An afternoon walk

One day we went for an afternoon walk.

And then all of a sudden we were at the park!

I think I may have been attacking something here since I'm holding a stick and appear to be growling...

but really who knows... 

 This is a perfect depiction of Elly...

on the move with a dirty mouth.

This is us thinking,

"C'mon Mom... seriously, how many pictures of us at the park do you need??"

The State Fair, a little Nice, and a lot of Naughty

My Mommy loves the Fair.  She didn't get to go last year because Elly had JUST been born.  So, this year she was pretty set on going.  And we had a blast as usual.

There's a cute little petting zoo near the front entrance, so Elly and I enjoyed the animals.

Elly actually overwhelmed the animals with her joy, because she LOVES animals so much.

I also enjoyed one of the best soft pretzels I've ever tasted in my life.

Feeding some baby goats

My FAVORITE part of the Fair!
Cooling off in front of this giant fan was just what I needed.

Look how sweet Elly looks while she practices the piano.
Nice.

This was apparently taken around 10PM one night once I was already sound asleep in my bed!
Under that roundness, there are no pants... of any sort.
Elly decided she was not ready to go to bed; Mommy obliged; a little while later she looked over and Elly was naked twirling her diaper in the air as though she was some kind of cowgirl!
Naughty.
Soon after this, she threw her pacifier down the vent.
Very Naughty.

A Note From Mom:

Recently, Ellyott has decided that she enjoys a nice evening NAP and then she'd like to get back out with the other adults in the house.

If she is not allowed out,

she will scream with no end in sight.

Unfortunately for her,

she gets her strong will from me...

which means I can usually outlast her.

However, when this picture was taken she had a late nap and was no where near ready to sleep.

So...

Elly won that night.

And ended up naked.

She'd probably count that as two wins for herself.

R Street Castle

This past weekend, the fam and I took a little road trip to the land where nuggets of gold are safely hidden in silky husks and they are EVERYWHERE!
Yes, indeed, we were surrounded by the bountiful goodness as we enjoyed the company of each other in the car for five hours.  I'm positive my parents would say the same.
Singing, crying, screaming, laughing, sleeping...
oh wait, I think they were hoping for the sleeping part, but why on earth would we deprive them of our lively sweetness???
We love them, so we didn't.

Anyway, back to the nuggets of gold...
We have some family friends who we don't see often enough in person (we do however, look at their blog and pretend as though we're looking in the windows of their house!) and so our travels led us to their castle.

Here's a little nugget of gold for you:
Kids love presents;
Boys love anything they can fight with;
Girls love anything that is pretty.
(That's actually three little nuggets of gold for you... you're welcome.)

My mommy somehow already knew this.  So, we were prepared and I have to say we definitely scored.

The Knights and Princess of R Street Castle did not disappoint.
In fact, I was immediately asked to wear the crown so I could be protected, but...
that's not really how I roll.
I kind of play hard to get, so I took my time.
And then once I did put it on, I only wore it for about 10 seconds and then ran off to be chased once more.

R Street Castle

Sir Drew

Sir Isaac

Princess Ella

Who wouldn't want these knights protecting their honor??

We played, played, and played some more!

We had breakfast at the Donut Professor before we journeyed through a shark tunnel, The Kingdoms of the Night, and a butterfly garden (just like in my Fancy Nancy books!!).

Ate lunch.

Napped.

Played some more.

And more and more.

I was WORN OUT people!

However, I set aside my desire to sleep and stayed quite alert almost the entire drive home to give my parents ample opportunities to be thankful for me... the sis did as well.

Like I said, we love them.

Here are a few more nuggets for you:

Five kids under five will provide hours of entertainment for my mother who laughs at pretty much everything they do.

The Donut Professor actually IS something special, Mr. Swanberg... I mean Garrett.

(My mommy wanted me to tell you that.)

At five years old, Drew is a gentleman beyond his years.

Parents, on behalf of all of us little ladies out there,

train your little men to protect and honor us.

It's not that hard, and it's well worth it.

Elly loves an adventure.

That's not really a nugget of gold for you, just a daily observation.

Round Baby (who isn't so round or so much a baby anymore) is always a good note to end with.

Thank you family of R Street Castle for a spectacular time.