The curly-headed little girl known as Avie Richman loved a lot of things. Horses. Harry Potter. The color red. She tried archery after watching the Disney movie "Brave." She told her parents that her dream car was a minivan. To reward her for reading over the summer, they took her to lunch.

Avie had moved to Sandy Hook from San Diego about two years ago with her parents, Jeremy Richman and Jennifer Hensel.

"They still call Avielle their California girl," Melissa C. Stewart, a family friend, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "When they first moved here, it was hard to keep shoes on Avielle because she was so used to running barefoot on the beach in San Diego."

In a blog called "Avielle's Adventures," Jeremy Richman would tell friends about their family life: trips to the Thanksgiving Day parade in Stamford, Arielle's 6th birthday at the horse stable, a road trip to Iowa.

In August, he wrote about the newest milestone for his "little hummingbird," who was about to start first grade.

"We can't believe it," he wrote. "Jenn and I are both very nervous and excited."

Photo taken from Facebook.