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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. I’m Ava and welcome to the Airstream dealership. Hmmm, where in the world is our new trailer?

Found it. Follow me.

Wow. This trailer is AMAZING.

Is this the shower? Nooooo.

Is this the shower? Daaaaa!

I love you Airstream. I could hug you until the cows come home.

Yeah. We go it!!

***
While filling out all the paperwork and dealing with the negotiations, Nicole was kind enough to tour every RV and Airstream in close proximity with Ava. When Dan and I were finally done with the details, we went searching for them… and eventually found them sitting in a shower together. This picture will always make me giggle. hehe. Thanks Nicole!

Hi. I’m Ava and this is my night out in Split story.

One night while in Split, Croatia, the six of us headed out to dinner. My Nona and Dida selected a restaurant down the street that is mostly visited by the locals… always a sign for good food and good times.

Dada and Mahky sure enjoyed the place, especially when they shared their wine…

…and shared their meat lovers plate for two.

Seeing all that meat made me a bit craaaazy. I got a wild look in my eye and tore some meat up too. Grrrrr.

My poor Mama swore she was going to become a vegetarian again after seeing me go nuts. And poor Nona didn’t get to eat much because I ate almost all of her food. Not my fault. They picked this delicious restaurant. Not me. Grrrrr. I love meat.

Hmmm. I’m not sure what came over me. But I’m back to my old non-meat loving self now. It’s nice to be back.

After dinner we decided to take a stroll on the Riva. 1, 2, 3, weee!!!

Oh. My. God. Balloons!

I didn’t know what to do to get a balloon. I had no money. Not one kuna. But I had a bright idea. Run to Dida…

…and give him the biggest hug ever.

Worked like a charm. Hvala!

Guess what? Dan turned into an old man while we were in Croatia. That’s right. He turned 33. Everyone calls it the year of Jesus. I call it the day we went to eat peka. Here we are leaving the house and saying good night to little Ava. She couldn’t be bothered to look at the camera. She was way too busy flirting with her Mahky.

Dan was kind enough to drive ON HIS BIRTHDAY. When I say ‘kind enough’, I mean Mikey and I don’t know how to drive a stick shift… and learning on these narrow windy roads with CLIFFS OF DEATH was not a great place to get our first stick shift lesson. Not even close. So Dan drove and Mike continued his self-portraits in the back seat. I wish I remembered what I thought was so funny. I was probably cracking myself up. I do that a lot.

We survived the dangerous cliffs and made it to peka. It’s not Martin’s special place but it would have to do. The peka restaurant was called Konoba Humac. Check out the menu. I love how they translated jelovnik to ‘bill of fare’ instead of menu. It makes it sound fancy.

Peka is very old traditional Croatian meal, at least more than 500 years old. Some variation of meat, seafood and vegetables are placed under these round domes which are placed on a hot, fire-clay slab. You can’t just show up at a restaurant like this and order peka. You need to order it well in advance because it takes hours to cook… and Goran was kind enough to place an order for us. I think my second-grade level Croatian would of left us hungry at this restaurant. hehe.

The view from the Konoba Humac was amazing. It is surrounded by grape vines and of course the Adriatic Sea.

A lot of the tables and furniture were very primitive looking. We just couldn’t resist a cheesy pictures.

The restaurant sits in a old abandoned village. The rumor is that it was never a village at all, but a market place that neighboring villages would use to buy and sell goods. My husband is so strong. What a dreamboat.

And of course, no village would be complete without a church and bells.

Dan got a special treat at the church. He got to ring the bells for his birthday. I wonder if he is the first to do so with a glass of wine in his hand. Hmmm, this is Croatia… so probably not. We love our wine.

Here we are walking around the village. The islands here are made up of a lot of white rocks. I heard that the White House is made from the white rock slabs that came from the neighboring island of Brač… but I’m too lazy to Google it at the moment to see if it’s actually true or not. Anyways, the islands are covered with these rock walls. They help create paths and borders everywhere and sometimes appear as mazes to me. All of them were built by hand in order to have land to grow on… hands of my relatives. Thanks guys.

While walking through the village I couldn’t help but notice these sweet eyes looking at me. She wasn’t tied up but her mean barking boyfriend was. She kept inching towards me. Tail wagging. Just yearning to be pet. But she was scared. She is most likely a hunting dog and not a pet. But I could tell she wanted to be a pet too.

Anyways, while walking through the village, I thought it would be ‘fun’ to take a self-portrait to see why self-portraits float Mikey’s boat. Oh. No. You. Didn’t. You ruined my self pix!

Oh, don’t worry. I got him back.

He got so into ruining pictures that he accidentally ruined his own self pix. Doh!

During our romantic walk around the vineyard, we just had to toast Dan for his birthday. I’m such a great wife.

What the? I guess Mikey is also a great wife… with intertwining arms. Ahhh. You’re always stealing my thunder, Mikey. Always.

Why so excited? Dinner is on!

We ordered chicken peka and octopus peka for dinner. I know. Octopus, yuck! Don’t worry… I pushed that plate away with a stick. Pass the chicken please.

Look at this! Palačinke. So yummy. They are Croatian style crepes. These were filled with Nutella and homemade jam… but I still prefer them with walnuts. Double yum.

Looks like Dan had a fantastic evening. I wonder how he is ever going to top this for my birthday. You better start planning something quick. You only have 4 months left!

Hi. I’m Ava. Nice to meet you. So, let me explain how sleeping time went while I was in Croatia. It started off pretty badly. Split was hot. The apartment was hot. And my sleeping tent was even hotter. Thank goodness we had a Plan B.

So, off to Plan B. I had to sleep on the bed in between Mama and Dada. It was fun for me… but I heard Mama and Dada say ‘ouch’ a lot. Hmmm. I thought I was a gentle kicker all this time. Maybe it was my prairie dog. He’s got sharp claws.

So, when we finally got to the village house on Hvar, everyone was ready for a good night of sleep. So, Plan B went out the door.

Hello Plan C!

This was sooo much better. Look at all this room for little ol’ me.

Sometimes I would roll under the bed. Sometimes I would sleep just on my pillow.

Sometimes my Mama would join me if I was having trouble falling asleep at nap time.

Sometimes I would sleep in my stroller when we were at the beach.

And sometimes, when Dida was babysitting me, I would take my house naps in the stroller too.

Hi. My name used to be Ava. But now, I am known as…

The Shoe Police!

I think it all began with our new apartment in Split. My Dida was working on it a lot during our stay in Croatia so I had to wear my shoes to protect my footsies.

I spent all day making sure everyone had their shoes on. Everyone. No excuses. And if anyone said they were napping, I would tell them that was no excuse. Not even for Mama and Dada. I put shoes on them during one of their naps. Hey! Did Mama just kick her shoes off again?

Being the Shoe Police was a little rough after my Dada stepped on a sea urchin and had a million holes in his foot. Ouchie.

And Mahky tricked me a few times. His new flip flops stained his feet. Sometimes during inspection I would point to his feet and say shoes. That would make everyone giggle because he passed my inspection without his real shoes on! I’ll get him next time. Mark. My. Words.

Oh, what do we have here? Mahky relaxing on the porch… reading his vacation novel… without shoes?

Ahem.

Mission accomplished.

Excuse me. Are you wearing shoes?