latest craft project was to make your own candle. They did this by melting some of Ava's broken crayons with a plain white candle. The wax from the melting crayons dripped down the side of the candle and made some beautiful color patterns. Ava thought it was like lava running down a volcano. She likes to have the candle lit in the morning as a "prayer" candle.
Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. We found 8 turtles on a log lying in the sun. Ava loves turtles and exclaimed that "all turtles are named Tuck". This is because Tuck the Turtle is one of her favorite Wonder Pets characters.
We happened to find a really great playground in San Francisco just a few blocks from our hotel. It had a really tall slide. On the other side of the playground was a smaller slide. Ava ran back and forth from one to the other over and over again for about 30 minutes. Mom and Dad were both surprised that Ava would go down the big slide. In the past she has sometimes been a little scared. But this time she went running up and sliding down with no hesitation.
Riding the carousel at Yuerba Buena in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day so after checking in to our hotel we decided to walk to a little park that Mom had heard about. It turned out to be quite a great park. There was a carousel to ride. Ava loves the carousel and she rode it twice. The first time she rode on a giraffe with Mom and the second time she rode a horse with Dad.
Saturday Ava went with Mom and Dad to San Francisco for the weekend. On Saturday we had lunch at a really good deli, went to a playground and walked a bit. Sunday was breakfast then went to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Ava had a great time. Here is a picture of Ava walking in San Francisco with some tall buildings behind her.
Thursday at Ava's school was the Preschool Circus. Ava was an acrobat in a cute little purple leotard and pig tails. Her group was first in the circus so all of the parents watching were paying full attention. Ava was the first one to do the tumbling routine and did two consecutive somersaults. The next act was to walk on a white tape line, kind of like a tightrope. She held an umbrella and walked the tightrope. At the end she did a great big bow and everybody applauded!
Also from Bridgette's house on Sunday the girls fed the friendly neighborhood ducks. The ducks actually walk around the neighborhood from yard to yard. The girls fed them bread and water. There was one male and one female duck. The female got most of the food and water, the male was more suspicous and spent the time watching the girls.
