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Hi. I’m Ava and we are going ghost hunting. You think I’m excited? Well, check out Carrie in the back. She’s super excited.

Where here! Where here! Hello Silver City Ghost Town!! Mama, put down the camera. We have work to do.

Ghosts? Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Ummm, hi cat. Your name is Izzy? Well, it’s nice to meet you Izzy.

Will you come ghost hunting with us? Yes? Cool!

I don’t see any ghosts on that wood pile, Izzy.

Nor do I see ghosts under this rock.

Ummm, Izzy. I really don’t think there are ghosts in the outhouse with Deets.

Silly cat. Get out of there!

Oh, the jail. Mama thinks there HAS to be ghosts in here for sure.

I see something weird up there. Look!

I’m getting the hell out of here. NOW.

Do you think this baby choo choo train is haunted?

No way. Not this baby choo choo.

Hey Mama? Take a picture quick. I think there is a ghost in this old building. Zoom into the picture and you’ll see it.

You see it? Looks like a Native American screaming on the bottom half with a head piece on his/her head in the top half. You see it? I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Thanks for the great time Silver City Ghost Town. And thanks to you too Izzy for ghost hunting with me.

Hi there. I’m Ava. What? You don’t see me waving at you through our Airstream window in the pouring rain. Very very strange. We actually the spent Halloween night in Bakersfield at a Walmart parking lot. Yes, it was a dream come true!!!!!

We ended up driving the night before in order to make the drive up to Lake Isabella more tolerable for me, and thus, my Mama and Dada. It was pouring cats and dogs in the morning. When I woke up, I thought we were being bombed by early Christmas shoppers but it just the sound of rain on our aluminum. It wouldn’t stop raining all morning so we grabbed some food inside of Walmart. It was a place called Mickey Deez and it was yummy… and salty… and yummy. Mama never let me eat here before. Not sure what her problem was this whole time. Organic smorganic!

After stuffing my face with sausage and eggs, I got to watch a bunch of Dora the Explorer episodes on the TV while Mama and Dada tried to figure when they should hit the road.

The rain finally let up around noon and we were off to climb the windy and rocky road to Lake Isabella. It was the perfect chance to catch some zzzzzzzzzzz’s since they had to drive super slow. Ummmmm, thanks for fixing my sunglasses!?!?!

While Dada was busy setting up the Airstream and van for the first time in our camping spot, Mama and I explored the grounds… and a few puddles too.

The rest of the crew showed up shortly after us. I think they were disappointed with the weather. Should of brought your rain boots, like me! They decided to make the best of it and rented these sweet little logs cabins to stay warm and dry. Here I am swinging with Anthony.

Deets showed up too and challenged me to a drinking contest. I screamed živili (cheers) and totally won. HAHAHA! Did you forget that I am a decedent from not one, but two UCSB students? Deets had no chance in hell!

Since it was Halloween weekend, the campground hosted a party for the kids… so I threw on my chicken costume…

… and hit the bar. Umm, Mama? Where are the other kids? Ooops! We were supposed to wait OUTSIDE of the bar, not inside. Details. Details.

At the party, I got to make a Frankenstein rice crispy treat. Who’s Frankenstein and when I can eat this thing?

At dinnertime, I got to enjoy some macaroni and cheese inside of the Airstream…

… and got to eat again outside with the rest of the crew. Two dinners? Not to shabby.

At night, I was lucky enough to get a front row seat to Deets in concert.

Everyone was smiling because I lip-synced to most of the words of “Young Girls”, my favorite song, and danced non-stop from start to finish. I’m not joking about this either. Singing and dancing is no laughing matter.

In the mornings, I woke up super early and tried to get everyone to wake up with me. But my plan was unsuccessful. Mama and I went outside to eat bananas and to play for a couple hours while the sleepyheads kept sleeping.

It was pretty chilly outside. At 8:45am it was only 50 degrees!

So to keep warm, we ran through piles of leaves

When the sleepyheads finally woke up, I got to wrap myself up in blankets with Deets and watch more Dora. I love Dora.

Once we were all done with breakfast, we got to hit up the swings…

… and I got to draw pictures of Dora, Boots, Max and Ruby in the dirt with Carrie.

This place was so much fun!

I can’t wait for the next road trip. Keep rockin’.

Hi there. Our little pizza monster is now 93 weeks old!

At daycare, they have a play room called the village where the kids can go nuts with cars, ball pits, slides, fake stores and even a mailbox. Ava loves it in there as all the kids do…

… until someone screams mine and the fun is over. Ava was upset that someone tried to steal ‘her’ car while she was in the ball pit.

