The Christmas Spirit

Ava immediately got into the Christmas spirit right after Thanksgiving. No, not with shopping on Black Friday. Rather, Ava helped Grandma and Grandpa pick out a tree at the Boy Scout lot in Oakland.

In Irvine, mommy, daddy, and Ava all went to Irvine Regional Park to ride on the Christmas Train, meet Santa, and eat cookies.

In Torrance, Grammy and Poppy took Ava to visit Santa again and to see some of the neighborhood Christmas light displays.

This past Sunday we headed to our local Christmas tree lot in Irvine and found a wonderful tree.

Back at home, Ava helped decorate the tree and has enjoyed playing with our train.

On Tuesday night, Ava gave her first ever public singing performance at Good Shepherd Preschool's annual Christmas Concert. Ava got to stand right up front in the first row.

After some initial trepidation walking up to the stage, she did a great job singing a number of Christmas classics as well as some new songs.

Ava's First Pet

Poppy recently rescued a Mojave Desert Tortoise that was lost on the streets of Torrance. On her visits to Grammy and Poppy's house, Ava has helped care for the tortoise which they named Divot. While we hope Divot will eventually be returned home or back to the desert, in the meantime Ava is enjoying spending time with her new pet.

Trick Or Treat

For Ava, Halloween encompasses much, much more than just dressing up for one day. Instead, it is a monthlong celebration. You can never visit too many pumpkin patches or have too many activities.

Ava started by visiting Irvine Regional Park with a number of friends, riding the train, playing games, and winning a blue monkey.

Next up was the Irvine Great Park Pumpkin Harvest, where rode the carousel, picked another pumpkin, and got to plant turnips to take home and grow.

If that wasn't enough, Ava wen to Johnson Brothers Pumpkin Patch - not just once, but twice. Johnson Brothers has a wide assortment of activities including bounce houses, pony rides, the mechanical rides they used to have outside grocery stores, and of course more pumpkins.

At home we not only carved pumpkins, but painted pumpkins as well.

Good Shepherd Preschool celebrated crazy hair day, so Ava was a redhead for a day.

Ava's playgroup had a party at the Duck Club where everyone got to wear their costumes.

It was a great opportunity for Cinderella and Princess Aurora to meet each other.

Tonight was Halloween and Ava went with Mommy, Daddy, Grammy, and Poppy and walked around our neighborhood trick or treating. Ava said "Trick or Treat" at each house and thanked (with a little bit of prodding) each of our neighbors for the treats.

Apple Pickin' at Riley's Farm

We recently took a trip with Grandma and Grandpa to Oak Glen to pick apples at Riley's Farm, less than an hour and a half from our home in Irvine.

After visiting the General Store and purchasing a bag for our apples, it was off to the orchards to pick Glen Seedlings, Jonathans, and other heirloom apples.

After picking our own apples, a worker in period costume directed us on how to press our own apple cider.

We ended our little adventure with lunch at the Hawk's Head Public House in Colonial Chesterfield. It was like visiting Colonial Williamsburg in miniature.

Cheers!

Busy, busy times

September was a very busy month that included many of Ava's favorite activities.

Ava played dress-up with some of her recent birthday gifts . . .

She celebrated Daddy's birthday over Labor Day weekend with Mommy, Grammy, and Poppy . . .

She ate frozen yogurt at Golden Spoon . . .

And she visited the Polar Bear Plunge bears at the San Diego Zoo.

We also had some big, new developments.

Ava had to say goodbye to her great nanny, Maribel, who watched Ava every Monday and Friday for the last two and a half years. Maribel has made a smooth transition to another family, and Ava will hopefully get to see her on occasion in the future.

Coinciding with this change is the start of "real" pre-school for half-days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at Good Shepherd.

September also brought the start of football season, and we are hopeful that the Bruins and Raiders will bring us many things to cheer about this year.