Avery at 12

 

Physical Stats 
Weight –  102lb (70th percentile)
Height – 61.8" (78th percentile)
Nicknames – AA, Ave, Beannie, Goose, Bitts

Likes 
Favorite Food – Pasta
Favorite Activities – video games, listening to music, watch TV

Favorite Color – Mint Green and lavender
Favorite Toy – Squishies
Favorite Animal – Sea Otter
Favorite Thing to Wear – PJs
Favorite Book – Everybody Poops
Favorite Game – Roblox
Favorite Song – Anything by Freya Skye or Katseye
Favorite TV Show – Banana Ball Games
Favorite Activity at School – Theater
Favorite Activity Outside – Play with friends in the cul-de-sac
Favorite Sport to Play – Basketball
Favorite Movie – Pitch Perfect or Parent Trap

 

Random Facts 
Best friends – Piper, Caroline, Erin

What do you want to be when you grow up – Backstage Theater Crew
What do you sleep with at Night – Pink Bear, Yellow Blankie, Jellycats, Pluto
What makes you happy – Watching Banana Ball and not having school
What makes you sad – When people yell at me

If you could go anywhere in the world – Disney Tokyo Japan and Disney Sea

Least favorite food – Fish

Least favorite things to do – Watch wrestling

Family Facts 
Favorite thing to do with Dad – Watch Banana Ball
Favorite thing to do with Mom – Watch Banana Ball
Favorite thing to do with Carter – Lego's
Favorite thing to do with Parker – Play Video Games

July

July was short at home with our long trip but we managed to survive the Atlanta heat and fit in some fun before school starts next month.

World Cup and Braves nights at the pool

Yacht Rock Revue in Smyrna

Avery (11 years, 11 months) - In probably a bigger update for her parents than her, Avery lost her last baby tooth. The Tooth Fairy has officially retired from the Holden house. She spent the few weeks we had at home with friends and doing a one week Creativity Camp where she did lots of different craft projects, particularly enjoying photography (not so much Letter Printing).

Some of her Creativity Camp work

Cow Day at Chick-fil-A

Parker (14 years, 8 months) - Parker fit in a few more volunteer hours with YMSL but spent most of his free time at the pool and tennis courts with friends.

Carter (16 years, 2 months) - Carter spent the first 2 weeks of the months at Georgia Tech doing a summer program on Urban Planning through the College of Design. He has been very interested in studying this area in college so this was a good opportunity to let him experience college life and confirm his interests. Carter loved the program particularly hanging out with friends every evening and came home ready to immediately go to college. His class was well done with tons of activities including getting to visit different areas of the city to see Urban Design in process, meeting with the City of Atlanta Planning department and completing final presentations on how they would develop various transitional areas of the city.

Siblings - And of course we fit in some time at a Braves game!

Costa Rica - La Fortuna (part 1)

We discussed lots of options for where to take a Family trip this summer and ultimately settled on Costa Rica. It seemed to offer the perfect balance of activity for a family that likes being on the move but appreciates the opportunity for some downtime. We decided to make it a long trip fitting it in to the day Carter finished his summer program and Avery had back-to-school activities, 

We flew into Liberia and had a driver take us the 2.5 hour to La Fortuna where we checked into Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa for 4 nights. The kids quickly took advantage of the pool and were excited to order room service for the night. 

This ended up being a re-occurring theme for the week with lots of evenings at the hot springs and easy dinners in robes at the pool. Overall the resort was amazing, with lots of wildlife, a private/lush setting and amazing hot springs!

Costa Rican Turkey

Views of Arenal Volcano from out hotel room

4th of July

Mom and dad kicked off the 4th with the Annual Peachtree Road Race. It was a super hot/humid day so mom's group opted to participate in the Virtual event and did the 10k on the Silver Comet Trail. Dad ran down Peachtree with such enthusiasm that he ended up in the post-race email. After cleaning up, we all hit the pool for dinner with friends before ending the night with fireworks.