Fort Walton Beach, Florida Oct 13-21

Elli carryng her toys to the beach.

Beautiful sunset down on the pier.

I really liked this picture of our feet. Elli was not happy about being "placed" for this picture, but thankfully it was of her foot prints and not her sour face.

A king sized bed all to herself and she loved it!!! "I sleep in my big, big girl bed. Want to go to the beach?" (How we woke up each day:)

Elli making a castle with daddy.

Brent's caption for this, "Are we on vacation yet?" We were so excited to finally be there that we changed our clothes immediately and ran out to the beach. What a fun way to spend our days.

The Pumkpin Barn Take II

On Oct 12, we went for the Brown family annual tradition to the Pumpkin Barn. We got a family picture again, and Elli got to ride a horse. She LOVED it. She also really liked feeding the horse some peppermints. Such a fun day with great weather!

Care Group fun at Youngs

We all met at Youngs for fun, pumpkins, dinner, and of course chasing kids who are soon to outnumber adults:)

Great Grammy and Grampy's house

Grammy gave Elli one of her favorite flowers from her birthday bouquet, a yellow rose.

Elli hugging Grampy as we were getting ready to leave.

We went to visit my grammy and grampy on Thursday. Elli wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to Grammy. (not just because she sings it to anyone who will listen, but also because Grammy just turned 83!) Pictures were a little rough because Elli didn't want them to hold her, so she chose to sit in the chair. We made their day exciting though as we came, we spilled milk, we spread cracker crumbs about, and then we left! We love you Grammy and Grampy.

"I ride my bike."

Elli loves to "ride" her bike. She gets on, I push a few steps, then she gets off. She likes to ring the bell and push her babies too. She still doesn't get that you are supposed to push with your legs and make the pedals go. She is cute though isn't she? This bike was a garage sale purchase many times over then given to Elli by our neighbors. A perfect first bike for a girl who doesn't know how to ride:)

Pumpkin Patch

Elli petting "Coconut the friendly horse". She loves animals and tried to pet all of them. (pigs, horses, cows, donkey, llama, ducks, peacocks, and even the stray cats)

Smile guys.

We go to the pumpkin patch every year as a family. (We went with just the three of us last weekend, but the rest of my immediate family will be going again on Sunday, so check back for more pics:) The Pumpkin Barn has lots of pumpkins, photo ops, and animals. When you put that with a little girl who loves all three, it makes for a great ime!

Elli-isms

While Elli was eating breakfast, Fergi was running around as fast as she could go. Elli says with a big, out loud laugh, "Fergi, you crappin me up."

I was explainging to Elli that God gave us the Bible. In a very confused and upset voice, she said adamantly, "that's not God's Bible, that's mommy's."

Elli was desparately trying to get Fergi to 'wave' to her for a treat. Fergi was rolling, sitting, laying down, praying, dancing, crawling, etc, but not waving. Exasperated Elli says, "Mommy, I need a little help in here."

When Elli enters a room or gets 'found' while playing hide-n-seek, she often cries out, "here my are." (instead of here I am!)

Elli was describing to her Gonga, (grandma), our relationships. She said to Gonga, "You a precious one and mommy is a sweetheart." This statement followed my mom's clarification that Elli was her granddaughter and Iwas her daughter. Apparently, Gonga was not totally correct:)

We love this girl. Keep us laughing Elli!