If I Had to Pick One Day...

Recently, Sylvain said to me, "If I had to pick one day as my Groundhog Day, this would be it."  The Groundhog Day movie has got to be my least favorite movie ever made, but the point was, he would repeat that day over and over again a million times if he could.  Today would be my Groundhog Day.  It was sublimely perfect in every way.  Weather.  Naps.  Food.  Smiles and snuggles.  It just can't get better than today.  There's no way it ever will.  Prepare yourself for picture overload, friends, because I had a hard time narrowing these down!

Okay, so, at some point this summer, SOMEONE told Sylvia about this magical land called DISNEY where all the princesses live.  She knows that people can go there and see the princesses and "The Castle."  I've been spending the last few weeks showing her pictures of REAL castles on the internet and explaining to her that there are a lot of castles in other countries, particularly France, and that someday we will go visit these castles.  That created a huge problem because now she wants to go to Disney AND France RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND!  There is no "someday" when you're three.  So, after much deliberation on the topic, we decided to surprise her with a visit to the Loveland Castle in Ohio!  Can I just say........the girl loved it.  And it was crazy cheap.  Win-win!

She explored "The Little Castle"in the parking lot, right in front of the big one.

We packed her Cinderella dress and let her put it on before we went inside.

Before we even got through the front door she was darting off around corners to explore.

Up the staircase to the "tower."

Looking over the balcony at "the little castle."

Knights!

Margot tried to scale the tower walls.

Exploring the gardens.  Turrets and staircases everywhere!

Picnic lunch!  I always pack way too much food, but these girls ate a TON because they were worn OUT!

Oh look, she found a stage.  Surprise.  There was singing.  And twirling.

I made them go back to the balcony so I could snap a picture from outside.

We spent the middle of our day at the castle and then headed home for naps, which were long and refreshing after such excitement!  But our day of fun wasn't over yet.  At the beginning of the summer, Mom told us about Washington Park's Thursday night bluegrass extravaganza.  I've hesitated to go before for a few reasons: I know it's a nice park but it's in a terrible part of town, the show doesn't start until 7:00, which is bedtime, and until now it's either been too hot or too rainy to even try it.  But today we decided to go for it, since it's the last week of summer and we've had such luck with the little ladies already.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I'm so glad we went.  This park was AHHHHMAZING! 

I was really impressed with what they've done to this neighborhood in recent years. There are lots of great bars and restaurants, and it's also near Music Hall and a bunch of churches, which are absolutely beautiful.  The park itself was phenomenal - not just a pretty place to listen to music.  There was a playground.  There was a SPRAYground!  There was....wait for it.....a DOG PARK for my dog obsessed children.  Throw in the beautiful weather, snappy music, and picnic dinner from Grammy....you have my official choice for Groundhog Day! 

Sylvia loved the spray ground.  It was impossible to take a bad picture:

When I see this picture, I hear a symphony in my head.

I might blow this one up and hang it in our house!

Margot took some convincing, but once she got her feet wet....

 Let's just talk about Margot for a second - she will NOT walk by herself yet!  She loves to hold onto our hands and motor all over the place, but as soon as I let go, she falls to the ground and crawls.  I'm sure it won't take long for her to figure it out, but I got SOAKED trying to get her to walk to the water!

It was worth it...she was having a ball!

Just stand UP, Margot!  You can DO IT!

Back on the blanket, safe with the dou-dou bear.

Our view of the band.  Heaven!

All of my pictures from the dog park are on my phone, but trust me, these girls were going NUTS over all the dogs!  Sylvia asked every owner if she could pet their dog and Margot just squealed with delight at every furry friend!  What a great day!  I hope this weather lasts forever and that my girls never grow up.