Go, Go, Goers!

I.Am.Pooped.  Yesterday was an eleven mile day.  And my feet hurt. But, let me back up a bit.  Both Scott and I had short work weeks...we didn't have daycare Wed-Fri of this week (Sheila was on vacation.)  I stayed at home on Wednesday, and we had a very good day...we went to the library and Ava picked up her last "summer reading challenge" prize, we got her hair cut into a cute little bob (she reminded me that we needed to cut her hair before school started...such a good little assistant!) and then they accompanied me to get new running shoes.  Both of them made quite the impression on the sales lady - she was a saint, and rolled with everything that came out of our sassy girl's mouth.  And I successfully used a gift card (for the shoes) that I've been carrying around for FOUR years.  I count that as quite an accomplishment! I asked Ava to make a "thank you" gift for Sheila for watching her this summer.  She ended up making an almost life-siz...

Ava had her reading assessment scheduled for last Tuesday night, so we finally had a chance to meet Mrs. M, her first grade teacher.  What a sweetie!  Ava is going to have a wonderful time in her class.  While Ava was being evaluated for her reading and writing skills, I got to fill out more paperwork (yay) and managed to be in the right place at the right time when the school principal accepted the ALS Ice Bucket challenge.  We really like how warm and accepting everyone is at Ava's new school - it's hard to believe school starts in just a little over a week! On Wednesday night, my "Summer of Love" event series came to an end at work.  BIW brought in Soul Asylum for the final concert, and it was awesome!  I don't remember the last time I was out at a concert BEFORE it started, but I'm glad I was for this one.  We claimed a table right in the front, and enjoyed the show from just a few feet away! It's been a low key weekend for us (fun-wise) fo...

On Monday Ava offered to come along with me to KC, so she could take notes for me at my client account review.  She was very insistent that I not leave without her, to the point of tears.  In fact, Scott had to come down and physically remove her, so I could get out the door.  This is not like Ava. So, it didn't come as a shock when Scott called me to let me know that Ava wasn't feeling well, and had spiked a fever.  No wonder there were waterworks!  She was feeling better by Wednesday evening, just in time for her to go to her last swimming lesson on Thursday night.  She still has several areas that she needs to work on, so when we put her back into lessons, she'll need to go back into the same level.  And that's ok!  When we went to the pool yesterday, she was having fun swimming on her front and her back with the noodle - as long as we focus on the "fun" part, any practice should help her for future lessons!  I did tell her that this win...

This week, we decided we needed to put a gate up at the bottom of our staircase, as G heads for them any chance he gets...and he's fast!  Can't turn away for a second, otherwise, he will have already made it up 3 stairs, in a flash!  G has also been a little cranky the last few days - I would have thought that maybe he was teething (the teeth are currently staying in his gums, happy to be inside) but I think he's actually got a little bit of a cold.  His cranky times remind me how fortunate we are that he is generally a very good-natured baby.  Even amidst all the crankiness, he managed to squeeze out his first word: mama!!  He's been making smacking sounds for a few weeks now, which helps with the "m" formation, but then he put the "ah" behind each one, and I just about fell over.  It happened while I was getting him ready for bed the other night, and when Scott came in to say goodnight to him, I told him...and then he told me he had been saying ...

We decided to spend yesterday in our neighboring state...Wisconsin!  Scott was home by 10am (worked for a few hours), G was already over at Grandma Deb's, and we hit the road by 10:30am.  We were starving, so we decided to stop right outside of Hastings, and hit a little diner for some breakfast.  Sometimes the out of the way places make the best food...and it started off our adventure on the right foot! Our next stop was to the Crystal Cave in Spring Valley.  A few of my neighbors had been there this summer, and I thought it looked like something fun and different for us to do as a family.  This was the main reason that we didn't have G with us...traveling 75' underground, in dark, damp conditions, with a baby, doesn't sound like a good time to me!  The caves were a very cool place to tour...at one point they turned off the lights for about a minute, and I'm happy to say that Ava didn't freak out.  Honestly, I was afraid I would feel a bit claust...