Into the Fourth Year I

Waiting anxiously for her very first dance class.  Dance class has worked out well for us, too, since she knew that she had to be potty trained in order to join this class and got up to speed pretty nicely with that issue.

 

Cousin Val tried on her Auntie Val's (Mommy's) wedding dress one day.  It fit well, and Ava wore the veil to join in on the fun.

 

On a Friday afternoon as naptime arrived I took Ava into her bedroom, only to find that the bed was already occupied.  Ava thought it was very funny.  Dodger seemed to think that this was an unnecessary disruption to a nice nap of her own.

 

Heading out for a spin on an ATV with Linda (a friend of Grampa John's) and Cousin Valerie during a trip to Linda and Mike's cabin in rural Pennsylvania.  Ava loved the ATV...In fact, this was the start of her second long trip around the campsite on it that day!

 

Watching her Cousins Val and Brianna take off on the ATV, and wishing she'd gone with them.

 

With Cousin Brianna the next day on a swing at the house of Aunt Lil (Grampa John's aunt) in the town where Grampa John was born.

 

A little later that day we stopped at Parker Dam, not far away.

 

With Mommy at the Dam.  After 27 months and over 18,000 shots, this is probably the last picture from the old digital camera that you'll see here.  It held up pretty well despite all of my rough treatment, but it's breathing its last breaths these days, and it's been replaced:

 

Here's one of the first pictures with the new camera a few hours after it arrived.  I'm sure that you'll soon see a difference in the image quality of the postings here.

 

A few minutes later....For this picture, Ava thought that it would be funny for me to wear one of her blankets as a headdress.  She was right.

 

Impressed by some of the big mushrooms that are everywhere this fall.  I didn't let Ava touch any of the mushrooms or get any closer than this, which is a good thing, as my colleague Gus (an excellent  botanist) told me that this is the extremely dangerous Fly Amanita Mushroom, which I've since found out is responsible for half of all mushroom-ingestions fatalities in the U.S. every year.  However, this happens to people who ingest many of them at once.  Still....good to know!

 

Playing chew and show with her apple wedge at McDonald's the same day.  I've taken 400 shots in the first few days (most of them of you-know-who) and I'm pleased with the image quality so far.  Here's the full size (2.5mb; 3072x2304 pixel) version of this picture so that you can see what it does more clearly.  For example, you'll see how truly messy her face and hands were here at McDonald's.

For fun, I added this picture (and one of Carter Bean) to the user submitted pictures on the product page for the camera.  You can find them among the pictures at the bottom of this page.

 

One more from the same day.

 

Painting pumpkins with Mommy, and watching television. At last, Mommy has someone to watch figure skating with!

 

Parents were invited in to see their girls' progress in dance class after two months, so I got to take many pictures and movie snippets for an hour.   The girl on the left reminds us of Cousin Susan about 20 years ago.

 

Something else that qualifies as "dance" when you're three years old....

 

One of Miss Kristin's assistants shows Ava how to point her toes.

 

Listening to Miss Kristin's advice during the Choo Choo train exercise.

Waiting with some of her classmates for the next exercise.

 

With Aunt Sessie a few days later.

 

Picture Day at daycare.  I thought I'd take my own shot in case the official one didn't work out for whatever reason.  This shot gives the false impression that she stands at attention, smiles, and listens closely to us all the time!

 

Playing around with the new camera on the couch...holding it over our heads to see what happens...

 

The new camera has a function where you can have only one color register.  Here, the bright blue and red of the playground didn't interfere at all with the yellow of her hair and the leaves.  Her pink coat registered as white, too.

 

All the colors are back in working order again, as is the smile.

 

One more from the park...probably the last visit to the park this year.

 

Helping Daddy color the driveway with chalk on a chilly Saturday morning in late October.

 

Time for winter coats again!

 

The next day was Halloween, and Ava went as a bride.  Walking her down the street was nice practice for the aisle one day.

 

Mommy took her around for a little bit, too.

 

After an hour or so of Trick or Treating, she's still holding up well, although she said that she'd had enough.

 

On the porch with Mommy and Daddy, waiting to see what other costumes were out there this year.

 

The whole family again a few days later at the Akron Zoo on a very warm November afternoon with the fall colors at their peak.

 

Getting close to an indifferent Alpaca.

 

As with our cats at home, there was a lot of afternoon napping everywhere.

 

Following Mommy into the heart of the jungle...and looking back to make sure they haven't lost me.

 

Riding the Ol' 97 all by herself.

 

An impressive three-foot wingspan!

 

We all liked the pink flamingoes....

 

The same picture, but using the camera's one-color-only mode at the same time.  The camera saves one like this, and the normal one, as seen above.  The reflections in the water are better, but their bright orange-red tails and wings are all gone!

 

There was one more trip to the park, because there was a very warm Sunday in early November.  She had a lot of fun, although this one picture captured her looking more introspective.

 

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