Grandpa's here!

Grandpa came down to Florida a couple of weeks ago, so that my mom could travel up to NY to see her mother who isn't doing well. We're so incredibly lucky to have the two of them!

It didn't take Ava very long to warm up to Grandpa.

Signing "eagle."

Where did Ava's hand go? Is it under all those beans?

Here it is!

I had the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, so Dad, Ava and I spent the morning at the Schoolhouse Museum. It used to be the actually two-story school house in Boynton Beach and has been converted to a hands-on museum with exhibits about old Florida.

Ava feeds the cow ping pong balls and then they go through the cow and come out the udders into a bucket. She loved it.

An indoor playground made to look like the mangroves and estuaries of the Everglades.

After the museum, we had a great lunch on the intracoastal. Ava and Grandpa took a walk to look at all the boats that were out on such a beautiful day.

Helping Mommy unload the dishwasher....one piece of silverware, one plate, and one glass at a time. :)

Since the tv was dedicated to football on Thanksgiving, we set her up in the office so she could watch a Baby Einstein dvd.

A Thanksgiving feast for five - including Dad and Doug.

On Friday, Ava and I hit the nature trail at Green Cay. I was hoping to get the full 1.5 miles in, but she had other ideas. We managed .5 miles, during most of which she pushed her stroller zigzagging down the boardwalk.

Taking a break in one of the chikee huts.

We all took a nice late afternoon stroll along the canal and Ava got a boost on her Daddy's shoulders.

One family in our neighborhood has bunnies that are kept outside. We always stop there on our bike rides. One day we were lucky enough to meet the owner and got to pet one of the baby bunnies. When we walk down there, Ava likes to chase them! In the video, it looks like she's trying to herd them (and not doing a great job of it). Toward the end of the video, you can see the baby bunny that looks like it's chasing her!

Since Brent and Nicky are away for the holiday, Bandit and Browser are our house guests for a few days. Ava loves them and also loves teasing them at the table. She has been really nice to them and even brings them her fake fruit to snack on.

On Sunday morning, we drove up to Lion Country Safari. It's basically a drive through zoo. Here Ava is taking a peek at the lions.

There were all sorts of animals, but I thought the rhinos were the most impressive and HUGE!

The giraffes were really cool too.

After the drive-thru safari, we walked through some of the exhibits. If you look closely, you can see the turtle that's sunning itself on the gator's back.

The highlight for me was feeding the giraffes. At 18 feet tall, we had to climb up into the observatory in order to meet them face to face.

Ava said "hi," waved, and blew them kisses.

What a wonderful holiday weekend!

November, at last!

Trying on Daddy's shorts and boots - quite the combo.

Blowing bubbles.

She may have gotten more on herself and in her mouth that she actually blew.

Trying out the new club.

She asked to use the wooden spoon with her yogurt. Needless to say, we both needed a bath afterward!

Reading with Lyla and Nicky before bed on Survivor night.

I had to throw this in, too. On Friday, my 7th graders got to use magnifying glasses to try to burn things. It wasn't just all fun and games though...they were actually studying concave and convex lenses. This is science in action!

A couple of my students are patient enough to burn shapes and letters into things. This student made a heart, a smiley face, and a "B" for Bogert. Another student wrote his whole first name on a piece of mulch! I love my job!!!!!

The Farmers' Market has been up and running the past few weekends. This Saturday, we went early and had fresh crepes for breakfast while sitting on the stoop of a local business.

YUM! Ava liked the crepe dough with powdered sugar - as you can tell from the leftover that's on her nose!

Walking back to the car with Daddy.

This is a game that the two of them like to play while I'm putting the stroller and things in the car. Ryan sits Ava on the roof and she falls off into his arms. There were lots of "one more" and "pleases" after this one. :)

Enjoying a beautiful day with chalk.

She is a great helper. Especially with laundry. She likes to load the washer and transfer clothes to the dryer.

On Sunday a bunch of my colleagues and their children met us at school for a picnic and play time. There were 11 kids (ages 1 month to 9 years) and 13 adults. We had a great time and the kids had a blast playing on the field and the playground.

Taking a break on the bench with Mommy.

Ava loved chasing this ball all over the field.

A tired, sweaty girl with chocolate chip face!

Grandpa's here! Grandma is heading up North on Tuesday so Grandpa agreed to come down and take over nanny duties. He and Ava hit it off in about 2 seconds and she was pulling him around by the finger all afternoon. Lots of giggling going on!

"Hiding" behind the stools. Not her best hiding spot, but certainly better than just pancaking herself against the wall.

The great pumpkin search and cat's meow!

We hit up The Girls' Strawberry Patch for the first pumpkins we've bought in years.

There are rescued birds there too and Ava loves them!

She's searching for the bunnies that have a burrow behind this huge pumpkin.

:)

Attempting a photo-op.

We don't get a ton of pictures together and I love this one.

In the background you can see the extensive rows of hydroponic stands. The growing season starts pretty soon!

A hippie Jeep for our cutie pie.

"This is the one!"

"And these too! But they're awfully heavy." She had to sit down and take a little break.

This afternoon, we took a break from football and headed downtown to visit this exhibit. It was all about cats - artwork, crafts, and more.

Ava pointed out all the kitties in this painting. She also really liked feeling all the sculptures.

In one room we found three huge stuffed cats and Ava took turns kissing them all and riding on the white Bengal.

In the craft room, Ava spotted this little girl and watched her playing with a cat she made. They took turns waving at each other too. :)

"Whew! I need a cat nap!"

Prior to our Sunday afternoon adventures, Ava, Daddy, and Dolly watched some Signing Times.

And then we carved our pumpkin!

She wasn't really into putting her hands in the seeds, but liked spooning the goop. She was also a good helper and picked up any seeds that dropped on the deck.

Little did we know that the cat theme would rule the day!

Happy-week-before-Halloween!