Beach (and Animals) Summer Vacation!!!

I finally had the time to upload pictures and videos of all the fun I had on my summer vacation. Walk through it with me since I saw many puzzling things that I'm still not sure about and have tons of questions that you might be able to help me out with (since Mommy and Daddy are no help at all) ...

Avery and Mommy at the beach for sunset
after a very long car drive from home ...

... and the hotel room at the beach
was sooo much fun to play in ...

... but, first things first, a long planned out
outing at Sea World before any quality beach time!!!

Here's just some of the neat stuff I got to see at Sea world ...

... tons of dolphins doing all sorts of cool tricks ...

... and baby whales that can talk
(they can talk???) ...

... and something called starfish that don't
seem to swim around like any other fish I know ...

... and I'm not sure what kind of sea life
this was, but it looked very unique ...

... and huge colorful whales named Shamu
that perform crazy neat-o tricks ...

... including walking around out of
the water (huh?!?!?) ....

... yep, that Shamu guy/whale is
very talented indeed!!!

And then after tons and tons of fun at Sea World, we went to dinner where somehow Grandpa was there all of the sudden. I have no idea where he could have come from ... did he follow me on my vacation ... or was he hiding in the trunk all this time??? And if he was in the trunk, is Grandma also hiding in there??? This all seems so strange. Is it normal for Grandparents to follow their Grandchildren on vacation??!?!? Oh my ...

Avery and Mommy surprised by a visit from Grandpa

The next day was full out beach time ... or as I like to call it, "Total Fun in The Ultimate Sandbox"!!! Too bad Mommy and Daddy forgot to tell me about "The Scariest Thing in the World" that is right next to the beach, called The Ocean ... sure it seems all lovely and inviting at first with it's playful little waves splashing about and that calm cool mist in the air, but then after it surrounds you and starts to suck you back into those deep never-ending waters, that's just not what I like to call a fun time (maybe when I'm bigger and older, but not right now). Below is a video of my first moments experiencing the beach ...



... and as you can see, I fell in love with that scene until I got just a little bit closer ...

... Daddy helping to introduce Avery to the Ocean ...

... and Avery deciding it's much safer
up high in Daddy's arms!!!

Avery and Mommy starting to play in the sand
(at a safe distance from the Ocean) ...

... then Avery and Daddy digging deeper and deeper ...

... until Avery jumped in and wanted
Daddy to bury her!!!

Below is a video of what is now my favorite thing to do at the beach (except it would be nice to NOT get sand in my mouth every time I do it) ...




The next day we went to a quieter part of the beach called "The Bay" where the Ocean waters seemed a lot more friendlier to little peanuts like me.

Avery and Daddy looking for seashells
(and nice looking seaweed as well)

Avery, Mommy, and Daddy on a
sunset boat ride in the Bay

Even though I was on vacation, I just couldn't let myself get off track from my horse riding training, so Mommy found me a horse where I could log some decent hours on.

Avery practicing her riding

And would you believe the coincidence that my good friends Nick and Katherine were also on a beach vacation at the same time as me?!!?? We all agreed to meet up and play for awhile; and no, Nick was a perfect gentlemen this encounter and nothing became "accidentally" broken. And it seems that both of Nick's Grandma's followed him on his vacation and even one of Katherine's Grandmas as well, so I guess it's not sooo weird to have them tag along.

Avery with her friends Nick and Kathrine

Last photo-op at the beach

With half of our vacation completed, we then traveled North along the coast to a place where monsters use to roam the earth and unfortunately for them got sucked into tar pits (if you remember this blog entry, http://averyclaire.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-survived.html, below is the remains of one of those big guys that were in the picture of the tar pits), but fortunately for us, we get to see them rebuilt as "bone statues".

Avery and Mommy in front of an ancient
woolly mammoth from the tar pits

Avery enjoying the other rebuilt statue animals
(that were also stuck in the tar pits)

Then on our last leg of the trip, we stopped by to see a lot of the family that are lucky enough to live near the beach, one of them being Great Grandma Lucille. Below is a video of me playing with all of her fun breakable and really old toys ...

Avery and Mommy with Great Grandma Lucille

Avery playing with a really old looking
toy kitchen set that is totally amazing!!!

And like every visit, I get to see everyone else that lives around there too over at Great Uncle Rick and Great Auntie Sherry's house where I have tons of fun playing ball with the dogs, acting cute, making old fashioned ice cream, and playing with new toys. Here's a video of my new all time favorite toy right now ... she's my pretty pony Pinky ... thanks Cousin Danielle (FYI, don't worry about me, I'll start practicing right away to be ready for next year).

Thanks Mommy and Daddy for such
a great summer vacation!!!

Oh yes, yes, yes, Nikki's coming back!!!

Avery and her play-friend Nikki

I've been so excited lately that my very good friend Nikki is finally coming back from vacation that I just had to write a new song ... it's called ...

