In September the three of us made a weekend trip down to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  Aubrey Ann was VERY excited and kept talking about how she was going to play in the sand.  So we headed down early Saturday morning, and got to our hotel room.  We ended up getting to the beach right as the sun decided to come out, and the weather was PERFECT.

Immediately Aubrey Ann ran straight to the water.  This child has NO FEAR and apparently doesn’t feel cold either, because she just kept running out to it and getting deeper and deeper.  Waves were knocking her around, and she couldn’t care less.  This girl is a water baby for sure.

Here is Aubrey Ann and her 'Monster' named Sally!

Then we started building sand castles.  Brandon dug a big deep hole which Aubrey Ann loved climbing in and out of,  and Aubrey Ann and I focused on building a “Monster”.  Aubrey Ann collected all kinds of seaweed and pieces of seashells to make the Monster more authentic.  When I asked Aubrey Ann what her Monsters name was, she told me, “Sally, NOT Alice in Wonderland!”  Where does she come up with this stuff? 

Aubrey Ann started to get a little tired, so we decided to build her a little couch to lounge on.  She definitely appreciated it!

After several hours playing in the sun, sand, and surf, we headed back to the hotel and took a shower, then headed back out to the boardwalk to ride some rides.  It never ceases to amaze me at how much this little girl loves rides.  Aubrey Ann kept saying, “I’m gonna ride the rides at the fair!  Maybe have a corn dog too!”  Well, she is her mothers daughter!

She rode the rides until we couldn’t take it anymore!  That night she slept like a log, which was awesome because she had to stay in the same room as us, and most of our family knows that our little girl needs her own “space” to fall asleep.

The next day, we headed straight back out to the boardwalk and rode a bunch more rides.  Aubrey Ann even rode her first real roller coaster with her Daddy!  She was pretty tough, although I saw a hint of fear in her eyes at one point.  But she told her Daddy she had fun and even patted the head of the dragon on her way out and named him “Iggy”.

After a few more rides, we headed back to the beach.  When we had had enough, we decided to head home.  We made a stop at Casa de fruta, where Brandon found a crawdad, we chased peacocks, pretended to drive a train, and looked at lots of yummy fruits and veggies!

It was a fantastic time, and I can’t wait till our next trip to the beach with our little beach bum!

Aubrey Ann has recently become interested in finding out how babies come to be.  She knows that God puts a baby in the Mommies tummy, and then the tummy gets bigger, and then God says it is time for the baby to come, so it does.  She is especially fascinated with the tummy getting bigger part, and will often point out pregnant women in stores.  This is probably going to make for an uncomfortable moment one of these days, but luckily she has only recognized people who are REALLY pregnant thus far!
Imagine my surprise at this conversation we had a couple of weeks ago.

AA:  I am really full.

Me:  I see that, you have got a lot of food in your belly!

AA:  Its not food.

Me: It’s not?  Then what could it be?

AA:  My baby.

Thump. (The sound of my jaw hitting the floor.)

AA:  My baby is in my tummy.

Me:  I don’t think there is a baby in there, I think it is just food.

AA:  Nope.  My baby.  My baby named Aubrey Ann.

Silly girl!  What in the world would I do with TWO Aubrey Ann’s running around?  Maybe they would entertain each other a bit…hmmmmm….

Aubrey Ann likes, but doesn’t like three things right now.

1. Raising your eyebrows.
2. Blinking your eyes.
3. Sticking out your tongue.

Whenever you do any of those three things, she will say, “Don’t do dis!” and then cover her eyes.

It is really funny, I suggest raising your eyebrows next time you see her.

We were watching the Tinkerbell movie last night with Aubrey Ann and at one point Tinkerbell is trying to be a different kind of fairy (animal fairy or something), and flew up into a birds nest.

Tinkerbell was asking the baby bird if she wanted to flap her wings and learn to fly. So Aubrey Ann started saying, “Do you want a Flap Flap?”

“Mommy, do you want a Flap-Flap? Do you? Daddy, do you want a flap-flap? You want a flap-flap.”

The whole time she was laughing. So we started tickling her, asking her if she wanted flap-flap.

Some things I will never get tired of hearing, I don’t look forward to her growing up at all!

Aubrey Ann and I have been discussing perseverance quite a lot recently. As it so happens, 2 year olds tend to be easily frustrated and can give up easily, go figure! This is why we have been discussing perseverance quite a lot lately. Well, once again, I never know how much of what we talk about is sinking in until Aubrey Ann decides to surprise me.

Yesterday Aubrey Ann was trying her hardest to climb onto a chair. She was struggling, so I asked her if she wanted my help. She responded with, “I can do it, I am persevering!”

And wouldn’t you know it, she did!

At the time of this video, we had been working on learning Galatians 5:22-23 for a little over a week.  Here is a video taken on Sept. 1st of Aubrey Ann reciting the whole verse.

Aubrey Ann has such a great time learning about the Lord.  We are so blessed, and God is truly answering our prayers to make Aubrey Ann’s heart sensitive to the things of the Lord.

Aubrey Ann: I am getting married!

Me: Oh really, to who?

AA: Mommy!

Me: You can’t marry me, you have to marry a boy.

Several minutes later…

AA: I’m going to marry boys!

Hmmm…maybe I should have approached this another way…

Here is a video of our sweet little girl and I talking about the Fruit of the Spirit.

Oh how I love this little girl.  Just the sound of her voice makes me smile!  I am so proud of her for learning God’s word!

I have another video of her saying Galatians 5:22-23 that I will post as soon as we upload it.  Whenever I hear Aubrey Ann reciting a verse my heart fills with joy.