Day 2, Epcot and Chef Mickey

She kissed Donald on the nose and then he covered his eyes like he was embarrassed. Then, Elli covered her eyes because she was embarrassed:)

Elli called Mickey Mouse, Chef Mickey all week. So cute!

Minnie was a favorite of Elli's the whole week. We waited in several lines to see her.

Poor Gary was getting the brunt of this excitement during the celebration song:) Heather and Gary joined us at the Chef Mickey dinner as Elli's next surprise. She was excited to se them. We had great fun with them over the next two days. Elli loved the songs and would run and dance with Mickey when the song started. I will say the food was not great but the atmosphere was very fun. The desserts were also delicious:)

Goofy was fun to watch. He acted just like you would expect:)

Okay, we were laughing so hard we were crying. She loves Pluto!!!!

Thank you Jeni for the adorable shirt. It reads, "Minnie sweet things come in mini packages." She got many compliments on her adorable outfits:)

We enjoyed our day at Epcot. We rode all we could ride and saw all we wanted to see. We would like to go back here some time to see the rest but had a great day with Elli at this age. The "Talk with Crush" was hilarious.

We were the last in line to see Mulan. Elli was excited to see her.

Snow White was my favorite. She played the part extremely well. She asked Elli if she had seen her 7 little friends. Elli was looking for them the rest of the day:)

Jasmine and Aladdin. Aladdin like Elli's hair and she asked me to make it look like Jasmine's later in the week:)

Belle without the beast, which Elli was okay with.

Our first Princess visit was Sleeping Beauty. No one else was in line to see her. We happened upon her almost by accident:)

We entered the park and Elli ran right up to Daisy. Look at that smile:) What a way to start the park visits!

I was so excited. We walked in at the gate opening, met Daisy and then rode Soarin. Elli kept asking, "Mommy are we really flying? Are we really here?" She had no concept of Disney before we got here, so there are many comments from Elli that brought tears to my eyes as she was expereincing this for the first time. We loved it!!!!

Disney World Vacation, October 9, 2010 Day 1

Elli and Abby at Wendy's after the trip to Downtown Disney didn't work out due to extreme amount of traffic.

Elli was not sure what to do when we got to the restaraunt and saw Abby and her family. It only took a bit for them to get acquainted again. We had a great visit with the Meltons:)

The airplane ride to Disney. Elli got an invitation from Cinderella to eat breakfast at her castle on Friday evening. We then told her we would need to take a trip to Disney. She didn't know what to think at first, so we showed her a DVD about disney world. She was very excited then. We had the trip planned for 6 months and planned lots of surprises in there as well. The first surprise was dinner with the Meltons.

Pumpkin Patch Oct 3rd, 2010

Matt giving Elli a wagon ride.

The three sisters:)

Family picture at Adventure Acres.

The annual picture with Heather and Elli, where Elli is crying and trying to get free. Seriously 5 years in a row:)

The whole gang headed out to get our pumpkins. We went to a new place this year, Adventure Acres. It was fun to go to the field and choose our own pumpkins instead of choosing from what had already been picked. It was a little chilly, but we all had a great time.

Caroline's Birthday Party

Elli and Caroline the birthday girl.

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday.

Working hard on her Ariel. It was painted in as many colors as were out on the table. She has mostly red hair and a bit of blue on the water part, but other than that, it is a true work of art:)

All the girls painting their pottery creations. The decorations were adorable and the cupcakes were both delicious and cute. Fun time for sure:)

Such a great idea for a four year old birthday party. We went to a place called Paintbrush Pottery. It was so fun. The girls picked a piece of pottery and then painted it however they wanted. Elli chose Ariel as did many other little girls. We will get it back all glazed and shiny in a week or two. Caroline was a sweet birthday girl with many thanks for all who came. What a great day!

Cedarville Homecoming and Young's October 2, 2010

Love this pose on this huge real pumpkin.

What is a trip to Young's without feeding and petting the goats:) To hear her talk to them you would think they were her pets or children. She says things like, "Hey baby. You okay? Are you hungry little one?" Adorable.

How sweet is this baby cow? Elli wanted in the cage with her but settled for petting through the fence.

Someone watching Elli pet this cow told me she was so gentle with animals and asked if Elli liked all animals. I told her that Elli really is an animal lover and has such a gentle way with all of them. I love this picture!!! She of course was talking to this cow the whole time she was petting her.

We have not been to Young's on the weekend when the barrel ride is running. So today, we went for that purpose. She loves it!

