Weekend trip

The weekend before my birthday we both took Friday off from school and headed out for Wilmington, NC. It's about a 4 hour drive and it was raining so instead of checking into the hotel we went to the aquarium first. There was hardly anyone else there so it was really neat to get up close to all the tanks and Avery could walk through by herself. She touched a few things in the touch tank but most of them were too squishy or too prickly for her taste.
We happened to be there when the divers were in the giant tank. This diver came right up to the glass and put his hand where Avery's was.

Avery loved the fish and didn't want to leave.

Ready to go swimming in the hotel.

We had grand plans to walk on this stone path to at least the first island but at 9AM it was a little colder than we had bargained for and my ankle was hurting so we decided to turn back before I hurt myself and Avery froze...maybe next time.

The view from atop the dunes.

Bring big red down the sand dunes to the beach.

Gotta try out the new boots.

We had packed a picnic lunch and after we ate we went on the USS North Carolina. It was pretty neat and gave a much better picture of life aboard a naval ship than the USS Yorktown in Charleston.

Action shot

Wilmington in the background.

Some cooking pots just like convention.

Enjoying some French onion soup.

Playing with her doll, Sasha, as we pack up.

February Highlights

Some museums are free the first weekend of every month if you are a Bank of America card holder. We finally decided to take advantage of this program and the first weekend in Feb. we went to the children's museum in Columbia, SC. We only had to pay for Avery since she doesn't yet have her own card. :-) Avery loved the museum and Shawn and I agreed that it would have been an awesome place to go as a kid. I'm sure she'll be able to do more there once she gets a little older but there were plenty of things to entertain her.
"It's snowing!" Shawn and I found it quite amusing that one room in a southern museum would be dedicated to snow and snow activities. It was real snow falling and they had an igloo that you could climb through and an old snowmobile you could sit on.

Avery's favorite room was the music room. She found this activity quite fun once she realized that each square made a different sound. She also liked pounding on/playing the piano.

And still thinking she's at the museum and discovering new things...sitting in our fridge.

Feb. 18th...78 degrees...makes turning 30 just that much easier.

We went out to eat at the Brickhouse Tavern in Davidson for my birthday and then had ice cream cake when we came home.

Looks like we have another ice cream cake fan!

All prettied up for meeting.

Talking on the phone...a favorite activity.

Surrounded by books...Avery loves to read to herself and count how many things are in a picture. She always misses the "one" but quite often we hear "two, tree" over and over again.

January Highlights

I've been terrible at keeping our blog up to date but time flies when you work full time, when you are taking classes and when you are chasing after a busy toddler. Our favorite memories of 2010 are of course watching Avery grow and experience new things and I'm sure 2011 will be more of the same. She's a very busy girl and we love watching her learn and discover new things almost daily.
Ready for union meeting at our house...she of course, thought the chairs were an obstacle course set up just for her. This was one of my favorite dresses from last summer so we reworked it a little to make it a super cute winter outfit...fake uggs and all.

One Saturday the Nascar Hall of Fame was free so we decided to check it out. Since we aren't really into Nascar we wouldn't pay $30 per person to go but a free afternoon sounded good. Well, everyone else thought so too! It was super packed and we looked around but you couldn't really get close or read anything. I saw enough to be satisfied but Shawn wouldn't mind going back with my dad or his dad and brother.

18 Months of Cuteness! Where has the time gone?!? Avery is still our joy and delight and makes us smile everyday!

A big girl sitting in her rocker that Papa made.

1/18/11 Family Photo

Ready to go watch some Davie County Baskeball...go War Eagles!

Toward the end of the month we all had colds but it was so nice we drove to Rock Hill, SC to check out a park I had seen pictures of in Southern Living magazine. It was a nice park and Avery loved the fountains. I'm sure it would be much prettier with some blooms!

Playing in the driveway Sunday afternoon...no jackets!