First Fourth

Ava, Matt, Fergie and I enjoyed a packed, fun-filled 4th of July weekend. I have plenty of pictures and stories to share, so let's get (fire) crackin'. Ha ha. Lame, I know.

Ava, Fergie and I had an early start to the holiday weekend when we went to my parent's house on Thursday. Our main reason for going to Fuquay was of course, to visit Oma and Opa. Why not do our visiting while sitting pool-side? That's exactly what we did. Oma bought a little pool float for Ava to use when we come to visit.

I think she liked it.

We also got to spend some time with Uncle Ryan and Kayla. My bro even attempted to feed Ava her lunch. The 3 seconds it took to take this photo was about as long as Ryan spent with the spoon in his hand. Ava was in one of her, "I'm not gonna touch that mush unless it is WARM" moods. Thank goodness for microwaves!

Our trip with my parents may have been short, but our time was well spent. Thanks for letting us visit!

After coming home and unpacking Friday afternoon, our little family of three headed to one of our favorite places to eat, Villa Italian. Since the weather was perfect for outside dining, we took advantage of it! The lighting was beautiful and I took a few shots of Ava after we finished our meal. Here are a few of my favorites:

This past Saturday, Ava turned SEVEN MONTHS OLD! Where has the time gone? Matt and I can't believe she is already on the 'back end' of her first year of life. She is now closer to her first birthday than to the first day of her life. If you have followed our blog at all, you're an old pro at this by now. Here are two pictures from Ava's 7 month photo shoot. That bear is looking smaller and smaller each month!

Good grief. Look at how long she is!

In a previous blog post, you may remember me mentioning that Fergie is flirting with the idea of doggie suicide. Well, thanks to her brainless mom and dad, she was almost killed Saturday afternoon. Here's what happened:

Matt and I decided to take Ava and Fergie on a run in the park. The distance of this particular run was about twice as long as the runs I normally go on every morning. The weather was hot. The pavement was hotter. We didn't have any water for the dog. Problem #1.

After our run, we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the park. Then, Matt and I had the brilliant idea to take Fergie to Lake Brandt to go swimming! We knew Fergie would love the water, and we figured Ava would get a kick out of watching Fergie splash around too. So, off we went. Ava in her stroller. Fergie on her leash. Walking, walking, walking. Matt and I had forgotten that the walk to Lake Brandt was quite a distance. The weather was getting hotter. The pavement continued to bake anything that touched it, dog paws included. Still no water for the dog. Problem #2.

We finally made it to the lake and Fergie drank the water for what seemed like an eternity. 

The picture below is a little cove that Matt and I found a few years ago. We always stop here to let Fergie go swimming and play fetch. Not today...

After Fergie drank half of the lake, we made one attempt to play fetch with our beloved dog. Matt threw a stick with his perfectly sculpted P90X arm and Fergie bounded into the lake after it. She quickly retrieved it and started swimming for the shore. See the stick? See the dog? Problem #3. About 10 feet before Fergie got back to us, she left the stick in the water as a protest from any further exercise for the day.

After realizing that our time at the Lake was over, we started to head back to the car. Did I mention that heading back required us to yet again, walk and walk and walk in blistering temperatures, on blistering pavement and without a drop of water for Fergie. Problem #4. 

We finally made it to the car. What a glorious sight! Could there possibly be a problem with this scenario? Oh, yes. Our car has cloth seats. We had a wet, stinky dog. Cloth seats + wet, stinky dog = not good. What did we do? One of us drove Ava home in the car while the other walked the poor dog home. Everyone, say it with me, "In hot weather, on hot pavement, without any water." Problem #5. 

After 5 hours of being outside, we finally made it home. Unfortunately, Fergie was not able to walk later on that evening. I think it was a combination of burnt paws and sore muscles. So there you have it folks, we almost killed our dog. I am happy to report that she is back to normal and doing fine! (For anyone wondering, Ava did not have to endure the same torture that Fergie did. Ava cruised along in the shade of her stroller. Her chubby feet never touched the pavement, and she had an ice cold sippy cup in her hands the entire time.)

Dinner on Saturday evening was spent outside once again. Gotta love silly family moments. 

Before bedtime, Ava enjoyed playing a few rounds of peek-a-boo with dad from behind the arm of one of our chairs. 

Now on to the main event, the 4th of July! Our Sunday started by attending a Patriotic Service at church. It was amazing. Not a dry eye in the worship center, mine included. The service was the perfect combination of praise and worship and reminding all of us that freedom is never free!

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent grilling out and hanging out with great friends. Ava enjoyed a wagon ride around the yard with friend, Tucker. 

You better watch out. Ava's got her eye on you! :)

After dinner, we headed out for Ava's first encounter with fireworks! We weren't sure how Ava was going to react to highly explosive pyrotechnics. Believe it or not, she did just fine. I'm sure being cuddled up in Mimi's arms helped to put Ava's mind at ease.

Ok, I'll try to wrap this up quickly. My fingers are getting tired of typing and I'm sure your eyes are getting tired of reading, if you even made it this far! :)

I was thrilled to find out that Matt did not have to go to work on Monday! We decided to spend the day pool-side again, with some wonderful friends. 

Ava got to borrow a friend's high-tech pool float. Yet again, she liked it. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that Ava loves the water.

On Monday evening, we had a belated 4th of July cookout at Mimi and Poppy's house. Gammy got to join us for the festivities as well. 

We hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend as well!