Just some pictures

He was so proud of himself when he saw his picture on the computer.


Who taught him that sign?


If only this could still be cool in another 10 years!


Superman meets Barbie. He found my grandma's pink scarf in my drawer and was running around with it. I made it into a cape and he instantly ran with his arms back to make it fly.

The Great Outdoors

Last week the four of us set out on a five day camping trip. At least five days was the plan. We were supposed to go to Door county and camp at Newport state park this year but the 9 solid days of rain and flooding here made us decide against going there. Instead we went to the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan- one of our favorite places to enjoy nature. Avery loved camping especially the getting dirty part of it. He always seemed to find piles of dirt and mud puddles. I put him in play clothes and watched him explore. The first few days there the weather was pleasant there weren't any bugs. We enjoyed a few waterfall hikes and played in the river near our campsite. We would have played in Lake Superior if the water hadn't been in the lower 40's. You couldn't even stand in it. By day three, biting black flies decided to join our camping party. There weren't all that many on day three and we were able to shoo them away. However, by day four there were thousands of them and we couldn't leave our screen area. We left our car open when we were packing and you couldn't even see the dash because there were so many flies on it. It took us days to get them out. On Monday night there was a really bad storm. The lightning and thunder looked more like a strobe light at a concert and there was three inches of rain in our tent. Scott, Avery and I rode out the storm on our air mat. We would have gone to our car like all of the other tent campers there, but our car was packed full of things and there was no room for us. The lightning struck three trees in the site next to us. I've never heard lightning strike anything- it's really loud. The funniest part- Avery slept through the whole storm and Venus was so scared she wouldn't move. She was laying on her soaking wet bed next to the door, getting dripped on and she wouldn't move. After the storm, we decided to pack up and leave. The flies had gotten worse and there wasn't anything left dry. Despite all of this, we still had fun and look forward to another camping trip next year.



This hike was near the waterfalls



We had this beach to ourselves


Getting dirty. If the picture were better, you could see the dirt all over his face.


He loves water!


His face sums up what we all thought of those black flies.


Avery discovered a juice box.

Our week with Gaven

Avery, Scott, and I enjoyed this last week with our nephew and Avery's cousin, Gaven. The week went way too fast and we kept Gaven busy. He was so tired, he asked me if he could take a nap! What nine year old asks to take a nap? The week was filled with many activities from swimming at the pool, going on bike rides, watching a parade, going on a scavenger hunt, going to the zoo, baking, playing pool, and going to the beach where they had an art cart. Gaven made a plaster mold of his face and we tried to make a plaster mold of Avery's foot. It turned out okay, but he kept pulling it out of the sand too soon. Scott was having a little too much fun with Gaven on our first bike ride when he decided to try to go down a hill and take a big jump. Just as he was going to make the jump, he crashed. With his toe clips in he did 3 flips. It was a crazy crash and he should have been hurt worse than he was. All in all, we had a great week with Gaven and the house is an eerie quiet without him.

Scott and Gaven playing dart tag. Look how small the vest is on Scott! We made up a scavenger hunt for Gaven to find his gift. It was fun watching him figure clues out.

Avery had fun playing with Gaven all week.

What a ham. Who knew that pool chalk could be so fun?

This shoe is at the park by the zoo. I thought it was cute how they were both sticking their head out the windows.

Geocaching!

Tonight Scott, Avery, Gaven, Venus and I walked around town and did a geocache. If you don't know what it is, here is a definition from the geocache website:

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.

Our adventure was to visit hidden parks in our town. We had five different cache's we had to find. Each one was hidden in a different park with a clue on how to find the next one. It's a great game that's all over the world. You just have to go to the website to find where cache's are in your area.



I'm pointing to where the clue was hidden. It was in a film canister in the hole in the tree. Gaven is holding the canister.

One Year Pictures

When we were in Duluth we went to the rose garden to take Avery's one year pictures.

A Mini Adventure

This weekend we decided on a whim to go to Duluth for our 6th anniversary. We packed up the car on Friday with kid, dog, and ferrets and headed to our home that sits vacant. Once there we met up with a friend and walked the Lake Walk and then met more friends at a restaurant. From there, we were invited to go camping on a beach right on Lake Superior. We didn't have any camp equipment, but that hardly mattered! We borrowed a tent from some friends and then packed down the rest of our bulky things. The moon over the lake was gorgeous and the s'mores were the best. Avery did great sleeping in the tent for the first time. He was even up until after 10 and he did so well! I think he loves adventures too! On Saturday we packed up and headed back to Duluth to hike, eat at a restaurant over looking the lake, go to church, and of course eat carmel apples! Canal park has this little candy shop that has the best caramel apples. I should know, I've eaten a lot over the years. In all, the trip was fun and it was great to see friends we hadn't seen in awhile. It was as if we had never left. We love the outdoors there and the fun, crazy, spontaneous friends we have.