Nikki's Coming Back

Oh Nikki's coming back,
Oh Nikki's coming back,
Hi ho cheerios,
Nikki's coming back!

She's been gone all great long summer,
It's been such a huge big bummer,
Mommy and Daddy just won't do,
Things are going to get so much funner!

But I have this really bad monkey,
I'm a serious hardcore TV junkie,
Turn on, tune in, drop out,
No kidding, I'm a full-out couch flunky!

And I've changed so much since she's seen me,
She won't believe it's really me when she sees me,
ABC's, 123's, Do-Re-Mi, it's all a breeze, ...
Hey this summer, I even earned my first college degree!

Oh Nikki's coming back,
Oh Nikki's coming back,
Hi ho cheerios,
Oh yes, yes, yes, Nikki's coming back!!!




See you next week, Nikki!!!

I survived!!!

FYI, I made it back safe and sound from my summer family vacation ... although, maybe a little bit more nuttier (close time with the family does that to you, I think). I'll be posting tons of pictures, videos, and my usual witty commentary about the trip over the next week ...

Daddy, Avery, and Mommy on their summer vacation
(and yes, the background really is what it looks like ...
a depiction of a family of elephants struggling with
being pulled into a tar pit ... more on that later ...)

Family Vacation ...

Avery ready for the long road trip

Everyone needs to take a break during the summer (even me), so I'll be incommunicado over the next week while I'm building sand castles, swimming in the deep blue sea, and enjoying all of the aquatic life there is to see out at the beach!!! And don't worry, I'll make sure to take tons and tons of pictures to blog about when I get back!!!

Until then, see you later (unless I'm going to see you on my trip) ... here we go!!!

These times are tight ...

It seems that these years of economic downfall have finally trickled down to me!!!

Don't get me wrong ... I love to play with the box that new toys usually arrive in, but this time, there was no new toy, only an empty box?!??

Avery playing with her new "toy" ...

... with Mommy providing the "battery power" ...

... and Avery loving every minute of it

"Go Mommy, GO!!!"

Strict Pool Educational Exercises ...

Daddy helping Avery with her
warm-up exercises

Since Mommy and Daddy are such worrisome parents, they have been forcing me to perform strict pool safety exercises all summer long. Not only is it physically enduring, but also mentally challenging as well ...

This video is of me wall walking the perimeter of the pool. I typically do 5-10 full perimeter revolutions a day.




This video is of me counting to 10. I typically practice counting up to 1000 (so I can keep track of all my wall walks that I do).

Poor Sick Scrappy ...

Avery's painting to Scrappy

It seems that Scrappy was feeling rather sick today, so I tried to cheer her up by painting her a picture that portrayed the downward sequence of earlier events as they suddenly unraveled. Below is a video of me explaining my artistic ideas behind this masterpiece ...



I think I cheered her up, since she seems much much better tonight!!!

Scrappy finally feeling better

Adopted ...

Avery and her newly adopted baby

Now I typically do not like to follow those latest Hollywood fads or anything of that nature, but I just couldn't help myself and talked myself right into adopting a baby!!! I named her Cutie because she is just so cute!!!.

Below is a video of me singing to sleep my little Scandinavian bug-a-boo. Being a parent is sooo easy.

Professional Training ...

Mommy wanted to learn how to professionally swim, so I thought I would help her out and started taking lessons as well. It's a lot of hard work, but also lots and lots of fun. In fact, it's been so much fun that my friend Shannon and her Mommy have now joined us as well.

Avery, Shannon, and the Mommies listening to their instructor

Avery enjoying the free-play chaos

Avery and Shannon taking a well deserved break

Double Trouble in the Hills ...

Avery and Mathew beginning to investigate
all the possibilities

The first day the temperature reached 100 degrees this summer, I loaded up the car and escaped up North deep into the mountains with my friend Mathew to his cabin with some other friends (alright, some of our parents came along as well). And wouldn't you know it, right off the bat I knew Mathew and I were going to have a ton more fun than usual! Here are a number of pics and videos of all the fun we had along the way!

Avery and Mathew taking a relaxing breather on the
hammock after a long drive to the cabin ...

... up next was searching for fun new stuff to explore ...

... then of course there is always many play breaks
that include really good snacks to munch on ...

... and then getting it into really high gear at the park ...

We were having so much fun in the park it felt like we were breaking the law!!! See for yourself in the video below ...

And after a good night's rest, we started the next day out early at the beach ...

Playing knee-high in the water at the lake
(water was too wild to go in any deeper) ...

... plus all the neat indoor toys there to play with as well

We had so much fun building stuff inside, we had to capture it in a video ...



... and the fun just kept going and going and going ...

Avery and Mathew taking turns at "King of the Mountain" ...

... and then racing higher and faster into the thin air ...

