Our September

Here is a glimpse of our month of September, one second at a time....

Saturday morning with my girl

I went for a long run this morning (8 miles!), and then Ava and I had some free time together. Dave was working on his car, and Tyler was at Matt's. We had to go to my parents condo to get their car for me to drive for a little while. Dave's car blew two head gaskets, so it'll take some time for him and his dad to get it fixed. Lucky for us, we have an extra car available for times like this. I love driving their Lexus too, so I'm not in a rush for him to get it fixed! Anyway, since we were at the condo, we grabbed their mail....and I locked Ava in the mail room.

....and then we checked on the condo. We're so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa back again for the winter!

After that, Ava asked if we could go swimming. We ran home to get our swim suits, and then stopped at the new Starbucks that just opened by the condo. The pool was a little too cold for me, but Ava swam for a little while. We called Grandma on Facetime too, so she could see what she was missing. This might have been Ava's first Starbucks too! She loved her Vanilla Bean Frappucino.

We relaxed in the sunshine for a little while, with no particular rush to do anything else. Ava's new favorite singer is the 12 year old girl who won the talent show America's Got Talent, Grace Vanderwaal. We listened to her songs over and over, Ava singing along as best she could.

Later that day, Ava and I went for a bike ride. The weather was beautiful, and it felt good to get outside again! Ava was singing a song that they've been practicing in school called "Ugly Bug Ball." It was adorable. She was belting that song out at the top of her lungs, cruising along on her bike.

It was a great day with my girl!

Ava and mom--twins!

I don't help Ava pick out here clothes for school. She always does a great job putting outfits together. Today she came out to the kitchen wearing the cutest black and white outfit with a black sequined bow headband. I just happened to be wearing black and white too, so we had to take a picture together. We were twins!

Trapeze photos

We had a photographer at trapeze last night. Rod's dad is a photographer, and he had come out to take some pictures. I'm not really sure the occasion, but it was a fun to have him there.  It was a small group last night, only Terri, Rod, Nick, Michelle and I. These aren't the best pictures (or the best tricks), but it's a nice change to have some photos of us flying instead of the cell phone videos we usually take.

I threw two trick to Rod, and two tricks to Nick. Rod and I had a messy half-turn catch, but then we had an awesome planche catch. It might have been my best round trip every! I got back to the bar smoothly, and then popped right back up on the board without any help. It was awesome! I really wish I would have had a video of that one. Here's our twisty half turn catch.

This is the only picture from that awesome round trip planche catch. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was great!

Planche catch with Nick. Get your legs together!

Second catch with Nick was a split. Thanks to Rod's dad for the photos!

Ava's swim buddy

There aren't very many kids on our swim team. It's the one thing I'm not too happy with. Part of the fun of swimming is having a team of friends that you practice with and compete with. It's a fairly solitary sport, so having those teammates is important. Luckily for Ava, there is one other 7 year old girl who she has gotten to be good friends with. Jodi didn't swim with this club over the summer, so Ava was anxiously awaiting September when she was coming back. She even had this day written down on our calendar! I know it's hard to believe she's only 7 (I think she might be almost 8) since she's so tall, but it's true! Do you think Ava is excited to have Jodi back in the pool?

Hanging out in Prescott

Some of our friends were camping up in Prescott this weekend. Heather had invited all of us earlier this summer, but we didn't commit in time. We had a trip to NYC planned, and hadn't cancelled it yet when Heather needed to know who was going. We did the next best thing though (Dave may argue that it was a better idea than actually camping), and drove up to Prescott just for the day. We hung out with Heather and Becky and their families for the day, and then headed home once it got dark. It worked out really well. A lot of the fun of camping without the headache, work, or stress! 

They were camping at Lynx Lake, which seems like a pretty nice place to camp. There are nice campsites, and many that are together which would be perfect for multiple families. The facilities are nice (flushing toilets!), and there's a nice lake right there. 

The kids did a little fishing--for about 4 minutes before they lost interest, and we took turns using the Kruse's kayaks. 

 Doesn't Olivia look thrilled?

Once the kayaks were ready to go, the kids were all excited for their turn. These two person kayaks are great!

This gopher snake was swimming across the lake, and swam right up on shore in front of us. Dylan thought it was pretty cool! He really wanted to pick it up, but was advised against it.

It was finally our turn on the kayaks. The kids did really well!

Our kids asked if they could go out in the kayaks by themselves. Why yes, yes you can! Heather said she's anxiously awaiting the day when she can send her kids off by themselves like this. When I'm around this group of friends, I'm always reminded how nice it is to have older kids. I loved all the stages of course, but it seems to be getting easier now that they're more independent. Good job kids!

After the lake, we headed back up to the campsite to hang out for awhile. The kids ran around the campsite making as much noise as they possibly could. It was peaceful entertaining. It may have something to do with why I said Dave liked the day trip more than actually camping. 

I think your headlamp is a little low, Dylan, and also unnecessary.

Ava kept herself busy working in her 2nd grade workbook. How did she get to be so big? Doesn't she look old here?

Dinner was fun. They had all the fixings to make our own pizzas over the fire. Yes, you read that right. Homemade pizza while camping. They used individual pieces of Naan (an Indian bread), and we got to add our favorite toppings. Heather didn't leave anything out. There was 2 types of pepperoni, onions, olives, mushrooms, pineapple, ham, shredded chicken,  bbq sauce, pesto sauce, marinara sauce, and fresh mozzarella....yes, camping. It was delicious though! We all really enjoyed our dinner, and it was fun for the kids to make their own.

We stuck around long enough to have some marshmallows by the fire, but then got in the car to head back to the Valley. I can see that we'll have fun camping trips in the future with this group, but we may wait until the kids are a little older. It's a little chaotic right when the kids are little. Camping is so much work, but it's definitely fun for the kids! I'm glad we go to join our friends for the day.