Such fun in the jump house.

She could not wait to get in line for this huge slide:) She is such a big girl. She saw a friend from preschool, a boy, and run up to him with a huge hug. She asked him to get in line with her and they slid down this slide several times. She is really a social bug who loves others.

Look at that. The president of the University, Dr. Brown, asked Elli if she wanted a balloon. Next to getting a bag full of candy, she loved getting those balloons. What a special day for this little girl.

Cincinnatti Reds Oct 2, 2010

All three of us at the game. Elli had a blast. The people around us seemed to enjoy her for the most part as well. If you give this girl a smile, chances are you are going to be asked to play:) She especially enjoyed having Meg and Kyle's friend Nate around to play. He was a good sport and even shared his pretzel with her:)

Brent got a slice of pizza and this chilli dog for the three of us to share. Elli ate the whole chilli dog and Brent ate all but three bites of pizza. Thankfully, Brent was still hungry and we shared, for real this time, a basket of chicken fingers and fries. Yummy.

We went to the reds game Friday night. They have had a great season and have won their division. They will start play offs next week, but we got tickets to their second to last regular season game. Sadly, they lost in extra innings, but what fun to be there.

Columbus Zoo, Sept 26, 2010

She wanted her picture with this pumpkin as well. She looks so cute holding her little mantee.

Another statue. She was a little afraid of the real thing, but after being assured this was not real, she hopped right on:)

Since we came to the zoo on a whim and unprepared, (no stroller, only flip flops, no snacks or packed lunch) we stopped often to read the map and rest. Elli saw "caterpillars" right away and told me we needed to head that direction. I didn't know what she was talking about, but as we finished the animal exhibits, sure enough we passed the caterpillars. They are part of a huge playground. She climbed right up to the tallest slide, which is curvy and enclosed, and slid down laughing the whole time. This is a big deal because up until about a month ago, Elli would NEVER slide on an enclosed slide. She was terrified of them. Another way that shows she is growing up indeed.

This is a funny animal called an Okapi. We laughed at this animal because it looked like a deer, moose, and zebra mixed, according to Elli. e decided we would look very funny if we had striped booties:) This animal lead to a great discussion on God's creativity, His sense of humor, and His ability to love all He has made. Elli was also glad we didn't have red bottoms fo all to see like those strange monkeys. She didn't like them at all:)

These brothers were hilarious. While one was resting the other came around the corner and pulled him by the foot to get him to box. Here they are boxing, and seemingly laughing:) We were laughing for sure.

Elli was trying to get this gorilla to smile at her. She put her hand out and said, "Here little guy. You want me to pet you?"

While I was takign a picture of Elli feeding the parakeet, this one surprised me by jumping on my back. Boy, these little birds sure are loud, especially when they are right in your ear!

I told Elli I was not going to pay for sugar water to feed the birds. So, she asked this worker if she could please have a turn. The worker gave her a turn. I guess it is hard to resist a cute and respectful little girl:)

We were so close to the kangaroos. I was so hoping one would hop a little closer. Oh well.

And what is a trip to any zoo without a carousel ride? Elli was such a big girl and did it all by herself. Actually, she didn't want me to ride with her.

Elli wanted her picture by almost every statue we came to. She would pose and say, "Mommy, take a picture." So, of course, I did:)

Looking at the sleeping tigers. One was walking around, but this one was content to watch. We wished they were a little more active. All the big animals were sleepy except those monkeys.

Check out this brown bear. He was actually sleeping while straddling this tree. His mouth would open and you could sometimes hear him snoring:) (or at least sighing) Quite a funny site.

The first place we went was the petting part of the zoo. There were goats and ponies to pet. Elli was in goat heaven! She loves animals and begs to pet all of them. So, when she saw she could walk in and there was not even a fence separating her from the animals, she ran up to the first goat she saw, this one, and started loving on him. She was a little put out when the big goat who is on a diet came out and began pushing all the other goats out of his way. She thought that was mean. She kept saying, Aww, little goats. Come here. I'll help you." What a sweet spirit she has for animals. She wanted to keep the little ones safe from the bully:)

We had such a great time at the zoo. Elli was crying quietly in the back seat on the way home. When I noticed and asked what was wrong, she just said she wanted to go back and see the animals.

Another funny quote from the zoo was when we saw the porcupine. I asked if she would want to pet one and she said, "No way. It will pork you!" That made me and all those in close proximity laugh:)