First time Sledding

We took Avalon sledding for the first time in Jarad's parents back yard. At first she wasn't too sure but she seemed to enjoy it. We've taken her outside on the sled several times since and she really has fun for the first 15 minutes and then she is ready to go back inside. She loves the outdoors, but our North Carolina/California girl is not used to this bitter cold!

Grandma Moeckel pulling Avalon on the sled in Moorhead.


Daddy pulling her a little bit faster, which she seemed to enjoy!

Bundled up in the Snow!

We spent the week after Thanksgiving in Pagosa Springs, Colorado where Avalon had a great time in the snow. We bundled her up and took her to the park and on several hikes. Avalon still loves being outside even all bundled up in the snow! Although it wasn't quite as cold (it is freezing in MN right now), Avalon got a little preparation for Christmas in MN.

Rules of the road

The title for this post is taken from Jeneric's blog. Apparently, like us, they took a road trip for Thanksgiving. The first rule on their list of `Rules of the road' is `Leaving at 4 am just means the children will wake up earlier.' This is so true. We've been trying to figure out the best time to travel with Avalon. The first day of our road trip, we decided to leave later in the day. Our goal was to have Avalon take her afternoon nap and then also fall asleep at night. Unfortunately neither of these worked out very well. The next day we went with the opposite strategy and left early hoping that she would sleep for a while. Of course, she didn't. The conclusion is that Avalon will be awake most of the time while traveling in the car.

Sliding

This video was taken on October 27 and it was the first day that Avalon went down the slide all by herself and then climbed back up and went down again and again. There was another little boy sliding with her and she had a blast!! Since then she has gone down many slides by herself including some bigger ones. She just loves the park and being outside!

Halloween

For Halloween this year, we participated in a parade around our apartment complex where we dressed up as the Incredibles. I'm sure some of you have seen Jarad and my costumes before, but we did create a new costume for Avalon.


Avalon had fun following one of our neighbors boys, John, or should I say Tigger. Aren't they cute!


And she even had time to have some fun at the park.


Later that night we took Avalon out for some trick or treating. At the first house, Avalon started right for the guy with the candy and I thought "wow, I didn't expect that" and then she went right by him and tried to go into his house. It was pretty funny. She didn't do much trick or treating, but she did have fun running around outside with all the other kids.


She was a little scared of the man dressed up like a werewolf.


And she was very interested in the Jack-o-lanterns.


We also went to a Halloween party the weekend before where Avalon dressed up as a penguin. She actually really liked her costume and was excited to wear it. Although, it turned out to be a warm afternoon, so the costume was a bit hot. Who would have thought that would be the problem. Ahhh...California!

The Big Move - Part 2 (Post 3 of 3)

It's been a while since my last post about the move, but there is still more to our trip here. After leaving Boulder, our next stop was Las Vegas. We took two days to drive there and drove through a pretty remote stretch of Utah where there were no service stations for 100 miles. We spent the night in Salina, Utah (a really small town) where we ate at a local diner. The food wasn't great, but they did have really good scones. Avalon enjoyed it because the waitress gave her an Avalon sized ice cream cone.



That night at the hotel was pretty funny. Avalon was pretty hyper from the sugar and she had lots of fun playing with Daddy.


The next day, we stopped at a local park in Cedar City, Utah where we went on a beautiful walk and Avalon enjoying playing at the park.


In Las Vegas, we visited Kristi and Jim (Lisa Hinsz's older sister). We stayed for two nights and enjoyed some excellent pizza and tirmisu. Jarad and I also went to see Le Reve at the Wynn and it was amazing!! Thanks again to Kristi and Jim for babysitting Avalon for us that night.


Avalon had fun playing with Kristi.


We made a make shift bed for Avalon, which worked pretty well.


Our next stop was in Joshua Tree, CA to visit Camille's aunt Audrey.


We spent a day exploring Joshua Tree National Park, which was beautiful!



Avalon enjoying walking around and playing with the benches and rocks.


Avalon had lots of fun exploring at Audrey's place as she had tons of stuff for Avalon to get into.



After staying two nights in Joshua Tree, we stopped at IKEA to do some shopping. Too bad we didn't have more room in our car. Avalon loved the swedish meatballs.


We spent our last night in a hotel in Carpinteria,CA (about 20 miles from Goleta) before arriving at our apartment the next day. Avalon had a great time swimming in the pool that night.



I starting this post with a picture of Avalon riding in the car and I wanted to end this post the same way. This is a picture of Avalon sleeping in the car with her favorite giraffe. Amidst all the fun things we did on our trip, Avalon did spend many hours in the car.

One year quiz

At Avalon's one year birthday, we had all attendees take a quiz. This quiz involved answering questions about what Avalon will be doing when she turns 10. In a few days we will release the tabulated results, but we wanted to give others an opportunity to answer the questions themselves. So, if you feel so inclined, leave your answers to the questions below as a comment on this blog. If other people have already answered, no cheating (e.g. looking at other answers or googling info). Without further ado, here are the questions:

1. What name will Avalon go by? Nickname, etc.


2. What will be her favorite color?


3. What will be her favorite school subject?


4. How tall will she be?


5. How many cities will she have lived in? (Hint: she already has 2)


6. How many states will she have been to? Our definition of `been to' involves actually doing something in that state. For example, we spent the night in West Virginia, but didn't do anything else, so that state does not make the list. (Hint: She has already been to NC, MN, FL, OH, MI, ND, NE, CO, CA, NV)


7. What will be her favorite food?


8. How many computers will she have had? (real, personal computers)


9. What sports/activities will she do? (name up to 3)

The Big Move - Part 2 (Post 2 of 3)

We also made a day trip to Fort Collins to visit Jarad's friends Jen and Chris and their daughter Rigley.



Rigley was a bit too young to play with Avalon, but Avalon found lots of things to keep her busy.


The nearby park where she has a blast sliding with daddy.


And there were lots of fun toys in the community area in their backyard.



Avalon also got up enough courage to pet their dog Euchre, who is the most kid friendly dog we've ever met, so that definitely put Jarad and I at ease.


Back in Boulder, Avalon also met Libby and Chris's puppy Jack, who is actually younger than Avalon even though he is already bigger than her. Avalon was also very interested in Jack.


And she had fun pretending to be a puppy when Jack was outside.



We also went to an outdoor bbq in Boulder with Libby and Chris.


Where Avalon had fun on the swing with Jarad and Chris.


And she also joined in on the croquet game. Her goals in the game were a little different than the other players as she wanted to pull the steaks and gates out of the ground.


However, like everyone else, she did attempt to hit the ball with her mallet.


On our last day in Boulder, we spent the afternoon on Pearl street.


It is a pedestrian street, so it was a great place for Avalon to play. And for some reason she just loves these metal plates on the ground.



Later than afternoon, we did another short hike with Libby and Chris.


Avalon had fun playing with Jarad and Libby. Or was it the other way around. :)


Towards the end of the hike, she actually fell asleep in the backpack carrier, which was pretty amazing. Kids really can sleep anywhere! In her defense, we did go on the hike during her nap time.


There is still more to this story. Stay tuned for the finale.