And trying to explain to her that village time is over and it’s time to go home is no easy task, my friend.

On Saturday, we were down in LA again because our Airstream was ready. For real this time. Finally! Here is Deets surprising Ava through the screen door.

And just when she thought the day couldn’t get any better, Dora showed up. Ava is obsessed with this Dora doll. And when Ava comes to our bed in the morning to drink her milk, she makes sure that Dora is tucked under the blankets too… up to her chiny chin chin.

Our first Airstream guests not only brought a Dora doll but a bottle of Happy Camper wine too. Thanks you two! You guys are making this thing feel like home.

Over the weekend Ava learned how to blow this…ummm… I just drew a blank. Horn thing? Birthday blowers? What the hell are they called? Beuller?

Once again, it was cookie time with Nona. Ava loves decorating with sprinkles. I totally forgot that David’s nickname for Ava when she was younger was Sprinkles until Carrie mentioned it to me. How fitting!

If you don’t pay really close attention, one cookie can get A LOT of sprinkles. I hope someone likes crunchy cookies because it’s Ava specialty.

For the past couple weeks, Ava has begun climbing new things in the house. One day she just ended up on one of our dining room chairs all by herself. And whenever the tray of her highchair is in the sink to be washed, Ava darts for the highchair and tries to climb it like a monkey.

On Sunday we were back home with the Airstream. Doesn’t she look pretty? Grace and the gang came over so we could… you guessed it… make cookies. It’s obviously Ava’s new thing. She loves it.

But this time she got to decorate with frosting. Ava would not let me help her with the frosting because her methods were much better than mine. She didn’t need no stinkin’ spatula. She spread the frosting with her fingers, dipped her frosted fingers in sprinkles and then tried to put it on the cookies.

When that method didn’t work, she ate the frosting and sprinkles off of her fingers and started over.

For some reason, I don’t think she minds.

And viola! Here are her masterpiece cookies. Ava’s are the two on the top right.

And later in the week when she got to enjoy one of her creations, what did she eat? Just the frosting and sprinkles. No cookie for her.

At daycare, Ava is starting to visit the older kids room where her other friends, Ava R and Max, reside. She’s doing okay there and even took a nap there with her old pals. But back in her current room, she has made friends with Riley.

And I have a feeling that she doesn’t mind splitting her time between both classrooms since she has good friends in both.

Ava is growing so quick. Some of the 2T clothes she has are too small. Ahhh. And her socks? Way too small. So it was off to Old Navy for new socks. She fell in love with these plastic bracelets and a silver frilly skirt that she called ‘ballerina’. She kept asking me ‘kupiti?’ which means ‘to buy?’. Oh great. So I caved in and bought her one of the items. Just one. I had her choose and she chose the ballerina skirt.

In the mornings, Ava is still insisting on bringing one of her possessions with her to school. I couldn’t get Ava to leave Dora at home the other day. She kept repeating ‘Dora walk?’. Okay. Dora walk.

And then it progressed to ‘Dora trailer?’ No Ava. In a couple more days. Today is a school day.

And when I asked if Dora could wait in the car until after school, she said ‘Dora walk’.

As soon as she and Dora walked into her room, she squeezed Dora tightly and screamed mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! What a show off! Later that day I got a call from the school that Ava fell and got a bloody nose and a welt on her forehead. Oh oh. Did one of her ‘friends’ pay her back for the mine comments early that day? No, she ran too fast in the hallway and did a graceful face plant. Ouchie!

Last night we made a trip to the dreaded Wal-mart, instead to our beloved Target. I hate that place. It is sooo crowded there all the time. It drives me batty. Anyways, Ava was riding in the grocery cart wearing a cute top, polka stockings and hot pink jean skirt. The jean skirt eventually rides up under her shirt and all that is left is her stockings. After a couple minutes of looking for Dora merchandise, Ava looks down at her legs and says ‘Oh oh. Ava nema gaće!’ which translates to her yelling ‘Oh oh. Ava has no pants on!’. I died laughing. After that we went to Rubio’s and instead of eating just beans, she ate a taco too. It was miracle. I asked them to put the chipotle sauce on the side since I didn’t know if would be too spicy for her. Ava didn’t like that one bit.

More chipotle. More more more.

Alright, it’s time to rest up. We got some trick or treating to do tonight. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hi. I’m Ava and I get to check out the water fountains tonight.

Are you sure Mama won’t get mad if I stick my hand in the water?

Wow. This is fun!

I thought there were supposed to be some fountains here. I don’t see any.

Oh, there they are!

The best part of the water show is definitely the music. Dance Dida, dance!

Our little Ava is now 92 weeks old and is wearing a beer hat. Classy, huh?

