As I mentioned on Tuesday, Laternenfest was this past weekend…so when Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry announced that the topic for this week was happiness, I was pretty stoked. (Yes, that is actually a word I use in every day speak.)

We had plenty of fun, happy and crazy moments this weekend, but this was one of the first times that Mackenzie didn’t find everything too loud or just uninteresting. In fact, she really enjoyed everything she got to see, so we know that next year’s event here in our local village is going to be even more fun for her.

She’s pretty funny about showing happiness, though. You aren’t always certain she’s happy until after the fact, when she starts asking about something nonstop after it’s over.

These guys are part of our favorite marching band and we look forward to watching and hearing them play every year. They really are fabulous. This look of happiness came shortly after these two had performed a really awesome dueling solo. I actually caught Mackenzie making her own drum solo yesterday — perhaps she’s going to be a little drummer girl one day. And you know what — that doesn’t even make my ears ache at all. 😉

But the ultimate happiness of Laternenfest for Mackenzie this year seems to have been this firetruck. She looked completely terrified while riding it, clutching the railing and her little bear as we were going around (it was quite nauseating and felt pretty fast so I was kinda clutching the thing too). But even though she looked like she was scared, she apparently loved it because she wanted to keep riding it over and over again. Unfortunately mom and dad just couldn’t stomach that, though. And she wasn’t quite prepared to ride it with us waiting on the sidelines. Hopefully some other events will come up in the future with a carousel for her to ride…

What’s brought you happiness this week?