Granny and Grandpa

We had an awesome weekend with Granny and Grandpa...They arrived mid-day Friday and stayed for a few fully crazy days before leaving Sunday afternoon. Ella was as excited as can be to wake up from her nap on Friday to find they had come to visit. We hung out Friday at home, letting Ella reconnect with them and allowing them to check out how much Miss Mia is growing and changing.

On Saturday we played outside a while and though we tried to go to the Saloon (closed due to family wedding) wound up having dinner at Lomita's (HUGE margaritas) where Ella successfully scaled a booth about four feet high before letting go to whack her head on the table. She's fine - I only wish I could blame the crazy on the fall.

On Sunday morning we got up early and went into the Dodger for breakfast at Village Inn (Ella got the smiley face pancakes - Still just mom for Mia....no silly faces for her) and we trekked out to Community Apple Orchard for "Apple Fest" which means Ella got to play a bunch of games, which included dad catching her a balloon:

Dad helping her throw a ball at a "floating" pumpkin"

And, of course, participating in what dad calls "the most exciting 30 seconds in television!!!":

Ella, Dad, Granny and Grandpa also braved "the black hole" (Mia and I opted out for not knowing if I'd be able to maneuver through with a baby strapped to me). Ella held a dead rat:

and bones:

Oh the experiences of a two-year old.
According to the growth chart at Community Apple Orchard Ella is currently roughly 35 inches tall:

We'll have to see if she's grown next year.

We tried to get a pic of the girls with their faces in a photo cut out. This is how it went down:

Maybe there's something in there that looks reasonable!

Miss Mia had her share of fun too, and was even generous enough to help carry Ella's prizes.

The would be pumpkin picking was curtailed by rain that made for a huge mess, and given that we're headed back out at some point with Delaney and Addie we skipped it for the day. But all in all it goes down in our list of great weekends.

Oh yeah, we've also decided to try and go (pale) green. Which really means we're working on making sure we turn off the lights when we leave the room, unplugging the monitor when not in use, unplugging cell phone chargers, etc. Nothing major, but I've heard a lot lately about the simple things we can all do to make a difference. So we're trying to do our part. Wish us luck.