This week Ava has started to make this weird face out of nowhere… and I don’t know why.

This week Ava has started to cry when I put her in her crib for a nap or at bedtime… and I don’t know why.

Well, I didn’t know why until she showed me her pearly whites and all the puzzle pieces fit together… finally. She was teething! And one of her 2 year old molars already popped out on the bottom right.

On Saturday, Dan and I had plans to pick up our Airstream from the dealership and Ava was going to spend the day with her Nona.

They had fun baking Ava’s first batch of sugar cookies from a Sesame Street cookbook I used as a kid.

Aren’t these just the prettiest cookies you’ve seen in your whole entire life? hehe. I shouldn’t make fun. They actually cheered me up when we returned empty handed from the dealership. It’s a long story. For another time. For another blog. Sigh.

On Saturday night, we finally made the trek down to the new San Pedro Fountains. It was so much fun. Ava loved it. The fountains were designed by the guy that did the Bellagio fountains in Vegas. The music that the water ‘dances’ to varied from classical to Mexican to Croatian. They played an old school Croatian song called Mariana, which prompted my Dad to sing out loud which in turn made me cover my face in shame but it did make Ava dance… so I guess the embarrassment paid off. I love when Ava dances. Especially when she adds her new butt giggle moves. (I keep asking Dan to revive video week… so if you agree, please leave a comment, for the love of God!)

On Sunday we hit up the McGrath Pumpkin Patch for a few pumpkins. Four to be exact. One for Mama. One for Dada. One for Ava. And one for Yoda.

She also got to go on a hayride, ride a horsey named Cowboy and scream ‘baaaa’ to a goat that just wanted to take a nap.

On Sunday we were back at home for our designated yard work day. We were supposed to finish the bulk of it during Ava’s nap time but we somehow got distracted and before we knew it, Ava was awake. Oh oh. So, we implemented Plan B which was to let Ava draw all over the driveway with her chalk while we dug out some plants… in order to squeeze our Airstream on the driveway until we can finally start and finish her concrete slab at the back of our property.

Do you think a toddler wants to draw while Mama and Dada get to use dangerous rusty tools? Ummm, no.

But I did convince her that garden shears are bad and that singing on top of our loose recycle bin wheel was fun. La la la.

Ava did great helping me pick out the bulbs that Dada dug up so we can replant them. He wasn’t supposed to be digging with his yet-to-be-fully-healed arms but I have no muscles so we had no other choice.

As you saw in yesterday’s post, Ava now loves Animal. It was a Halloween miracle. That wasn’t our only miracle this week, Ava decided that holding the scary weasel in her hands was no longer scary too, as long as I didn’t turn it on.

And the final miracle of the week? This one surprised me the most. I think Ava’s stomach is shrinking. Seriously. Check it out. Doesn’t it look less round?

Our nightly walks are becoming night walks. It is going to suck even more when time changes next week.

But I think Ava will handle it just fine.

If you are not subscribing to Instyle magazine, you are missing out this month. Lookie here. Pop-up underwear…

… that turn into butterflies. hehe. Fly butterfly underwear, fly!

Oh and a big change occurred when playing on Mama and Dada’s bed this week. We haven’t heard the word ‘tent’ all week! It has now been replaced with ‘pas party’, aka ‘dog party’, aka ‘throw every stuffed animal we have in the house on the bed and giggle and then have Mama clean it up!’. Yeah.

Alright, time to hit up Chipotle again. We are going to keep returning until Ava finally eats something there besides sour cream. Bye!

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment about Video Week. Do it. It’s so easy. Just click on the word comment below. DO IT. Pretty please.

Hi. I’m Ava and I’m going to be a chicken for Halloween. Cock-A-Doodle-Do!

No Mama. I don’t want to dress up like Animal. No way Jose!

What? Deets has been saving this costume for me since he found out I was a teeny jellybean in your belly. Well now, that’s a different story!

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Howdy Ho Neighbor. Our little Ava is now 21 months old… 21? Let’s go to Vegas baby! Wooohooo.

Oops. No Vegas for Ava. Not just yet. Ava didn’t get to visit the Bellagio fountains but she got to make her first wish at a Sherman Oaks fountain at the mall. Close enough, right? After showing Ava how to throw coins into the fountain, she must of asked me six times for ‘wish’ until I finally said I was all out of money.

We were out of town again this weekend. What a surprise. We never leave town! Here is Ava at her Nona and Dida’s house, awake bright and early. No sleeping in for Ava on the weekends. She has things to do. Like putting her hands in her pockets. One of her new found loves. I just love the expression she has in this picture.

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