pictures from this week

Welcome Home

Julie, Jason, and their new daughter, Hannah, arrived home from China yesterday! We are all so glad that she's finally here!
Noah and Abbey were finally able to meet their new little sister. Ava is excited to have cousin so close in age. They have only known each other for one day and they have already started to fight over toys!
Welcome home guys!

Virginia Beach Vacation (with lots of pictures)

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We went to Virginia Beach on vacation this week and we had so much fun! It was our first vacation with the baby and it was a success. Amazingly, Ava didn't cry at all on our 9 hour drive to VB, which was awesome. She was such a trooper; She enjoyed playing with toys, watching Veggie Tales on the portable DVD player, taking naps, ect.. We were so thankful because we were kinda worried about it.
The first day at the ocean was a little rough, we couldn't find a parking spot, when we finally did, Ava was screaming, she wouldn't take a nap, she hated the ocean and sand, not to mention a wave hit her and mommy in the face (that wasn't good.) But, after that experience we decided not to push the whole "playing in the sand" thing, and just let her play on a blanket on the sand and that went much better. We also reserved swimming for the hotel pool since the ocean seemed to induce more screaming.
After we learned those lessons the hard way, we then enjoyed walking on the boardwalk, swimming in the pool, watching the waves, and just relaxing...It was really good family time. The car ride home wasn't as good, it took us 11 hours due to traffic, but Ava still only cried once (which is't bad!)
It was really fun but we are glad to be back.
We got some good pictures, enjoy!

Suzanne & Anthony

We went to Louisville, KY this past weekend for Suzanne & Anthony's wedding. Michael was in the wedding, so we stayed overnight. Ava did well in the hotel (it was her first time) Hopefully this is a good sign of how she will do in the hotel next week for our vacation.
Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures at the wedding or reception... so if any of the Iles family is reading this, hopefully you will email us some :)
In other disapointing news, our basement was flooded when we came home.. so that stinks... literally. Oh, the joys of owning a home.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was busy, but good. On Saturday we drove to southern Indiana to "the creek," the place where Michael's family has always gone camping. We only stayed for the day, but it was really fun. Michael has a lot of memories there; He was really excited to take Ava for the first time! Ava had fun hanging out with Grandma&Grandpa Iles, Aunt Amy, Aunt Debra, and Uncle Philip, even though she was a little grumpy at times.
On Sunday morning, she surprised her daddy with some Napoleon Dynamite gifts for his first fathers day. Then we went to Wyandot Lake, our 3rd attempt to see if Ava would like the water. She made lots of progress.. I think that it helped to have her daddy there. I think that she may have even enjoyed it for a couple of minutes! She didn't really cry, so it was a success! We had fun swimming with Julie, Jason, and the kids all afternoon.
Finally, Ava made her dad lasagna and apple pie for his father's day dinner... with a little help from her mom.