Disney World

Finley is absolutely loving Disney World.  She has had the best time.  Yesterday, she made it through the whole day without even needing a nap.  She was such a trooper.  So many firsts....first monorail ride, first Disney World ride, first mouse ears...

The first ride we did was Winnie the Pooh.  She had so much fun.  The only ride she hasn't really liked so much was the carousel.  Her favorite park so far is the Magic Kingdom.  She even rode on the Pirates of the Caribbean tonight.  I was so proud of her for being such a big girl.  She talked to the pirates as we rode, it was super cute.  She also really enjoyed the Country Bear Jamboree, she kept yelling "Bears!"  By far her most favorite thing has been Minnie's house at Toon Town.  We will have to return there at least a couple times more before we leave.

Finley is loving all the attention here, she collected five stickers tonight from castmembers after the Main Street Electrical Light Parade.  Everyone adored her Minnie dress and Grammy & Grandad bought her her very own Minnie Mouse to take home.

We also visited the Animal Kingdom this morning.  Finley loved seeing all the animals, but it is crazy hot here, so we left before nap time.  We were able to get through Africa and Asia, so the rest of the park will have to wait for sometime later this week.

If you have any doubts about taking a toddler to Disney World, DO IT.  It is magical to watch her get so excited about everything.  She has been a total dream and I know she is just loving it so very much.  We have also been spoiled by the Grand Floridian.  After staying here, I doubt we will be able to stay anywhere else.  We are just a short monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom and then we get to take an equally short boat ride home.  Add in a room with a view of the lagoon and monorail (and Cinderella's Castle if you turn your head right) and you have the makings of an ideal Disney

Please accept my apologies for only having large pictures.  I am working on Grandad's Mac...and it is SO frustrating.

Ready to Shop

Finley is such a good shopper.  She loves to be in the shopping basket, whether it is at the grocery store or Target.  She always thinks she is going to get some sort of toy at Target.  We visited Target yesterday to get her a swimsuit for DisneyWorld.  She has outgrown all of her swimsuits, the only one that fits is the one I got at Gymboree on super sale for next summer.  We had to get a 3T at Target, because there were slim pickings.  Who knew a toddler swimsuit would be so hard to find in September?  Don't they realize it is still 90+ degrees here?  Winter coats aren't necessary!

Notice the perpetual hand in the mouth?  I assume her two year molars are coming in, she is a drool machine.  I haven't felt any teeth yet, but I am hoping they pop out soon!

We leave for Disney World tomorrow and Finley is super excited.  She has no clue what Disney World really is, but she does know that she will see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pete, Pluto and Goofy there.  All very exciting!  Send us good vibes for the flight tomorrow morning.  It is a really early start and I was worried it might be full....turns out no Elites fly at 7 am on a Sunday, so the entire section available only to Elites is open.  So our plane won't be full (phew!) and they even offered a $69 upgrade to first class...I was tempted...but it wasn't worth torturing all those who had paid to be up there.

Daddy Love

Finley loves her daddy so very much.  She gets so excited when she hears the garage door go up when he gets home from work.  She follows him around as soon as he walks in the door, which is especially helpful when I am trying to cook dinner.  The other night he got all dressed up for a dinner out, she was so sad to see him going out instead of staying and playing with her before bed time.  With her crazy new schedule (up by 7 am and ready for nap at noon), she is ready for "night night" before 7 pm.  Hopefully, after we visit DisneyWorld, we can get her back to her normal routine...which leaves lots more time for playing with daddy.

All Clear

Finley had her appointment with Orthopaedics at Texas Children's Hospital to address her limp.  They did another set of x-rays (not sure why) and she had two exams with two different doctors.  No real conclusion was made other than she must have twisted or pulled something.  All in all, that is great news.  She did wonderfully with all the doctors and loved visiting the water bubble towers and fish that live in the waiting room.  Finley weighed in at 25 pounds and is 32" tall, such a little bug!

Zee-Um

One of the biggest benefits of our home is that it is just three blocks from the Children's Museum.  This means that at 4:15 pm on a Tuesday, Finley can say "Go to Zee-um" and off we go.  I ditched the stroller and let her walk with me today.  It took a little longer to get there, her left foot got smeared with mud, but we made it.  And she had so much fun.  We only did a couple slides in the Tot Spot, we spent the most of our visit in the big kid part of the museum.  Around 5:30pm, it was getting time to head home.  I peered outside to see that the skies had opened up and it was absolutely pouring.  I called Clifton, luckily he was home from work already and was able to rescue us.  It was raining and sunny on the drive home.  And I saw a HUGE rainbow.  What an afternoon...

What's Better than Ice Cream?

Homemade ice cream.  Finley loves her ice cream more than anything!

Zoo

Finley adores going to the zoo.  We decided to brave the heat and venture over to the zoo for a couple of hours.  Finley got to visit with her meerkat friends, which was the highlight of her visit.  Sadly, she refused to wear her giraffe ear hat that matches her giraffe outfit.  Finley is not into hats.  Let's hope she changes that attitude before Halloween arrives.

Finley loved watching the jaguars play.  They were quite fiesty for so early in the morning.  After a few minutes it was "more animals" and off we went to see the cougar.

The goats were happy to get some good petting from Finley and she was so friendly with them.  Those goats are so tolerant.

All good visits to the zoo must include some play time. Finley couldn't get enough of the slide and the tunnel in the Natural Encounters exhibit.  I am guessing she would do it 100 times if she could.

Go Cougars!

The University of Houston Cougars are going for their third win tonight against the UCLA Bruins.  Go Coogs!  The game isn't on until 9:30 pm, so Finley will be sleeping away during the excitement.  She has been a trooper watching college football today.  We have taught her "Touchdown!", "Go Cougars" and "First Down".  The funniest of these videos is her asking to move the chair to watch the "car race" (Formula 1).  Since there aren't any good games on at the moment, the DVR of Monza will work.

Thank You, Grammy and Grandad!

Finley had the best time with her Grammy and Grandad these past few weeks.  They have departed for home in Georgia, but we will see them soon in Disneyworld.  Finley is super excited to see them again and to see Mickey Mouse too!

Mommy and Daddy are Home!

Finley's Finale

Tomorrow, Finley's Mommy and Daddy are coming home.  Thank you Finley for continuing to charm us. We love you so much and feel so happy that we could spend so much extended time with you.  Our blog entries have been more detailed than Katie's usual blog, because we wanted Katie and Clifton to be able to follow their little daughter's days in their absence.

One last little gift for Finley: a Winnie the Pooh color set.  She busily set to work coloring.

Welcome to Dairy Queen.  May I help you?  Finley rediscovered a Dairy Queen food set left in a cabinet.   She spent a great deal of her morning preparing and serving us a delectable pretend meal.  I ate too much!

Knock, knock...anyone at home.  After a short walk, the afternoon found us at the Children's Museum.  Every time we drive by this building, Finley squeals, "Zeeum!"  Obviously, it is one of her very favorite activities, and it is literally in her back yard.  Lucky Finley!  It was an enormously fun afternoon.

Who is that man below?