Cross at Santa Clara Univ

Huge Cross at Santa Clara University. The cross was built in 1777 when the site was a Spanish Mission. It became a university in 1852. The actual cross is encased in redwood to protect it.

Picnic at Santa Clara Univ

One of Dad's Father's Day presents was a small pocket-sized stand for the camera. Dad used it to take a picture of the family at our picnic on Santa Clara University campus.

Happy Father's Day

Dad had a wonderful Father's Day. Ava made a beautiful water color picture for Dad. The family spent the day together and went for a walk and a picnic at Santa Clara University.

Bath

Ava like to help give Sarah a bath. Sarah gets a bath every night after dinner and Ava takes a bath every other night. On days when it is Ava's bath night she likes to try to get in the tub with Sarah and help. Also this helps Sarah's bath end sooner so that Ava's can start. You may know that Ava likes to take long baths and play with her guys in the tub. Afterwards Dad does Ava's hair drying and brushing.

Crazy about Veggietales

Ava's new favorite program is Veggietales. This is Larry the Cucumber. The characters are talking vegetables and they act out stories with a biblical theme. Her class used to watch these during the lunch hours at school on rain days. But now she loves to watch them at home, play on the website, and sing the songs. Mom and Dad are afraid that it is starting to border on OCD.

Books and CDs

Sarah is now crawling all over when she wants to. Her favorite destination is the book shelf and CD rack. She likes to empty out the bottom shelves and sit amongst the treasures. She holds the books and tries to open them. For really thick books she likes to thumb the pages. Surprisingly she doesn't eat the books like her big Sis did.

Hail Mary

Visited St Eugene's Cathedral in Santa Rosa while on vacation last weekend. There was a shrine to Mary near the church and Ava spontaneously took the opportunity to offer a Hail Mary prayer to Our Blessed Mother.

Playing in the sand

Sarah didn't really know what to make of the sand at the park on vacation. She didn't try to eat it, but she made some awful looking faces, yet she couldn't stop from touching it.

Which came first...

the chicken or the egg??? Ava liked gathering the eggs from the chickens coop. She did this a few times with Christine. We learned that a chicken lays one egg in slightly longer than one day (so almost one per day). Ava would go out to the chicken coop several times a day and help collect the eggs. She was very gentle with the eggs and if you know Ava she isn't usually the most "gentle" child.

Riding bareback

Another fun thing at the farm was Ava riding on Missy the pony. Christine held the reigns and Ava rode around slowly on Missy. She was a very gentle horse and Christine explained how she treats the animals in an unconventional manner (without force) and how they respond. We saw it firsthand and it was amazing. Ava has been scared to ride a pony for years now, but she had no hesitation this time. Perhaps she was meant to be a farm kid...

Chicken farmer Ava

The family spent a three day weekend at a farm in Sebastopol (near Santa Rosa in wine country). Ava became quite a farmer. There were chickens, goats, sheep, and horses. Ava was particularly interested in the chickens. The farmer was named Christine and whenever Ava had a free moment she would run off to see what Christine was doing. Ava learned a lot and got to help with some of the farm chores.

Graduation Day!

Thursday at Ava's school was the PreK-4 graduation ceremony. Here is Ava with her friends, she was very happy and all of the parents were proud. Next stop Kindergarten.

Larry

One of Ava's favorite programs is Veggietales. It is a cartoon about Larry (a cucumber) and Bob (a tomato) enacting many Bible stories. The Dvd had a bonus feature with the cartoonist showing how to draw Larry. Ava watched it and then ran to get her paper. This is what she came up with... It is Larry acting the story of Gideon with some slight changes (e.g. Gideon plays the tuba, etc.) But the drawing and coloring is amazing, the best picture that Ava has ever drawn.

Ava's school work

From one of Ava's Friday school folders in May. She wrote sentences and drew pictures all on her own. She is pretty creative, the Cat has a crown and the dog is sleeping in a house, and there is a cloud over the ant.

Sisters at Great America

Memorial Day we went to Great America. Ava had a great time. Sarah slept a little, rode in the stroller a little, and fussed a little (more teeth are on the way). Here are the sisters with Snoopy. Dad actually felt a little sick on some of the rides with Ava. We can't wait until Sarah is bigger and Ava can take her on some rides.

Standing on her own?

Almost... if Mom helps her stand up then she will hold onto the table edge and see what she can grab or knock off. Then after a bit she lets go so you have to be right there to catch her! But it won't be long and we will have a busy baby on our hands!

Sarah's car

Mom got a car for Sarah to ride on. It has a handle that we can push with and Sarah can be buckled in. She absolutely loves it. Sunday and Monday we went to the park and Sarah rode in her car. Ava decided that she would dress in her Cinderella costume (that she usually wears one day every weekend).

Wipes!

Sarah figured out how to open the package of wipes and pull them out. She pulled out 25 of them on Saturday before Dad caught her! This was one of Ava's favorite tricks too!