Disneyworld: Day Five

Day five was met with an early start.  We had breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and his friends before the park opened.  I highly recommend you try and snag these reservations if you go to Disney.  It was so neat to get into the park early and be able to take pictures all alone, well with a few tours and the other early diners.  Our table was ready right on time and Finley was so happy to eat breakfast with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger.  The Magic Kingdom was fairly empty this day, which was great for riding and not so great for picture taking.  Finley rode the teacups over 10 times in a row at one point.  We were all spinning in circles!  We had late dinner resrevations in Epcot to watch Illuminations.  Finley napped in her stroller on the way over, but was awake in time for dinner and the show.  We had a table right next to the window, a perfect viewpoint for the show.  It was freezing that night, so I am glad we had an indoor spot to watch.  Too bad the monorail was not cooperating that evening, when we got to the platform they said the last train was delayed and to take the buses instead.  But there were no buses...so in the cold we waited and waited.  We got home really late, it had been a long and very fun day.

Disneyworld: Day Four

Day four at Disneyworld was spent entirely at Hollywood Studios.  It was Finley's first visit to the park and my first visit in 15 years or so.  Finley started the day monorail watching from our hotel room, it was one of her most favorite things to do on the trip.  We got to the park and waited for the Disney Junior Show.  Finley got to meet Handy Manny before the show.  We were lucky to get front row seats!  We had lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe, Finley's favorite was her ice cream sundae.  We rode the Great Movie Ride, Toy Story  Mania, saw the Muppet 3-D Show, the Studio Backlot Tour and the saw the Beauty and the Beast show.  Finley was thrilled to get to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater.  We were able to see Fantasmic that night, which was a lot different from the Disneyland version.  We also walked through the amazing Osborne family lights at the end of the evening.

Disneyworld: Day Three

Day three in our Disneyworld adventure started with a monorail ride over to Epcot.  Finley's first request was to meet all the characters, so we met Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.  After that I headed to the land to Fastpass Soarin while Finley, Grammy and Grandad walked over to Finding Nemo.  I met up with them for the ride and Finley had a blast.  Then we headed over to Journey into Imagination with Figment.  I went over to Test Track while Finley met Daisy, the furry blue guy (?), Chip and Dale.  We had an ice cream snack before we returned to our hotel for nap time.  We headed back to the Magic Kingdom that night for teacups, Small World, Race Cars, Buzz Lightyear, the People Mover and fireworks.  What a big day!

Go Coogs!

Today was the day for the Ticketcity Bowl.  We watched my beloved Houston Cougars defeat the Penn State Nittany Lions at the Cotton Bowl this afternoon.  It was a loooong game and Finley did great through the whole game.  Auntie Hodder and Josh were in town from Vail to watch the game, Josh went to Penn State and Heather went to Houston for undergrad and Penn State for graduate school, she would have been happy with either team winning. Lucky for me, the Cougars won and it wasn't even close the entire game.  Case Keenum ended his collegiate career with a win in a 13-1 season.  Amazing.  We were lucky that our seats were in the sun, so it was nice and toasty the whole game.  Afterwards, we headed to Pappasitos for a victory dinner before the drive home to Houston.  I am already counting the days until college football begins in the fall.  I am so pround to be a Cougar.

Happy New Year!

We spent the first day of the new year at the Dallas Zoo.  We are going to the Ticketcity Bowl tomorrow to watch the Houston Cougars defeat Penn State.  Finley got to do lots of neat things at the Dallas Zoo, including riding a camel, feeding the giraffes, riding the carousel and riding a pony.  What a big day at the zoo.  Finley also really enjoyed all the animal statues all around the zoo.  She wanted to pose on every single one.  She also had fun driving the safari truck, she told us she was driving it to Disneyworld.

Christmas

Finley got so many neat toys for Christmas, including the garbage truck.  She had so much fun playing with all her new toys and opening presents.  She really loved racing her Wheelies truck against the garbage truck.  She also had so much fun coloring on her new play house.  She also got a Cars racetrack to play with Daddy.  Finley got me the Cat in Hat game 'I Can Do That.'  If you have a pre-schooler, this game is awesome.  We have played it several times already, it generally has us all laughing by the end of the game.  Finley also got a new guitar, some Lincoln Logs, princess sets, lots of books and a Tag reader.  It didn't take long for her to catch onto the Tag reader, she was reading books with it in no time.  Finley also has really enjoyed playing with her Aquadoodle mat.  The best part is that Finley wanted to play with each toy and read every book after she opened them, it was so cute.  The garbage truck toted around all her Cars Matchbox cars.  And Santa didn't forget her AAA batteries, so her music book is back working again.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve

We headed out for an early Chinese dinner at Kam's last night around 6 pm.  Too bad lots of other people had the same idea and we had a little wait for a table.  Finley ate lots of pork dumplings, well, only the pork part.  After that she decided she would try hot and sour soup, but she wasn't a big fan.  She did love the pork from the chow mein we had, almost as much as the crispy wonton strips.  We headed home to get ready for Santa to visit.  Finley left a note asking for AAA batteries for her book and wishing Santa a Merry Christmas.  She also left him two cookies to snack on during his stay.  After Finley got into her Mickey Mouse Christmas jammies, we read The Night Before Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Finley went to bed quickly...she was ready for Santa to get here with her garbage truck, princesses and batteries.  Luckily, Santa came.  Finley insisted that she heard reindeer on our roof last night! 

Cookies for Santa

Max came over this week so his mommy could do some Christmas shopping on her own.  I decided it would be fun to bake some cookies with the kids.   I used my favorite gingerbread recipe, but I didn't take into consideration that the dough needs to be chilled in order for it to be cut easily.  Because I was working with two slabs of dough and two three year olds, speed wasn't on our side and the dough got too warm to cut out.  We only got about 6 cookies cut out and baked, but that is just the right amount for Finley with enough leftover to leave for Santa tonight.  Finley has been very excited for Santa to arrive.  She wants him to bring her a garbage truck, princesses and triple-A batteries.  The batteries were the most recent request since one of her favorite music books needs new batteries.  I bet Santa is going to be a busy guy tonight.  We have been tracking him on the Santa tracker.  Last we checked he was in Cairo, Egypt and the Ukraine.  We are going out for Chinese food tonight, then everyone will snuggle all warm in their beds to wait for Santa to arrive.  I hope Santa finds everyone well, Merry Christmas to you all!