Almost ONE!

Hot tub time with Daddy! It took awhile for her to get used to the water, but now she loves the hot tub.

Practicing with the toy from Aunt Gretchen...she is now a master and claps for herself every time she gets one of the lids in the bucket.

Grandma and Ava made a day trip to visit my Aunt Donna and Uncle Ned. They had a great time and, apparently, Ava found every sea shell that was at the beach.

She loves Uncle Ned!

On April 9th, we got the unfortunate news that Ryan's Grandma Walters passed away. We made quick plans to fly up to PA for the services. Ava was a great traveler and a wonderful house guest at Grandma and Pop-Pop's. She was also well behaved at the calling hours and the funeral (besides a little bout of hiccups).

She took a little cat nap on the way to calling hours. This beautiful outfit was given to us by PA friends and was handmade. She looked so cute!

She loves playing with Pop-Pop!

Now that I'm in training for a mini-tri, I have to motivate myself to bike, swim, and run as often as possible. This is pretty fun to come back to after a good workout.

Grandpa came to visit and we took a trip to Gumbo Limbo. This is a male juvenile loggerhead sea turtle that they are raising at the nature center. We even got to watch a volunteer feeding it squid off of a stick.

Ava loved looking at the horseshoe crabs in the mangrove tank. We also saw small bonnethead sharks (they look like hammerheads), a moray eel, and a 70 year old loggerhead turtle - who was HUGE!

Spring Break - Round #2

I was so blessed to have TWO full weeks off of school for spring break. Ava and I packed in a ton of fun things...

I finally got to take her to story time at the local library. She is a social butterfly and likes to crawl around and visit everyone before participating in lapsit with me. After songs and a story, Miss Mary gets out the toys and the kids have free reign. This is Ava, in green, amidst the chaos.

A trip to the zoo was nixed in favor of the park across the street. The public schools were on break this week and the line to get into the zoo was out to the parking lot! So Danielle and her twin boys (5 months old) and Ava and I spent a couple of hours playing at the park. Ava kissed Penton just before this photo...although it was really more of a lick. :)

Danielle LOVES Ava and can't wait for her boys to grow up (just a little bit) so that they can chase after her like Ava did.

After the park, we stopped to visit Nicky and Baby Lyla. Bandit stole the show and both he and Browser got lots of sniffing and licking in before we left.

"I LOVE TUBBY TIME!"

A visit to the nature center...checking out the turtles sunning themselves. Most other visitors were more distracted by Ava and her waving than they were by the beautiful wildlife. :)

Ryan took Friday off and we spent some family time at the park. She loves the slide!

She was checking out some big kids running around above her.

And she has figured out how to open the drawer beneath the oven....sneaky little one!

HAPPY EASTER! This beautiful dress is from Aunt Krista and Ava looked so cute in it when we went out to breakfast. Thanks Aunt Krista!!! :)

Learning how to play catch already!!!