This is where we stayed. It is a free kayaking site off of Lake Superior. Not many people know about it, so the whole beach was empty. Our site is in the trees to the right.


One friend took advantage of the beautiful night and slept under the stars.


This was Avery at 9:30; he was in a great mood!


Left to right: Caleb 6 weeks old (he's in the bouncy seat in a blanket), Rachel, Jamie, Holly, and Scott. Avery was on my back in the backpack when I took the picture. Who knows where Venus was, probably eating something dead on the beach.

A summer treat

Avery has found his new favorite food. Once we introduced him to corn on the cob, he wouldn't eat anything else at the picnic.

This week has been a lot of fun for Avery and I. Two of my high school friends, Janna and Sarah, have been staying with us. Sarah brought her two kids ages 3 and 6. It was nice for Avery to have other kids to play with and nice for me to have another adult around all day! We were quite busy going to the zoo, the pool, on walks, to the park and having a pizza party. Thank you Todd for the pizza! Layna enjoyed a craft day, rummaging through my craft bucket and Issac loved playing with Elmo and reading Elmo books. Sarah, I'm still finding glitter everywhere! In the evenings Janna came back from her class and we went to music in the park, went for blizzards, and played with Avery. By the end, Avery was exhausted and ready for a quiet house again!

We even invited Avery's friend Isabella and her dad to join us at the zoo.


Layna


Avery loved how close the goat was to him.

Cows, llamas, and rabbits- oh my!

Today we enjoyed the nice weather and went to the fair. Avery enjoyed the animal exhibits, especially the rabbits. There was a great kids area where there were a lot of hands on exhibits. I loved holding the baby ducks and Scott said he liked sitting outside and eating fried cheese curds! You can't go to a fair and not have something fried, although we both passed up the fried candy bars on a stick. There are some things that just shouldn't be fried.



He was so excited when he saw the rabbits that he couldn't get out his favorite sentence, "What's that?"


Who wouldn't have fun playing in a big container of soybeans?





I thought the llama was pretty cool.


The llamas had funny haircuts.

Avery's 1st Birthday!

It's been a great first year with Avery. There have been so many fun moments that it would be hard to list them. At least you can look back through the blog to see them. My favorite part of being a mom is watching Avery discover something new. It's so fun to watch his reaction when he figures out how to do something. His excitement is so contagious sometimes. The smallest things make him happy. Scott's favorite part is watching Avery play and laugh. I love watching them play together! Venus' favorite part is definitely the extra food she gets at every meal. The worst part of parenting so far: those long car rides when he's screaming. They are getting a little better since we turned him around; he's more content because he can see us. We had a birthday party for him on Saturday at a park back home. It was a monkey theme to go along with his blog and banana pictures. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed all the company! Thank you to everyone who came and made his first birthday a special one.

Monkey cupcakes


He was full from all the other food, so he just played with his cupcake


Avery playing with his friend


Playing at the park


Opening gifts. He loved this monkey. When he opened it, he hugged it and laughed.


Off for a ride in the wagon Grandma and Grandpa Davis gave him. As you can see from the picture, he had to take the monkey from his birthday along for a ride.

Avery and Banana at 12 months

Here is the last picture of Avery with Banana. I will only be taking them once a year now. We'll see how excited he is to take a picture with the banana when he's 12 and 13. I'll post more birthday pictures tomorrow.

Climbing Rocks!

Now that he's getting walking down, it's time to start.........



CLIMBING!!!!! Since this is one of our favorite sports, we do hope Avery likes it too. What boy doesn't like to climb rocks?

Look Who's Walking

Happy 4th

Fun at camp Rosedale

Avery loves when we go to the mall in Roseville and it has nothing to do with shopping. The mall has a great kids' play area and he gets so excited when we take him there. He loves crawling through the tree tunnel and sitting in the canoe. There is also a bear statue at one of the stores and every time he sees it he makes a growling noise.