Liberty Fall Festival 2012

Aunt Tracy came to visit for the weekend of my birthday.  We had a wonderful time.  She brought a cake and after a weinie roast, we sang while on Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Layton. 

The next day, we went to the parade for the Liberty Fall Festival.  The kids had fun collecting candy and watching the floats and bands go by. 

Looking at a bug in the grass

Oliver slept through most of it...my little pumpkin.

After the parade, we stopped for Jimmy John's (YUM!!) for lunch and took naps.  Well, most of us did.  Dusty went to the flying field and Ella doesn't always nap any more...maybe twice a week.  Later that evening, my sister and I went to Applebee's for an appetizer and then headed home to nurse Oliver and get things ready for Daddy to feed him.  My sister and I enjoyed an evening out to celebrate my friend, Eve's, 40th birthday on the Plaza.  It was a fun evening!

The next day, Aunt Tracy left early.  I hated to see her go and missed her right away.  We went to lunch at Steak n Shake and headed to the carnival to ride some rides.  The merry-go-round was fast!  At first, while I took the kids on it, Ella said, "I want to go on this one time."  She thought it was too fast, too!  Later, though, she decided it would be fun to go with Daddy.

Ella went inside a pirate ship, but that didn't go too well.  It was scary for her with the loud, rickety bridge and it was tight quarters with kind of like a maze.  She ended up getting her foot stuck in the ball pit and started crying.  It broke my heart that I couldn't help her (parents weren't allowed to go in), but the guy running it was very nice and went in and helped her out.  A nice kid had already helped her get her foot unstuck, but she was ready to be done.

So, while Daddy chased Parker around with a bouncy ball that he bought him (bad idea!), I took Ella on another ride, the kind that you can make spin as fast as you want.  A little boy offered to ride it with her.  Great!  Well, not so much.  He was spinning it as fast as he could and I could tell Ella wasn't liking it too well.  I also didn't want to keep him from having fun.  So, I asked if she could be moved to another seat where the kids weren't moving it at all.  The sister was relieved that Ella jumped aboard because she wanted to spin it, but her brother wasn't letting her.  So, she moved to Ella's old spot and everyone was happy!  Well, most everyone.  I think the guy running it was about to scream. :) 

And as for the ball?  It ended up getting deflated.  Poor Parker, but he would have had us running all over the carnival after it!  He loved to kick it!