Faries, Mermaids, and Butterflies, Oh My!

We're still playing catch up here on the blog.  Back in September we made a trip up to the Renaissance Festival!

Mama said I really liked it last year, but I was just a little girl so I didn't remember much.  One of the first places we stopped was at the Mermaid cove.  I got to sit by a REAL Mermaid!!!

 Along with mermaids, I got to see a bunch of knights, princesses, jesters, and even the King and Queen!!  I really liked these knights and wanted to stand by them for a picture.  Think I could project the castle?

There were so many fun rides, I really liked spinning around on the butterfly ride...

but my absolute favorite was getting to jump on the big trampoline!  The guy that was helping me taught me how to do flips, it was a little scary at first, but once I figured it out it was great!!

It was fairy weekend there so Mama let me get my face painted, just like the real fairies.

And then I got to go to FAIRY SCHOOL!!!!!

It was so neat, I got to learn to dance like a fairy...

and I got my fairy name, Linden Willow.

There were so many fairies and I got to meet them all.  They all had such beautiful wings and pretty dresses.

A couple of the fairies gave out wishes.  I didn't know what a wish was at first, but Mama told me that a wish is something you really want.  I can't tell you what I wished for because it won't come true then.

I should tell you, Ellen got to come too, but she was too little to go on the rides or go to fairy school.  She did wear her princess dress so she could fit in, but otherwise she just hung out in the stroller and took a nap.  It was a great day!  

I hope we can go back next year!!

Linden

A Grand Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend.  It started out not so great, we tried going to the pumpkin patch on Friday, but it was really cold and started raining so we decided to leave an try again another day.  Mama really wanted to do something fun so we decided to go bowling instead!

Ellen slept the entire time, but I loved it, and it turns out, I am pretty good, I almost beat both Mama and Daddy!!

On Saturday we went to Rochester to hang out with Papa Bob while Grandma Nancy had some things to do.  Papa Bob really like watching me play, and he was really excited to enjoy the Apple Crisp we made for him.

When Grandma Nancy got back she found a book for us to read, Ellen and Grandma really liked the story.

When we got home from Rochester, I got another surprise, Grandma Carolyn and Papa Tim were in Town!!  They decided to stay at a hotel with a water park so we could go swimming!  Ellen really liked floating around and kicking her legs and splashing in the pool.

Grandma and Papa had to go home today, which was a bummer.  Ellen has been working on rolling onto her tummy for a while now and today she did it!!!  Another thing she learned this weekend is how to squeal, not sure that is a good thing, we'll see...

Tonight we went for a walk and got to crunch through some leaves.  I hope fall lasts for a few more weeks before it gets too cold.

Off to bed, tomorrow is going to be another fun filled day!

Linden

Apple Picking

We are back!  Ellen here...

A couple weeks ago we took advantage of the great fall weather and went to the apple orchard!

This wasn't just any apple orchard, it had all sorts of places to run, play and have a great time...that is, if you know how to do those things :-)

Linden had a great time running around and climbing.  There were lot of tunnels to climb through and fun slides to go down, and this really big spider web!

There were also animals to pet and some really big signs to take your picture with.

Linden also liked climbing on this big pile of tires.  It had some really fun looking tunnels to go through, Linden thought they were great, Mama didn't look like she enjoyed them so much.

After playing for a bit we had to head out to the orchard and take care of business.  According to Papa Bob, Haralson apples are the way to go.

Daddy and Linden filled one bag, while Mama and me filled the other.

There were so many apples that we had to take a tractor ride to get out there.  Good thing Mama was carrying me or I would have been very tired!

Not only did the orchard have apples, but they also had raspberries!!

Linden and Daddy LOVE raspberries!  Mama said that when she was a little girl she and Grandma Nancy would eat fresh raspberries with ice cream, but because Linden can't eat ice cream Mama made it with vanilla yogurt and now that is Linden's favorite snack.  She says I can't eat berries until I am older.

 It was such a beautiful day, Linden keeps telling me that snow is coming, I don't know what that means.  Linden and Daddy seem pretty excited about it, Mama doesn't look to excited.  Here is a family picture we took out at the orchard!

Once we were all done playing and picking, we decided to go inside and find some treats!  Mama found apple cider donuts and Mama said they were delicious!!

I couldn't eat any, so I decided to just sit by Daddy and look cute :-)

Aren't I such a sweetie??

Gotta head off to bed, I have to wake Mama up in a couple hours so we can snuggle.  I heard her tell Daddy that she wants me to sleep all night, but I know that she enjoys our early morning cuddle time better.

Have a good night,
Ellen

North Shore and Good Friends

I have to issue an apology, the blog has been abandoned this summer, but we are back and it will be as great as ever!

I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but I thought I would start out easy and tell you about our mini-vacation last weekend.  

Mama and Daddy went to college in Duluth and love to visit, it had been a while since we had been up there.  We went when I was just a little girl, so I decided to plan a vacation with Ellen, luckily Mama and Daddy agreed!  

One of Mama's roommates from college lives up there so we were super lucky to get to stay with them.  They have a little boy who is also three and we had a great time playing together.

No trip to Duluth is complete without a visit to Gooseberry Falls.  I had a really great time climbing around on the rocks and playing with my friend.  We did a pretty good job of staying away from the water, but I think we both ended up with wet shoes.

After our trip to the falls, we had to come back and get cleaned up so we could ride on the train!!  For the first half of the train ride we were in the back of the train.  Daddy took my friend and me out on the back of the train to look around outside, it was great!  Mama and Ellen stayed inside with my friend's mama and daddy.  Ellen seemed to like snuggling with Mama!

Once we got to the Lester River the train stopped so we could take a look, and then the engine made its way to the next track over so it could attach on to the back of the train and pull us back to the train station.  It was pretty neat getting to see the engine go driving by, and then backup and attach to our train car!!  My friend knew a lot about trains!

 The next day it was time to go home already.  I wish we could have stayed and played more, we had a great time.  Before leaving we headed down to the canal to throw some rocks in the water.

We had to get a picture in front of the lift bridge, of course!!   And we got super lucky and got to see the bride go up a couple times, although the boats weren't very big.

Ellen seemed to like hanging out in the canal, even though she didn't get to throw any rocks.  Mama got her a cute cuddly bear outfit to keep warm, and she loved it.

On our way out of town we decided to drive up to Spirit Mountain to check out the view, and decided to give the alpine coaster a try.  First I went with Daddy...

and I loved it so much that I had to do it again with Mama!!

Before the ride took off Mama and I were taking silly pictures, here is our "THIS RIDE IS REALLY SCCAAARRRRYYYYYY!!!" face...

And our, "Just kidding, this ride is going to be great!" face!

And here is a picture of Ellen just being cute  :-)

While Daddy and I were on the coaster, Mama decided to try to get a picture of Ellen playing in the grass, evidently she wasn't interested.

We had such a great time, I can't wait to go back.  I know why Mama and Daddy love it so much!

Look forward to another post soon,
Linden