On Friday night, her first night of her first holiday break from school, miss Ava lost her first tooth! She had been wiggling it for a couple weeks, and Jessica noticed during our fried chicken dinner with Rick and Chris that it was more than ready to come out. She told Ava to pull it out, but she was scared, so Grandpa (who was sat right next to her while she was sitting in Grandma’s lap) reached in there, gave it a couple tugs, and it popped right out.
It was almost surreal – one second I’m taking a bite of spicy fried chicken from Ezell’s, and the next, Rick has Ava’s tooth in his hand. Meanwhile she’s sitting there with her mouth wide open and this funny look on her face, not sure how to react. She didn’t really like seeing some blood, but as we all know, it was no big deal. She was totally cool about it and got super excited about her impending visit from the Tooth Fairy. She immediately ran and got her Polaroid camera from Nana to document the occasion.
It was an exciting moment for all, and the first of many, in terms of losing teeth. I was always scared of pulling teeth as a kid, but as a Dad I’m going to have a chance to get over that. Ava’s dentist said there are 3 more coming soon after, so I may get my chance soon. The Tooth Fairy was kind enough to leave Ava one dollar, and a chocolate gold coin. She’s so excited to go spend her dollar at the Dollar Store, but I’m not sure how she’s going to cover the 10.4% sales tax.
That night had to be my favorite of Rick and Chris’ visit, because in addition to dinner and the whole tooth debacle, we also built an awesome gingerbread house, and opened Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa. The gingerbread house was really fun because literally all 7 of us took part in its creation (or maybe I should say its decoration, as the house was already constructed for us). Everybody was adding their own little touches to it, and of course Enzo kept trying to eat stuff on it so you had to keep an eye on him.
After they went home on Sunday morning, Ava had her final hockey class of this session. There were lots of kids absent for the final week, so she got extra one on one time with her coaches. She now has a 3 week break from hockey before starting back up for the next round. Speaking of hockey, I was able to get back the previous Sunday and play with my friends for the final session of the year. I was a bit out of shape but still had a blast, and most importantly, suffered no injuries.
Sunday night we decided to do our own little Christmas thing at home, just the 5 of us. The main downside to travelling for Christmas is that it can prevent you from forming your own holiday memories at home, so we just pretended last night was Christmas by giving the kids all of their presents from Mommy and Daddy. Instead of wrapping everything, we did this fun thing where the kids all waited in the living room while one of us went upstairs to pick out presents for them. Then we would come downstairs and play everything up before surprising them with their gifts. It actually worked out really well, and for each ‘round’, the kids seemed to bubble up more and more with excitement. Plus there was minimal cleanup, and you’re not wasting wrapping paper.
Each of them loved their presents and consequently spent the rest of the evening playing with all their new stuff. Some highlights included:
- Big dress up dolls for Elise and Ava
- Enzo’s ride-on firetruck
- Costumes (Elise got a Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) dress, Ava got a Lego Batman outfit, and Enzo got decked out like Sir Lancelot)
- New clothes for the girls
- A toy Zamboni and a toy street sweeper for Enzo
- A coin book filled with pennies (Enzo is obsessed with pennies)
- And lots of little trinkets
This Thursday morning we’ll be flying out of Bellingham, heading to Nana’s house in Vegas for Christmas in the desert. I know my Mom has been working extremely hard to get the house ready, so I hope she can finally relax and just enjoy the time with her grandkids. She has a busy itinerary planned out, which includes visits to Lion and Dolphin habitats, pictures with Santa, baking cookies with Mrs. Claus, sledding on Mt. Charleston, trampoline parks, and much more.
We will also be visiting our friends, and I’m super excited to go to the hockey game Saturday night with my buddies Devin and Tiko. The Washington Capitals will be in town to play the Golden Knights, so it’s going to be packed, and I’ll get a chance to see a future Hall-of-famer in Alexander Ovechkin play. I’m sure I’ll also make it out for a poker tournament with my Uncle Bob. Should be a great week.
I’ll definitely be writing again after our trip, so for now, here’s a few pics and videos from our recent visit with Grandma and Grandpa Rudd. Merry Christmas!
Ava’s Polaroid after losing her first tooth
Nice shades
Grandpa and his “main man”
On 3 say “Gingerbread house!”
Enjoying the new costumes for a bit