The Hokey Pokey

Ava knows so many songs and one that we sing a lot is The Hokey Pokey.  She loves putting her arms and legs in and out and then turning around in circles just to say, "One More Time!"

During Ava's afternoon nap today, Travis had not turned on the monitor but could hear her singing in her bedroom.  He turned on the video monitor to find that Ava had once again escaped from her sleep sack, taken off her diaper and was standing up and dancing around her crib singing The Hokey Pokey.  Gotta love this little girl and her fun sense of humor. 

Ava's 2nd Trip to Florida

Ava took her first plane trip at 10 months old and we flew to Orlando for a week.  My Aunt Karen and Uncle George moved to Florida in 2010 and they chose a wonderful community to live in outside of Orlando in Davenport.  While they are nice enough to come and visit us a couple of times a year, I wanted to go down and see them.  Last time we went in August and it was still the middle of Summer for them so we thought we would wait until the weather was a little cooler this time for our visit.  We flew down the day before Halloween and while it was in the 60's when we left, it got up to 90 when we were in Florida.  It felt so strange to me that on November 1st, we were headed to the outdoor pool to go swimming.  We did not have as much time for this trip and stayed four nights, but we enjoyed every minute of our family time.

One of the great perks to living in a community like my Aunt and Uncle do, there a lot of retired Disney workers who live there and Larry was nice enough to get us in Magic Kingdom at no cost on Halloween.  I was worried that the park would be crowded, but it was a perfect day to go in the mid-80's and no lines!  Ava was able to ride The Carousal, Dumbo, It's a Small World, and Goofy's Barnstormer Roller Coaster several times.  We also enjoyed a show at Cinderella's Castle, and the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Parade as well as some ice cream.  We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours which was plenty of time for a 2 year old.

 Belle's Castle in the new Enchanted Forest.

 Ava rode her first Roller Coaster.  I do not believe that many 2 year old's normally ride this as the height requirement is 36 inches and Ava barely made it at 37 1/2 inches, good thing she is tall for her age.  She loved it so much she rode it twice and the second time they sat in the front.  She is still really little and you cannot see her in the below picture but she is sitting in the front with Travis.

 Ava had to dress up as Minnie Mouse since it was Halloween.

As we were leaving, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was starting and we got to see Cinderella's Castle change for this.

 

 On Friday, Ava went to Coffee and Doughnuts at the Clubhouse with Aunt Karen and Uncle George in their golf cart while Mommy and Daddy got to sleep in.  We later went to the pool and that afternoon we were treated to dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue at Disney's Fort Wilderness.  The food was served out of fire side skillets and they served yummy comfort food and Ava could not keep her eyes off the Wild West performers.

 We finished the day off with a horse drawn wagon ride around Fort Wilderness.

We enjoyed Saturday by hitting up our favorite eateries with breakfast in Celebration and dinner at Giordano's,  We finished the trip by heading to the Club House Saturday evening and dancing at the Hoedown that they had that evening.

Ava had so much fun on the trip and while we did not fly home during her nap time, she was passed out 5 minutes after taking off and slept on me the entire flight back.

Fall Festivities!

It's fall ya'll in the South and I love the smell of autumn in the air and the beautiful colors of the leaves changing that we get to enjoy in Middle Tennessee.  We have had a busy October, nothing unusual for us, and have enjoyed a lot of fun activities each weekend. 

Travis went on a boys trip to Atlanta for the first weekend in October to see the Braves so Ava and I left for a weekend in East Tennessee to spend time with Mimi, Uncle Chace, Aunt Mandy, and Uncle Matt.  Mimi treated us to homemade apple sauce and apple pie and we spent a great afternoon at Warriors Path State Park's children's playground.

The next weekend Uncle Christopher, Aunt Emilie, and cousins Joseph, Jacob, and Denbigh came in town and we all stayed at Nana and Papa's for the weekend.  They arrived Thursday evening and we brought Ava over a night early so she could spend the night and have all day on Friday to play with her cousins.  They arrived Thursday after dinner and while Ava had already eaten, Nana and Papa ordered pizza for everyone else.  Ava and Jacob were upstairs playing with the train set when Nana came up and asked Jacob if he wanted pizza and Jacob said no.  Ava looked at Jacob in disbelief and said, "Jacob, pizza!  PIZZA Jacob, PIZZA!", and then Ava told Nana that she would like some.  The rest of the weekend involved Ava following her cousins around which made her one happy little girl.  Sunday afternoon we went to Cheekwood for their Fall Harvest and to check out their Scarecrows.  Ava also enjoyed looking at all of the different pumpkins, playing in the tree house, and watching the choo choo train.

The third weekend we in October we went to Avery's 5th Birthday party at Bounce U followed by a quick trip to Gentry's Farm. 

The last weekend in October we rested.  Ava went to Nana and Papa's Friday night so Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a date night with our friends Dan and Andrea.  We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing in preparation of our BIG trip to Florida for Halloween!