Weekend at Gigi and B-Pop's

Another post from Dad! Woohoo! Get excited readers!!

Last weekend, August 20th through 22nd, Kristen had a girls' weekend with several of her old college roomates. They rented a house on Lake Conroe, and since that is in the Houston area, it seemed like a good opportunity for me, Ava, and Macy to drop Kristen off in Conroe, then continue on to Beaumont to see Gigi and B-Pop! Ava was greeted with some new toys, a table set up in the kitchen for a coloring area, a pool float, and most of all a very excited Gigi and B-Pop! We were also able to wish Uncle Jim a happy birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures with them but I enjoyed meeting Jenny and getting to spend some time talking with Jim on the back patio after everyone else had gone to bed. Good times had by all!

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

B-Pop, Ava, and Gigi

Everyone knows that Gigi is quite the chef, so Ava got to enjoy a sampling of several different gourmet treats at nearly every meal. Ava got to try meatballs, "Flipsides" (half pretzel, half cracker), bacon, and all kinds of other delicious goodies!

Shortly after we first arrived, Ava began playing between and behind the window shutters. She was giggling at herself as she played peek-a-boo with us, which of course made us laugh.


She couldn't get enough of the peek-a-boo through the blinds, but also of note should be the pink motorcycle/car thing (which she scooted around on quite a bit) and all of the bandaids on her legs. None of the bandaids were there because she had boo-boos, she just loved it when we kept sticking the Sesame Street bandaids that Gigi bought on her - just like stickers!


More peek-a-boo

Another hit at Gigi's and B-Pop's are the kitty cats. Ava loves the kitty cat. Fortunately, Emily the cat likes to be chased so Ava and Macy had a big time chasing the kitty around. Emily is a brave cat to put up with all of the hijinx that Ava and Big Mace dished out.

B-Pop and Ava doing some drawing and coloring. B-Pop drew a very special kind of duck for Ava, one that I am sure Gigi kept for the scrapbook.

Color time. One of my favorite things to do with Ava Marie. Sitting at this table brought back some fun memories because Jim and I used to play at it when we were little. Of course, we usually used it to shoot "tweeties" at each other (tightly folded paper projectiles, of sorts) on a regular basis, but nostalgic nonetheless.

Probably some early morning playtime after Ava and Macy had breakfast.

Ava and Emily playing.

Ava loves kitties.

Ava doesn't get a chance to go up and down stairs very often, so this was another fun activity for her. She is great at going up them but needs a little help going back down.

Gigi took Ava for a nature walk through the backyard where they picked flowers and Ava played in the dirt. She spent some time in the pool too and is quite the outdoors girl.

Gigi and Ava checking out the flower harvest

Macy is a waterdog. Swimming has to be her favorite thing to do, other than eating.

Big Mace in action

When Ben and I got back from playing a quick round of golf, Ava was multi-tasking with Gigi nearby in the kitchen. Gigi wins the double-gold star award for the afternoon she had: after finishing up lunch with Ava, she had some friends stop by, had to clean up a reportedly monolithic barf by Big Mace, then have storytime with Ava and lay her down for her afternoon nap. Way to Go Gigi!

Ava enjoyed her first ice cream cone ever at Gigi and B-Pop's! Notice that Ava doesn't quite know what the ice cream cone is, but Macy sure does - snout pointing straight towards the sky.

Hmmm...what is this thing?

Gigi helping Ava have her first taste of the ice cream cone. The ice cream was Blue Bell's Blackberry Cobbler, and is tremendous.

Once she got the hang of it, she decided that ice cream cones were her new favorite.

On Saturday, we all went to Build-a-Bear at the mall and let Ava choose which stuffed animal she wanted. After several minutes of pointing and grunting, she chose the world-famous "Hello Kitty". She had a great time watching it get stuffed and getting an outfit for it.

There was a toy golf set, so of course Dada had to teach Ava how to swing the club.

Side note:

While it is rather self-implicating, I must at least make mention of the Big Bird Balloon Incident.

After Build-a-Bear, we went to the grocery store to pick up some food to make dinner that night. Ava immediately spotted the Big Bird Balloons at the cash registers and motioned for me to let Gigi hold her (this girl is smart), likely knowing that odds were better that Gigi would procure aforementioned balloon than the odds that Dad would. Well, Gigi bought Ava the balloon, which she played with nonstop in the truck on the way home. Once we arrived home, I clipped the balloon to my shirt and then lifted Ava out of her carseat. At some point during this transaction, the balloon broke loose of the clip and by the time we noticed what had happened, the balloon was halfway to Galveston. Sorry Ava!

Thanks Gigi and B-Pop for a great weekend!!