Happy Halloween!

Our little Minnie Mouse had a great time on her first trick-or-treating adventure (last year she was only 2 months, so it was a little difficult to walk door to door). This year we first made the rounds to the grandparents' houses, then back to our neighborhood to visit the next door neighbors. Then for the rest of the evening, Ellie helped Daddy hand out candy to other children, which I think she enjoyed the most.

Maybe it's a St. Louis thing, but we had lots of kids tell jokes when they rang the doorbell. My favorite was perhaps the little 4-year-old British boy, with his adorable accent ask, "What is a pirate's favorite letter?" And of course, we all know the answer is "R", but it sounds so much sweeter when it's said with an accent.

Bounce U

Ellie's cousins were in town for a visit last weekend, so we decided to try to make a trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday afternoon....Boy, was that a bad idea! There were a million cars in the parking lot and another million backed up on the road waiting to get in the parking lot, so we quickly aborted that mission and kept on driving. Luckily, nearby was a facility that held the potential of being even more fun than the pumpkin patch. What is this facility, you ask? The answer is, Bounce U. It has all kinds of the big, blow-up gyms, slides, boxing rings, obstacle courses, etc., and we intended to use all of them.

The giant slide seemed to be everyone's favorite, as you can see from the smiles on Kameron's and Valerie's faces.
But Jason and Bryan enjoyed racing each other through the obstacle courses.
Ellie had fun on the big slide too, though it was close to that line of being scary/fun.
And Ellie enjoyed the basketball shoot-out, she just needed slightly longer arms.
So, if you have to miss going to the pumpkin patch near Halloween, this is definitely a fun alternative. And all those babies were asleep in their car seats before we pulled out of the parking lot on the way home.

More play time

Even though we never made it to the pumpkin patch, Ellie looked so darn cute in her Halloween outfit, that I just had to post these pics too. And isn't she just the sweetest little mommie, pushing around her baby....Man, that maternal instinct sure kicks in early.

Old Iron Works Days 2007

The Marler family has been making the trip to Meramec Springs for Old Iron Works Days for as long as I can remember. There were a number of years that we missed because our family was living in Farmington, and my siblings and I were teenagers who couldn't be bothered by such things. But some of our fondest family memories as children were going to Meramec Springs, so we've decided to continue the tradition with Ellie. Ellie attended her first Old Iron Works days last year, when she was about 7 weeks old, but this year she seemed to enjoy herself much more.
She got to swing and play on the slides...which led to a little bit of a fit when we pryed her fingers away from the swing chains to move on to something new.
... she got to pet some goats. And by "pet" some goats, I mean try to stick her fingers in their mouths and noses.
... she got to sit on a blanket on the big hill and listen to some fiddlin' bluegrass music and watch some so-so cloggers (Hi Aunt Lala).
... and she got to play on some of the old playground equipment that I remember playing on as a child. My parents have a picture of me and Andrew on this same horse and wagon, when I was about 3 years old...the horse was so much larger in my memory.
All in all, it was a fun, fall day, and the beginning of many future trips to Meramec Springs.

Where did you get that gorgeous purse?

Ellie is starting to discover the fun of being a girl, and by this I mean, she already loves her bags. Whether we're shopping or waiting for a table at a restaurant, Ellie will entertain herself by dragging around whatever purse or bag I'll let her have. So one evening her papa & mama surprised her by bringing over a beautiful, pink purse, all for her. She instantly filled it with the essentials--toys, books, a Uniqua doll, and a cell phone--and then began dragging it around the family room, waving bye-bye to everyone.