I Hate That Shirt!!...but am so glad he was wearing it!

We finally gave our kids the Disney experience! We can't fake them out that "Lagoon" is Disneyland anymore! (Kidding, hello! I would NEVER do that!) I don't know about any of you other parents, but it was so surreal to be there with children of my own. The circle of life...right of passage...all that stuff...whatever it was, it choked me up quite a few times. Of course, the kids loved it. Max had it tough and was forced to learn how to sleep in a stroller and eat at odd times, but otherwise he did well and we were able to take him on almost everything. And with the "rider switch" passes, we didn't miss out on anything. We really learned how to work the system and hardly ever had to wait in any lines either, yea for fast passes!



This is my favorite picture of the entire trip. This is during the parade and they got their first glimpses of the princesses. They were so excited and happy!

We caved in and did breakfast with the princesses. My girls were so excited and in heaven. I took them while Andy and Max had "boy time" with Tom Sawyer. How butch!

OK, this T-shirt is sooo awful and he wears it to bug me. But, I never lost him in a crowd. A 6 foot 4 cookie monster is hard to miss!

Florida 140.6

What It Was All For

Just to give some perspective, this picture was taken from half a mile away on our balcony. It is the starting line of the big race! That crowd itself is probably a half mile long. AND, they all started at once. It was insane to see!

I feel horrible I didn't get many pictures of the race. But look how good Andy looks! He's smiling that big when he's just finished a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike and is starting his marathon! He even stopped to give us each a kiss as he ran by here. The entire crowd said, "Awwwww." :)

10 hours and 26 minutes! He did so awesome. Andy, I'm so proud of you! Thank you so much to Matt and Laura for helping me know where he was with your texts. You saved me.

Max and his medal. He did the race too.
I can't believe how good he was feeling when it was all done.

I know videos aren't the funnest to watch, but if you feel like it and can get past the crappy camera work...Just look at the crowds! It was like that everywhere, we couldn't move without stepping on people. By the end of the day I stopped apologizing when I hit people with my stroller.

Max Turns One!

I think that the first year is the hardest but also goes by the fastest! Now he is walking and making up his own words (says "hi" clearly) and teasing his sisters and begging for airplane rides from his dad and always smiling with twinkling eyes (they really do twinkle!) but even though he is so much fun now, it makes my heart hurt that he is isn't my chubby little baby anymore.

His birthday was the day before the big race, so we were very chill. At the time we were in Panama City. He spent some time at the beach, which he loved, ate lunch on a pier, opened paper-towel-wrapped presents, and ate chocolate cake to his hearts content. It was different not being at home, but it will be very memorable, for us if not for him! We love you, Max!!!
Not too many presents, we couldn't pack them home! But he did get his first pair of shoes and it was fun watching him learn how to walk all over again.

We didn't have a high chair so he ate in his stroller while I held his plate for him. He's patiently waiting for more.

Good Bye Florida! Hello 27 Degree Utah!

We're home! Birthdays, Races, Disney, Beaches...I can't believe so much happened in two weeks. Here are a few cute quotes and things I want to remember from the last vacation we'll ever take:

*Zoe to Ella, "I assume Max is excited for Disneyworld." Assume???

*The feel of Panama City Beach sand, like walking on powdered sugar.

*My baby boy's first birthday!!!

*Seeing Andy cross the finish line!

*Zoe and Ella's screams of pure joy riding "Thunder Mountain" during the fifth time.

*Teenage girl to dad and brother, "Indians aren't real. They're extinct... like the dinosaurs." Whaaat!

*Petting, not just touching, a dolphin!!!!!

*Zoe waving to every single "child" on "it's a small world."

*Seeing people scramble as a hurricane rolled in.

*Wheeling and dealing with the scalpers for tickets...that was all Andy. "You pullin' my leg??"

*Mob boss getting mad at Andy because he can't give him directions, "You ask me about where I live, I tell you everything!" Italian hand gestures included.

