Ladies and gents, this is a goat.
No--really--it is. The whole family went to a farm yesterday!
Dad took this closeup of my new friend, Goatsworth.
It took Goatsworth a second or two to get used to me, but then we were fast friends.
Dad says it's because I had an unlimited supply of corn.
I played peek-a-boo with Goatsworth II.
I see you!
AUGH! Goat kiss!
I think I'll be a Goat Whisperer when I grow up.
OK, Goatsworth II, tell me about your childhood.
There were other great beasties at the farm too.
AUGH! Pony kisses!
There were also other fun non-beastie things to do.
For example ...
I AM IN A GIANT TIRE OF CORN RIGHT HERE!
I think Goatwsorth III knew about my connections in the corn industry.
You can see Goatsworth IV getting impatient over there.
Because I am an authentic square-state farm girl, I don't mind a little goat spit every so often.
Here you go, Goatsworth III--slime the other hand too, OK?
There's a lot to do on a farm. It's not all glamorous tasks like getting covered in goat spit.
What?
Oh yeah--they also have birthday parties at this farm. I crashed a couple of them. The more the merrier, right?
Happy birthday, um, Pam from Lakewood!
I have no idea what this is about.
My kid sister, Zoe (I prefer to call her Z-Baby) came along, but she slept the whole time. Dad is going to have her feed the goats when we come back.
I hope that's soon. I'm pretty attached to Goatsworth III.
We went back to Kangaroo Kingdom for my two-year Happy Day!
(Don't call it a "birthday." That bugs me for some reason.)
Grandma Marianne made an amazing potamus cake for me, Riley Potamus.
Mom set it on fire, which I found to be in questionable taste.
Nobody else really gave it a second thought, though.
We blew out the candles. Only you can prevent hippo fires!.
We also played a lot. Dad says there's just one group photo. "Period."
He gets like that. Dad takes the photos that dad wants to take.
He wanted to take this photo of my friend William.
And here is my friend Noah.
Connor helped me out on the slide. (Grandma Marianne made tutus for all the girls and capes for all the boys. I'm in no mood to hear your theories about "heteronormativity," regardless of whether you're a grad student or a barista. )
And Zack ran around a lot.
Ba ha ha ha ha!
Here's Noah again.
Here's my buddy Izzie.
You all know Clara, of course.
We took a break to eat some Happy-Day sushi.
It's all the rage among the toddlers of highly educated middle-class paper-pushers.
What?
This is what was left after a swarm of toddlers (and some paper-pushers) got to it.
Better snag a carrot one before they're all gone.
Here's Walker.
And here's Rosie. I was at Rosie's second Happy Day party a few weeks ago.
Celia goes to daycare with me.
And here's Izzie again.
Here's Isabella. I think I'll call her Bella so I don't confuse her with Izzie.
Oh yeah--my kid sister, Zoe, showed up.
She slept the whole time.
This is Megan.
And here's Rosie again. I was going to make a joke about Dad using color film for this one, but I have no idea what that is.
Ridley goes to daycare with me too. (No, there is no Ripley there.)
Here's Megan again.
At one point, she found herself trapped under the Parachute of Terror. I thought she handled it pretty stoically.
Emily gave me lots of airplane rides.
This is the kind of thing that happens on your Happy Day.
Do you know what else happens on your Happy Day?
It's a really good thing. I was waiting all day for it.
BUBBLES!
Let's give a hand to the good people at Kangaroo Kingdom for making all of this possible. See you again next year on my Happy Day!
Dad keeps giving me Mohawks.
It's getting a little out of control ...
... but it doesn't stop me from sleep-smiling.
I'm working on my awake smiling too.
It is serious business.
Dad has no respect for serious business. He puts hippos on me whenever he feels like it.
Really!
Riley taught me the letter E.
We went to Auntie Elisha's place for Easter the other day.
Elisha makes an excellent Easter bagel.
That's not the best thing about going there, though.
She has the best Easter candles! (Note: They look a lot like her Thanksgiving candles.)
She keeps them in her Easter fireplace, but I just make myself at home and remove them.
Mom probably shouldn't watch this part.
I like to make a nice pretend Easter cocktail. (Current drink name: Cottonhopper.)
Mmmm! Waxtastic!
Whoa ... I need to lie down on this table for a bit.
Zoe slept through the whole thing, as usual.
I think she was kind of listening, though. She kept smiling when I was mixing up Cottonhoppers.
See?