... and then jumping through black doughnuts ...

... to finally spinning totally "out of control"!!!

We had such a good time getting totally crazy that sometimes "messiness happens" ... like in this video of us playing "fetch", we end up getting really really dirty ...



... in fact, so dirty that we immediately had to get cleaned up. I even had to help clean up Mathew since, well he's a boy and we all know how much dirtier they usually can get (and yes, Mathew's Mommy at the end of the video was referring to "a floater", if you know what I mean).

Happy Independance Day, USA!!!.

Avery enjoying an American birthright freedom of
having a nice safe leisurely walk around a crisp cool mountain-top lake

Hope you can get out and enjoy all of your freedoms your American town has waiting for you as well ...

Oh where, oh where, ...

... did my Auntie go,
oh where, oh where, can she be?

She's here one week, then gone the next,
then back again to see me.

And on each trip, we play such fun games,
of which I always win!!!

And yes as you know, she still tries to cheat,
which is always so funny to me!!!

Since playing silly games doesn't really matter,
as long as she's close to me!!!

And after many games, we both get so tired,
that we completely pass out asleep.

Busy, busy, busy ...

Avery taking a quick break from
her very busy summer

Things have been so busy this summer, I don't even know where to start ... here's a few video nuggets of what I've been up to so far ...

Too much to do, so I have to multi-task ...




And all the learning activities I must endure ...





And then all the arts and crafts ...

Singing Video-gram for ...

... well, you know who you are (I know you read my blog all the time).

Girly fun things ...

I've been having so much fun over the last few weeks just relaxing around the house and doing all sorts of girly fun things with Mommy, such as ...

Painting each other's toenails ...

... Mommy did a super good job ....

... relaxing poolside with a cool drink
(and lots of sun protection!) ...

... taking a quick dip in the mini-pool when
things get too hot ...

... and then even going to the big pool from
time to time for some super fun playtime!!!

Why is this better?!!??

Avery on her "Starter Potty"

I just don't understand the way grown-ups think. Who in their right mind would prefer the kind of "bathroom experience" where you have to stop in your tracks, search for the nearest bathroom, and then strip completely down to sit on some dirty seat that everyone else also sits on (again, stripped down them self). Does all of that really seem that much more civilized that being able to enjoy the freedom of having a "number one" or "number two" whenever and where ever you want?!!?? If you can't remember this type of freedom I'm talking about, here's a perfect example from a few months ago ... http://averyclaire.blogspot.com/2010/04/youll-never-guess.html

So really, if that's what it takes to be "all grown-up", than I would prefer to just stay the way I am!!!

Avery showing everyone what makes
Mommy and Daddy sooo happy

Screwing around ...

"Hard Hat Avery"

I've been asking Daddy over and over again to please tighten up all the screws on my car seat since I've been hearing this annoying squeaking sound lately and it's just driving me bananas. Well, since Daddy has yet to jump to it, I guess it's like they always say, if you want something done asap, you might as well just do it yourself ...

PS Note my fancy slick drill I'm using in the video below.

Avery and Nick's Tea Party

Avery preparing for a tea party

Normally I exclusively only have tea parties with my polite lady friends, but Nick told me in passing the other day how much he really liked tea and that he even knew just how to behave at such an event. So I thought it might be fun to invite Nick over to my loft for some special tea and crumpets as the weather has just been fabulous in the mornings lately and although Nick has tricked me before with all his silly games, I was willing to give him the benefit-of-doubt that he could refrain and act like a proper gentleman at a tea party.

Anyway, Nick arrived promptly on time, was dashingly well groomed, and very well mannered as we started off our event. I was pouring this special tea blend from the farthest lands and adding two very refined cubes of sugar, where all of the sudden Nick started to lose himself and forget he was in the presence of such a lady ... as can be seen, documented below.

Avery and Nick at the beginning of the
tea party in proper tea etiquette form ...

... then Nick becoming slightly ill-mannered by goofing
around with the settings, food, tea, etc ...

... where things finally quickly degrading into
Nick showing off his great "juggling skills"!??!?

And then before I knew it, the tea cup carnage had begun. The video below show the whole debacle and destruction of my antique dishware. That shall be the end of me thinking any boy knows how to act properly at my tea parties!!!

Other babies?!!??

So what do we have here ...
Avery's competition???

So it looks like Mommy is thinking of doing it once again ... having another baby, that is. Thus, I guess I should start to "learn the ropes" as they say and figure out how much of this mess will effect my normal routine. Good thing I have a bunch toy babies to practice with before any real ones arrive sometime next year.

Avery learning to gently place the
toy baby in the carrier ...

... Grandma was even in town to
help teach me a few tricks ...

... hopefully Mommy doesn't get twins since handling
two babies at once seems like a logistical nightmare!!!

Avery is now ready for any multiples of new siblings