California trip

1872 miles later...we are back from our trip to California. It was such a great trip, sight-seeing and visiting family. Below are just a few of our highlights of the trip. The rest of our pictures can be seen at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/robertahorne1/CaliforniaTrip2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNSq1MG6u9SG4gE&feat=directlink




Our first stop was in northern CA where we hiked through the Redwood forests at a tourist spot called the Trees of Mystery. Avery was afraid of the huge Paul Bunyan statue, and she kept calling him Paul Onion...

We took a gondola ride up to the top of the trees...

We drove through a redwood tree! These trees were so amazing!!

Next, we drove down to the bay area and spent a few days with Avery's grandma Kathy. We rented a little condo near the beach in Aptos. It was so beautiful! We saw so many dolphins and seals swimming so close to the shore.

Avery had a blast swimming in the waves and making sand castles!

Avery was also so excited about all the 'vacation food' we got to eat all week. Now we all need a detox diet after all the fast food and ice cream we had on the road!!

We also got to visit the Monterey aquarium with Grandma Kathy. Avery's new favorite animal is the Sea Horse...

After we left the beach, we met up with the rest of Jon's family in Oakland who were in town for Brenna's wedding. We spent one morning with the Paul family at the zoo. Avery had so much fun running around with her cousin Calvin.

Avery played lots of games of Ring Around the Rosie!

Avery was the flower girl at Brenna's wedding. She actually made it down the isle on her own and sat through the whole wedding without making too much noise. We were so impressed!!!

Avery was a trooper with all the driving. We tried to plan a lot of our trips at nap time which worked out well. We will be putting our Baby Beluga CD to rest for a while though...I'm pretty sure she made us listen to it at least 50 times!!!

Hiking and swimming...

We've had great weather these past couple weeks. One day we went on a hike in a state park in Portland. Avery walked the whole trail!







Here's my little tree hugger...

She also stopped to pick up every stray stick she saw on the path. This was a long hike!!

After hiking we had a nice picnic in the park...

Avery has also been really helpful around the house. Here she is helping Jon mow the lawn....

We also started swim lessons again. Avery loves the pool! And she has no fear - she loves to jump in already....

We also had a great time playing in a fountain downtown with our playgroup friends...

More birthdays....

We've had lots of birthday party fun these past couple of weeks. First, Everett turned 2 and had a Mickey party...




Here is Avery right before she stuck her finger in Everett's cake....

Next, we went to Rory's 1st birthday party. Rory is teething and for some reason this empty bottle was all he wanted to chew on. And Avery swiped my lemonade. We couldn't resist the picture....

Yummm....more birthday cake....

In Avery's playgroup, the kids mostly turn 2 in June and July, so we had our annual birthday party for all the kids this past week. Here are a few of them waiting for dinner...

Avery's friend Holly (in the pink) gave her a nice art kit for her gift. This picture is from when we told Avery to say "thank you" to Holly, and she walked right by Holly and said thanks to Hannah and gave her a hug! Hannah/Holly...the thought was there at least...

Oh yeah, another party...MORE cake!!!

This is an old picture from Avery's birthday. Jon was working that day, so we met him downtown at the Children's museum for a special lunch, and played around for a bit first. Avery found some dress up clothes and a fake microphone...and BELTED out "twinkle, twinkle little star" in it's entirety on the play stage. She even got a nice round of applause from all the parents who were there with their kids. SO....since they obviously liked it, she continued to sing it just as loud 3 more times!