Ava is eating by herself & climbing stairs

Yeah, I can climb the steps!

Working her way up the stairs for the 10th time!

Texting?

Having a "serious conversation" on Mommy's cell phone

She is very proud of her new talent

Our "lefty" eating her hotdish

Ava has certainly been quite the character lately. We decided to open the gate to our stairway as it was time she learned how to climb up and down steps. Well, we didn't need to give her any invitation...she was very happy to work her way around the steps. She climbed up and down half the flight at least twenty times, and even made it all the way to the bottom and all the way back up. We finally just had to remove her from the stairs and put the gate back up or she would have continued the workout all night (just think of all the calories she burned!). She was quite excited at her new found talent. She certainly isn't ready to fly solo on stairs, but she is remarkably quick already. Ava also is exhibiting some new skills in the eating category. We have been giving her a spoon to eat with which is actually going pretty well. She uses her left hand 95% of the time, so we are thinking that is going to be her dominant hand. She can't really scoop the food up yet, but if we put it on the spoon for her, she can usually get the food to her mouth. It's obvious she is loving this new independence. Only another 5 years of disasterous meals, right?

Brad's Cousin Kelly's Wedding in Alexandria

Ava taking one of her 15 minute naps on the ride back after the ceremony (missed nap time!) Sorry - no pics of Ava looking without the binky!

A tired Ava with Brittney L.

Brad & I (first pic without Ava in forever!)

Roy, Lisa, James, Layne, & Lori

Ava being silly as usual

Mommy & Ava all ready for the wedding

We packed up on Friday to go to Alexandria, MN for Brad's cousin Kelly Estrem's wedding. As usual, we were amazed with all the gear we end up packing. It seem to get worse with each trip! The drive went remarkably well. We only stopped in Marshall which is a little over an hour away. We drove the last three hours without stopping and Ava did well. She took a couple short naps, watched her DVD, and dumped several goldfish and cheerios all about the backseat. We were thrilled she didn't cry the whole way! When we got there, we swam in the hotel which Ava loved and also visited Roy, Lisa, and Layne at their house which was nice. Saturday, we met up with Lori and James and rode with them to the wedding which was about 40 minutes away in Elbow Lake. That car trip was not so good for Ava as she was ready for a nap (I think James was getting annoyed!). The ceremony was beautiful with great music. We enjoyed it and Ava made it through about 3/4 of it before we had to take her out to run around. The reception was held right next to our hotel which was very convenient. It was great to visit with all the relatives we had not seen in a while. We thought we were going to have to leave the reception by 7:30 pm as Ava was not doing very well, but then she turned a corner and decided she liked Brad's cousin Julie and her daughter. It was nice for Brad and I to have a little time to just visit without having to keep an eye on Ava. We headed back to the hotel shortly after 10:00 where we all crashed from exhaustion. (Yes- we are old!) Sunday, we had lunch with Roy, Lisa, and Layne and then headed home. It was a very fun weekend and nice to get away, but as always, great to be back in our own beds again!