Trip to Tulsa and Birthday Celebration

First of all, it's been a week since he has had students, and Zach LOVES his new job! It's going well and he thinks he's really going to have a great year!

Ok, now for the other stuff. Yesterday we decided to head to Tulsa for the day. We didn't have any plans; we just went for some fun. Our first stop was Bass Pro Shop. Zach had a gift card to use and wanted to look at a fishing pole. They had a person taking pictures in front of a backdrop and this is what we got:

After that we headed to the mall. We spent a couple of hours just looking around. We didn't buy much but that's ok. I did find a couple of things I liked and may get with some of my birthday money if I decide that I still want them. We did however find the Mickey Mouse mecca, aka The Disney Store.

We walked out of there with a Mickey Mouse bowl. Ava was so proud of her bag. She clutched it tight and was showing it off to each of us. (She was excited even though she doesn't look it in this picture.)

After the mall we headed to a party store. I wanted to look and see if they had the decorations I wanted for Ava's birthday party. (By the way, I've decided to go with my ideas for this year. I figure we'll be doing character parties a lot in the years to come.) I didn't find what I wanted at the store so we headed to dinner at Ted's! We had a wonderful dinner and then headed home.

This morning we went to church and afterwards headed to my parents' house to celebrate my birthday, which is on Tuesday. When we were almost there, I realized I'd forgotten to pack food and a bib for Ava! (oops!) It turned out ok though b/c she was able to eat chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and sweet potatoes and she loved every bit of it. I didn't want her to ruin her dress so this is how she ate:

I also got a yummy birthday cake

Notice Ava going in for the icing swipe?

Sweet success (literally)!

It was a fun day and we had fun catching up with my grandparents and also my brother and his wife who were in town from St. Louis. My poor SIL Kelsey sat on Ava's other side and Ava had dirty hands from feeding herself and kept reaching out to try and pat Kelsey! She was a good sport though. Here's Ava and her Aunt Kelsey!

We've had a great weekend and Ava starts back to school tomorrow so all of our routines will be back to normal. Wishes for a great week for everyone!