Labor Day Fun

This year we got to celebrate Labor Day weekend by meeting little Aria and then coming home to enjoy Orion's Fall Festival and a leisurely trip to the zoo together. Last year we took Eva to the festival Friday night and I remember it well. I was 8 months pregnant, it was miserably hot, Abby and I burned our dinner and decided to go up to Fall Fest and grab dinner there instead. I had purchased some ride tickets in advance (gotta grab those deals) so we tried them out. I remember Eva sitting on that mini ferris wheel and just crying and begging for it to be over. The festival rained out the rest of the weekend we were stuck with 8 or 9 ride tickets. Well, on our bulletin board they remained for a full year, and into my pocket they went as we headed out this year. And oh what a difference a year makes. She had SUCH a fun time riding all the rides and waving to us as she went by. She says her favorite ride was the Dizzy Dragon ride with her Daddy, but our favorite to watch her ride was the mini roller coaster. There she was waiting for the ride to start, giving us the double thumbs up. Then the ride suddenly jolted into gear, going much faster than the ferris wheel and the motorcyles. Her wide little eyes as that ride begin had the two of us laughing so hard. It didn't take her long to be laughing and having a great time on it, however. Though I don't think she cared too much for it when it started going backwards halfway through!

The zoo was the same as it always is: fun and stress-free. The elephants were RIGHT at their gate when we got there, so Evalee stook talking to them for quite some time before she sprinted off to see if her monkeys were swinging around or anything yet. We laughed about how well she knows that zoo. She doesn't show one sign of hesitation when she is ready to head to a specific animal. Travis made the comment that if we ever lost track of her we could probably just head to teh car and she'd be waiting there for us at the end of the afternoon. My favorite part of this visit by FAR was watching Izzy feed the cows at the petting zoo. Oh how she would squeal with excitement when that cow's tongue would get those oats out of her hand. She followed them up and down that fence, determined to pull one into the stroller and take it home with her. It was so great to see her so excited about something. I love how much her little personality is starting to shine.

We ended our holiday with a nice steak dinner out on the sun porch, as per Eva's request. It was a great, great weekend.