More doggies in art

Very pleased with the doggy on her shirt, and with the doggies in the book of the same name.  Sharing both with Uncle Mike.

Of interest in the National Gallery

How many paintings in the National Gallery have dogs or horses in them?  Turns out quite a few.  Ava didn't have much use for the others.

 This one had dead pheasants, so it was only of mild interest:

 And Ava only stayed awake for some of them!

Art criticism stokes the appetite:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks so much to Dana and Currie for hosting a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner in Annapolis.  We were so lucky that Ava's Uncle Mike and his girlfriend Heidi flew in to share the holiday with us.

Heidi and Uncle Mike joined us for a short hike in the woods and late afternoon at our place the next day.  Uncle Mike got the special job of facilitating the tree patting.

Lady bug!  Don't quite know if she has made the connection between the real lady bugs and the lady bugs in her books.

Walking practice with Uncle Mike.  She has taken up to 7 steps on her own this week.  So I guess that means she's walking!

Helping in the kitchen

Playing with Mommy.

Ava loves to help in the kitchen, especially when standing (assisted) on a stepstool.  She washes carrots:

Gathers apple peels:

Washes greens and transfers them to the steamer basket:

And whisks with Daddy and Uncle Mike:

Out and about in DC

National Sculpture Garden 

Much pointing in the butterfly pavilion at the Natural History Museum

Chai mustache:

Missed the capital:

Woke up for the National Botanic Garden:

Helping with the veggies back at home:

Relaxing with her hunting magazine, identifying pictures of dogs, ducks and fish.  

Trips to the Eastern shore

We celebrated the last day of Ima's trip last Monday with a trip to Annapolis.  

We spent Saturday at the well-known Easton Waterfowl Festival.  It was a dog-friendly event, which made it an Ava-happy event.  Ava was enthralled with the retriever demonstration.

Getting the point ready:

 There it is:

Ava inspects unimpressive decoys:

She pats the impressive decoys:

Trying out a blind with Daddy:

Athough she is not saying the names of foods yet, she clearly knows what they are.  She enthusiastically smiles and claps when we offer her:

Blueberries:

Broccoli:

Homemade chocolate ice cream:

Okay, she doesn't get excited about kale.  She will, however, occasionally eat some.

More ice cream:

Organizing the rose hips is an important job:

So is testing out the sheepskin as a sleeping surface:

Playing:

Hugging the stuffed mallard Daddy brought back from his USGS conference: