Happy Halloween!

We had a fun filled day today! Las Madres had a party for the toddlers in the morning and early in the evening we walked down Tait Street in Los Gatos, well known for it's spectacular trick-or-treating. It was so fun and Hailey counted a total of 65 pieces of candy collected!

Ava and Dada

Super Girl!
Quack Quack
On our way to Tait St.
The trick-or-treaters!

Ava feeds herself!

Today Ava used her spoon successfully, all by herself! As you may have guessed she is on an independent streak. She vacillates between wanting to do everything by herself and wanting mama to hold her all the time. It can be tough on Mama, but I imagine it's tough for little A too. She's learning and experimenting constantly.

Regardless of all that, Nana and Mama watched Ava as she spoon fed herself yogurt for lunch. "Nummy", as Ava would say.

More photos from Hakone Gardens

The main entrance

Ava peeks over the edge of the bridge to see the coy fish
watching a young girl throw the fish food
beautiful coy

Hakone Gardens

Today we visited Hakone Gardens in the late afternoon after Ava woke up from her nap. We enjoyed the calm energy there, walking through the bamboo garden and looking at the coy fish were some of the highlights.

Can you see Poppi in the bamboo forest?

The bamboo garden
mama and ava have the same color eyes (almost) :)
being zenful
Fall color sprinkles the trees...

Cake for Dada

Tonight we made Daddy a cake for his birthday. It was chocolate and Nana let Ava lick the spatula. Happy Birthday, Dada!

Yum!
Lighting the candles...
Time to blow out the candles....

Nana and Poppi are here!

We're so happy to have Nana and Poppi visiting this fall! They came all the way from Boston to play with Ava and celebrate Halloween with her! Today we went to a pumpkin farm in Half Moon Bay. It was a gorgeous day. We're all left feeling grateful for family love and warm sunshine.

Poppi is so fun!

Ava loves her Nana


Resting on a pumpkin patch.

Ava masters the slide at the park! Mama is impressed.

At the park last week Ava learned how to climb the stairs and slide down the slide....all by herself! Mama was so proud she took a video to share. Go Ava!

Btw, she is saying "set, go" throughout the video, as in "ready, set, go"!

Here is a quick clip of Ava's favorite pass time. The local park has a carousel and Ava asks to see the "ne ne" everyday. When we say yes, she gets excited and says: "ne ne! up! down!" In this video she tries to get down half way through the ride. If she had her way she would switch horses 5 times before the ride ended! :)

fall is here

It's that time of year. Time to visit pumpkin patches and pick the perfect pumpkin to carve and light for Halloween. Ava found it more fun to use the pumpkins as a place to sit . In fact she is pretty fascinated with trying to sit on anything these days. She sits on stuffed doggies and her baby dolls laps. She sits in her baby doll stroller...and even on pumpkins! everything she can think of that could potentially be for sitting on!
ooo...this pumpkin is too heavy to pick up...

that's better. I can pick this one up, no problem!

happy girl :)

Ava in her green sweater, 17 months.

Thanks for the sweater Anne D.