*The size of the waves on Cocoa Beach! Holy cow!

*The girls faces when they met "the princesses".

*Watching Disneyworld's and Epcot's firework show every single night from our balcony.

*Building an eternal bond with our GPS girl, which Zoe fondly named Helena.

Things that I definitely could have done without this trip:

~The plane ride there!

~Maneuvering my giant stroller through sand and crowds for 10 hours during Andy's race.

~Carrying a 30 lb baby and a 40 lb diaper bag for an hour through Disneyworld in a complete down pour of rain while I looked for Andy and my stroller. (I've never been so wet.)

~Being treated like a terrorist while doing the above by a Nazi Disney employee because I dared try to stay past 7 p.m. and was forced to leave the park without either husband or stroller. And yes, it was still raining.

~Dirty Dick's Crab House.

~My birthday

And most importantly...

~ The plane ride home. Thanks anyway "Doctor" Maria.

So, I'll be archiving our pictures and adventures over the next few blogs. There will be a lot of pictures and stories to tell. Try to keep up, will you?

Zoe digging the beach but not the water. She would wade but not much else.

Max was the opposite. He was diving in face first and cried any time we tried to save his life.

The view from our place in Panama City. Can you believe it????

Iron Dork

Do me a favor and go to http://www.ironman.com/ on Saturday and put in number 449 on the athlete tracker.


Then stay glued to the computer as my times are updated each time I cross a "check point" or transition. Then, I'll feel your support and I'll swim, bike, and runner faster!

I start at 7am eastern and hope to finish 10 hours later.

Thanks, then.

Andy

Once upon a Halloween night...

It happened one eerie Halloween night. The moon was casting it's silvery beams, lighting up the House of Avery in a spectral glow. The rhythmic pitter patter of goblin feet as they crunched through remnants of unraked leaves was like a pulsating heart of the night itself, giving it a life of its own, feeding off of fears the way the little spooks were feeding off candy. This is when the door to the House of Avery creeked open, exposing those standing inside to the hauntings of that night. Those inside were two beautiful girls, shaking with anticipation of what this night was to do to them. What was hiding in those blackest of shadows? What were the creeping noises behind them? The images of the unknown were terrifiying! Even so,they hesitated but a moment...and then they attacked that night!

Pre Trick or Treating poses. We never did get a costume for Max, so here he is in one that is 4T. :) He only had to wear it a little while, he was too tired to go out.

I love this picture!

I'm definitely not meant to be a blonde!

Zoe lasted about 45 minutes, not bad for a 3 year old. She had a hard time keeping up with Ella who would run from house to house. She finally gave up and came home with me and watched Ghostbusters. But Ella was an animal! Andy finally had to drag her home before 9. Look at that haul. Andy got on map quest and figured out that she walked 3 1/2 miles! What a fun night.

Halloween Prep Time

For those of you out there who have been sitting on the edge of your seats, just dying to know what the Avery's have been up to next, well, I don't blame you. We are, by far, the most exciting family ever. So I apologize for keeping you waiting for our usual witty, enthralling and yet poignant posts that typically grace this page. I haven't had pictures up for a while because our camera broke. We have been taking "stills" from our camcorder, and they are not what you would call "quality". Despite this, for my own sake, I wanted to post our pre-Halloween hauntings, because it is our favorite time of year! Hopefully you can see through the haze...

We carved pumpkins while watching "Corpse Bride". The girls weren't too sqeamish to pull out their own "guts". I was very proud. And anyone that has driven by our house knows these pumpkins lasted all of three days before they became a moldy, withered blob of orange. Too bad too, they were our best yet.

Here's Max digging in and eating the pumpkin seeds. Pretty slimy! It's okay, he pooped them out later.

Decorating cookies at the UVSC carnival. Tinkerbell and a Garden Fairy.

Sir Chunks-a-lot here doesn't have much of a costume. Maybe we'll figure it out by the big day.

The girls showing off their painted faces with their buddy, Caroline. Such pretty girls!