Ava's Swimming Lessons

I knew as soon as Ava was born I wanted her to learn to swim....And enjoy it as I do.   Well fast forward 3 years...And its time to learn!!!   The problem is Ava is terrified of the water.  I mean we have a awesome splash park in our town that is free and the kid doesn't like it.  NO she isn't my child.  My mom would have had to literally drag me out of that place kicking and screaming.  I still have the urge to run through it and act like a kid.  I refrain though :)    So I knew it was going to be a not so pleasant thing trying to teach her.   One of my Friend's little girl is a great swimmer.  She is on 2 separate swim teams and I have watched her swim. I knew it was the perfect person to teach Ava because Ava adores her!!   So last week every night of the week for an hour Ava went to Swimming lessons with her.  The first night she had no clue what we were doing so she was excited.  I left her and there were no tears.  She actually did good the first night.  She was going under water and holding her nose.  She slipped once and went under not ready so that terrified her.  The next night I think I heard about a million times from the time I got home till the lesson, "Mom I don't want to go underwater"!   There were tears that night.  She ended up trying and doing good though.  Wednesday night she cried a little but still improved. She was learning how to float by then.  Thursday night she started jumping off the side of the pool into her arms.  That is huge for Ava.  She was also improving her floating skills.  Friday night before I even left she was jumping off the diving board.  I was SOOO proud of her.  I didn't expect her to swim by herself in 5 days, especially with her fear of water.  I was so glad that she tried and got more comfortable with the water.

Play, Play, Play

Playing at an indoor play area...Because its been 100+ degrees.

She looks like a turtle.

Lately we have been playing.....and Playing some more.

She is a Rockstar!!

 Yes my living room is over taken by toys!!!!

Playing at Nana's with my old barbie house my dad built for me. 

We have been to local parks, Nana's and just hanging out in our house!!!!

HOT Summer Wedding

We attended a VERY HOT summer outdoor Wedding last Friday night.   It was lovely minus the heat :)

I actually got a quick shot of Me and Adam dressed up.  Thankfully Mom kept Ava because I knew she would be miserable.   And YES I am in black.   People get up to date on whats appropriate in 2012.   I told several people I was wearing black and they looked at me weird.   Its formal, classy, and thinning :)   NOT morbid.   If the Wedding would have been in the daytime and not night I would have chose something different.

Grandma

Check out this awesome drawing of my Grandma.   My cousin, Adrianna, actually drew this from an old picture of Grandma.  I love it.  I knew I had to save it.   I just love to look at it.  I am not sure how old she was here.

Ava's new Hair

Things have been very busy lately. 

Ava got a new haircut a couple weeks ago.  Thought I would share.  I wanted to do something cute, but not too growny. :)

A great Loss!

We got back from our trip Wednesday and I returned to work on Thursday.  I was so busy.  I got a call that morning that my grandpa (moms dad) passed away.  I was in shock.  Just in January we lost  grandmother.  So we had a sad weekend saying goodbye to a wonderful man. 

I could fill this post with good things about my grandpa.  If you didn't know him you lost out in life.  He was amazing!!  Seriously up until he had his stroke a year or 2 years ago he was in such good health.  He probably exercised more than me.  He was SO positive and full of such a sweet spirit.  If you ever asked him how he was he would say "Super", or "Super, Duper".   He could make me laugh more than anyone I know.  He was hilarous!!!!   He loved his shiny black cadillac.  He also loved rings and jewelry.  I guess I got it from him :)  Everytime he saw a new ring on me he asked where I got it.  I think he would ask how much I spent on it too. LOL  
I have soo many good memories of him and growing up.  I am sad and disheartened that he isn't here anymore.  That being my selfish side.  But I am so glad his race is run and he is at rest!!!!

Atlanta Aquarium and Zoo

Petting Zoo area.

Some weird bird

Elephants

Lazy Lion

Monkey

Giraff

Flamingo

Playing school on the Playground

Giving him some love

She is kind of scared :)

Whale

All sorts of fish

Shark!!!!!

Petting the sharks and Stingrays

My sweet girl.

My family!!!

Love watching these!!!!

Cool fish tank.

View from room.

We left Sunday and drove down to Atlanta.  We stayed at the Sheraton (which I highly recommend).  They put us in a nice top floor corner room.  We had a private balcony that surrounded both sides!!!   We also had access to a lounge where we could get snacks and drinks 24 hours a day.  Ava learned real quick where the cookies were :).   Monday we woke up and ate our breakfast.  We headed to the Aquarium.   We spent almost 4 hours in there.  Ava enjoyed it to some extent but I am sure older kids get your moneys worth.  Its not cheap!!!  We had a good time though.  There was so much to see and do.  Monday afternoon Ava took a much needed nap.  That night we walked a few blocks up to Durangos for a great supper.  After dinner we took a carriage ride around downtown Atlanta.  Cheesy I know but Ava LOVED it!!!  Tuesday we hit up the Zoo.  Ava liked the Zoo even more than the aquarium.  The weather was perfect because it had been stormy and rainy then cleared out.  It wasn't hot at all.  We saw all sorts of animals.  They had a really good play area too so Ava enjoyed that.  We went down to Adam's mom and dads that night.  We had dinner with them and stayed there.  We drove back Wednesday.