The Veldmans: First Down!

"First down", or rather, "Down!!!" is Ava's newest word (not really new, but used in a new context). Unfortunately she didn't get to use it enough at the game on Saturday. Ava was a trooper and headed out with us for the gopher opener on Saturday. We got down there to tail gait around 10:30, and left around 7:00 that evening. I was amazed at how good Ava was. Sadly enough, the game was not so good. It was supposed to be a blow out according to Nate, but we found a way to lose. It was quite the day for Ava. She enjoyed the tailgating which involved reading stories, playing "bags", going for a walk, and eating lots of fruit and Daddy's yummy homemade pretzels. She actually enjoyed watching part of the game. She liked trying to figure out where the ball was (which I sometimes have a hard time finding myself). A couple of times after a bad play she would yell, "oh no"! It was really quite cute! After the 3rd quarter Grandma, Ava, and I headed to the bathroom since Ava needed a diaper change and we wanted to get out of the sun. It was quite hot on Saturday. We went out to the parking lot when there was about 4 minutes left in the game. Forty minutes later everybody else finally arrives to the parking lot. With 20 seconds left on the clock the Gopher coach had a seizure on the sideline. A bad ending to a bad game. We packed up and got stuck in horrible traffic. Ava was asleep in no time. We got home, had a late dinner, took a bath, and she was out cold for the night. What an exhausting day for our little gopher fan!

Sunday morning we went to church and then over to Grandma & Boppa V's. We went and looked at a couple Parade of Homes houses and a couple of open houses by Grandma & Boppa's (way out of our price range, but fun to look at). Ava had LOTS of energy even though she only napped for 45 minutes. That kid was everywhere! At one point I looked across the master bedroom and saw a pair of men's socks in the middle of the floor. I thought that was quite odd. That is until I noticed that the dresser drawer was open and our little peanut was on the other side of the room. That's right, Ava opened the dresser drawer, took out a pair of socks and threw them on the floor. I don't know how she is so quick! Lauryn was with us, which makes 5 of us watching her and we still can't keep up. We left there shortly after she was done telling the couches good-bye (waving and saying, "bye couch").

I think today is supposed to be our last "hot" day of the summer/fall. I'm actually looking forward to the cooler days, but am already dreading winter. I love jeans and sweatshirt weather. Here's hoping for a long fall and a short winter!