Birthday Party...

Avery had her 2nd birthday party on Saturday. She had a few friends over and we had a great time, despite the rain that kept us all inside. She insisted on a Dora theme, so here she is getting ready for her friends to get here...

Baby Brady and Rory had fun playing with Avery's toys...

And our neighbor Owen came by too...

Here is Avery while we were singing Happy Birthday. She loved it!

It was really funny how long it took her to figure out how to blow out this one candle. Maybe by next year she'll have it figured out!

Avery's friend Sam helped out by handing her presents to open...

And Delaney helped her open them...

Avery got a cute outfit from Beau and Sarah, which she immediately had to try on...

Here's the new shirt, and the first of her new birthday toys she got into. She LOVES "Mrs Tato"!

Happy Birthday Avery!!

Visiting Grandma Connie in Michigan

We just got back from a nice vacation to Michigan. We spent time with Grandma Connie, went up North to see Jon's mom and sister and their families, went to my grampa's cottage, and then ran all over the Detroit area visiting our friends. It was so great to see everyone! We took a ton of pictures, so the ones that I didn't post on the blog can be found in this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/robertahorne1/MITrip_May2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfN--LDiobh8gE&feat=directlink





Here is Avery with Gramma Connie by the lake....





Avery was so excited to get to go swimming in her new Dora swim ring....




The first night we arrived there was a carnival near my mom's house. Avery was so excited!!

Avery's first carnival game. Every kid is a winner...

Here she is on her first ride. She LOVED this train!

And the swings were fun too!

Since we spent so much time in the car driving all around the Detroit area that week, we also visited a lot of playgrounds to wear her out...

My mom had her sister and 2 brothers and their families who live in MI over to visit one day. It was so nice to see everyone!

After everyone left, uncle Nick taught Avery some card tricks...

Avery loved going on a boat ride!!

And here is Avery on her first canoe trip. Thanks Linda for the life jacket...she kept quoting Dora "lifejackets, so we can be safe!"...

Here are some good shots of Avery with Grampa Bob and Gramma Connie. She misses you guys already!

Mackinac Island

We had a great, but short, visit with Jon's family in Mackinac. The first night Avery had fun swimming with Katie and Jackson...

Then we went out to buy some fudge....

We went to the island the next day. Here are Jon and Avery with Katie, Jackson, Grampa Warren, Grandma Kathy, and Uncle Marcus up at Fort Mackinac...

Here is Avery on her first bike ride! She loved it!!!

I, on the other hand, was scared to death. Have not been on a bike since 8th grade....

On our bike ride, we stopped to hike up to Arch Rock...

I love these shots of the kids. They are so photogenic!

We also made it up to see the Grand Hotel. I love this place!

Here's Jon with his mom and sister...

Visiting the Pope's

On a visit up north to see Grampa Hank, we took a walk down to the Lueck's old cottage. The coins that Grampa Jack tricked us with every summer were still there, and I couldn't resist asking Avery to pick up those coins. She was so frustrated (the have been cemented in for over 20 years!)....





Here's Avery at Benway Lake...

We took a walk through the enchanted forest. Here is Avery with Grampa Lee...

Avery spent 10 minutes at this bridge looking for the "grumpy old troll"...another Dora reference...

We have to stop saying "cheese" because this is the face we always get from Avery when we do...

This is something every parent of a toddler needs! Basically a hampster wheel for children!!

We had a great dinner out with the family. It was so nice to see everyone!!

Back down near Grampa Lee's we found another park. Avery loves to serve coffee at the playground...

Visiting friends in MI...

We also had a lot of fun visiting our friends in MI. Here are some pictures from the times I remembered to get my camera out...

Avery loved hanging out with Daniel and Maria, even if she was getting close to nap time....


Along with a ton of Dora toys and books, Maria also gave Avery an early birthday present - a matching outfit. They were so cute!!

We had a great dinner with the Russell's! Avery loved running around with Jake and spraying water everywhere!

We also had a nice visit with Dana. I think Avery was showing Dana one of her many 'owies' in this picture...

We went to the zoo with the Brazaski's. By the end of the day, Avery and Samantha were best friends!

Here we are with Becky, baby Gavin, Micky and Sammie...

She loved wearing my sunglasses....

We could barely get them off this turtle!