Avery Visits

As some of you may already know (but just in case you didn't)........Avery came to visit us!

Sort of a last minute decision made by associated parents. Our girls wanted her to come and little did I know, until the last day of the Prince Family Reunion, Avery's parents were actually up to letting her come with us! So, with a few clothes in a pillow case and a small little scared farewell cry (not because she missed anyone yet, but because uncle Erik teased her about having to pull lots and lots of weeds at our house) Avery plunged right in. I'd have to say, she fit in well! Since Mickinley was gone visiting Kira and her family in Oregon it was still three girls. This made for easy counting and a not so confused mom.

Our Avery Adventure started out with a long trip back to Utah. We stopped at a motel in Idaho the first night and hung out with Leah and family. Although we were visiting them at a hotel we still slept in the trailer, just trying to hold on to the last few remaining moments of camping life with our family. The next morning we swam at the pool and then headed south. We did stop again in Twin Falls and spent an hour rolling down the grass hills and marveling at the water fall.

And we finally made it home.

Our days were full of blissful Avery fun........

We did all we could - dress ups, barbies, sprinklers, swimming, fireworks, 6 am hot air balloons....... We crammed it all in until we all got tired and grouchy, then we slept it off and started over. We learned that Avery really is a princess who wants to meet the queen of England (as portrayed here during dress ups with Grandpa's clothes).

It was also very obvious how much she LOVES her aunts and uncles. She was SOOO excited to surprise them on the 4th of July when we went to Marlyse and Kenny's house for fireworks, as they didn't even know yet that she was in Utah. Marlyse was the first to find out. She saw a little girl running around and thought something to the effect of "wow, that little girl looks a lot like Avery! That's funny........Wait......It is Avery!"

Then as it started to get dark I noticed that Trevor was behind us. I quickly located Avery and took her over to see him. He looked at her curiously for a moment (a recognizable face but the wrong mom in the wrong place) and then realized who it was. Avery was happy to see Trevor and Trevor said how funny it was that he was in the house several minutes earlier and had seen Marlyse holding a little girl that he thought looked so much like Avery! That's funny.......(10 minutes later)........it is Avery!

As the fireworks were about to start I was doing my periodic "locate all the kids and make sure they're all okay search" and I said "where's Avery?" Some random guy behind me repeated "Avery?". Still not seeing her I turned and asked Erik "where's Avery?" Random guy again repeated "Avery?" Then I turned to Grandma Prince and said "Have you seen Avery?" Random guy responded "Avery?" Okay, seriously (I think in my head) maybe copy catting is funny when you're 5, but.............. and then I turned around and saw that "some random guy" was..................Travis! Oh my goodness. So, I again quickly located Avery and took her over to see him! Oh the joy and the fun of it all. Then Travis says something along the lines of "that's so weird! I saw Trevor holding a little girl and thought to myself, I know I'm in Utah and it couldn't be, but man that looks a lot like Avery! That's funny......(10 minutes later).........it is Avery!

Well, it was definitely her night. And despite all those activities that had prevented us from getting enough sleep to keep us healthy and un-grouchy, Avery kept going......and going...... and going until the kids started drifting off into a warm summer nights sleep.

But not Avery, she was having the BEST time with people who love her SO very much and she just kept going........and going.......and going......until the adults starting drifting off into a warm summer nights sleep.

One story that has traveled far and wide occurred one day during a quiet counter top lunch. While all of us ate and I relayed the memorable events I experienced during Avery's birth to her over PB&J, Avery shared that she wanted to travel like her parents did before they had her. Since this particular day happened to fall somewhere in the middle of her stay with us she was missing her family, and although she wanted to go on our next vacation with us she decided she'd like to bring her mom and dad along. When I asked if she had enough money to bring them she simply exclaimed "well, I don't' have as much money as I ought to..........I spent it at a rummage sale." She continued on with details of her love for rummage sales and their usefulness for acquiring inexpensive toys and dress up clothes. While she carried on, Erik turned to me and said "hoitee toitee" (how in the heck do you spell that?). Avery liked the sounds of these words and repeated them over and over. Eventually Erik said "Well, Avery, if you love rummage sales, then you are in the right place. We have the BIGGEST rummage sale ever and it's EVEN indoors. (Avery's eyes got very big) It's called........D...I!"

So, despite the - back seat car dancing and singing, big water slides at 7 peaks, the constant happenings of the girly Briggs home, and a 4th of July firework show that lit up the sky right in front of our eyes for what seemed like forever.......... It could be said that Avery's last day visit to DI may have trumped it all.

.......and we can't wait until we get to do it all again.