Carousel Flashback

I am fairly positive it is the exact same carousel, just with an old paint job.

A Fish!

Finley has been doing amazingly well in her swim lessons. She will jump off the side and swim to the middle with no issues at all. At Grammy and Grandad's pool, she is the exact opposite. She is clingy and won't even jump in the water unless she is holding onto noodles or your hands. It is a crazy how differently she behaves in the two places. I wonder if inviting Miss Crystal over to Grammy and Grandad's would help the situation in her "play pool."

Nationals Game

The Washington Nationals were in town the weekend of Mike and Katie's wedding, sadly the Orioles were not. So the choice was clear and we headed to DC to see a new stadium to check another off Finley's list of baseball stadiums. While none of us were impressed with the stadium, it was a good game. The Nationals won 9 to 2, beating the Atlanta Braves. It was nice and overcast when we arrived, but by the 6th inning we were sweltering. We all missed the air conditioned Minute Maid.

Finley's First Wedding

Finley had a wonderful time at Katie and Mike's wedding. So much so that she wanted to play wedding with her animals tonight. Bear Friend was the flower girl, we used leaves in place of flower petals and made a cake out of blocks. There was no dancing at Finley's wedding, each animal got a book to read after the bride "dug out the cake."

The wedding this past Saturday was beautiful. Finley loved dancing, eating cake and playing with all her new friends. As long as there is delicious food and cake, Finley considers it a party success. Congratulations to the beautiful bride and lovely groom!

Once Around...

We had to make a return visit to the carousel today...

Finley's First Rehearsal Dinner

My cousin Michael married Katie on Saturday.  On Friday night we all headed up to Westminster to Paradiso for their rehearsal dinner.  Finley was thrilled to play with her second cousin (I think) Lily.  The two of them had the best time feasting on spaghetti and more bread than I can ever say I have seen Finley eat before.  Finley loved seeing all her extended family and was excited to stay up late with the grown-ups.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

We arrived in Maryland yesterday for my cousin Michael's wedding.  Finley had a fantastic flight here, with Grammy entertaining her the whole way while Grandad and I got good naps in.  The landing was a bit crazy since we landed in a thunderstorm. 

Today we headed over with Mrs. Perry to the Annapolis Mall, one of my favorite spots as a kid.  The area near Hecht's (now Macy's) had a big fountain with steps all around.  The fountain has moved and there is now a bridge and a much smaller grouping of steps.  I remember running all around the fountain as a kid, my favorite part was running across the metal service panel because it made the loudest noise.  Finley was equally happy running up and down the ramp.

Grammy and Grandad went to Uncle Chuck's and Aunt Mary's for dinner, so Finley and I were on our own. Which meant we were heading to another childhood favorite spot of mine, Friendly's, to get Fishamajigs and ice cream sundaes. I decided to drive by the old K-Mart by Friendly's to see if the small carousel was still there, it is. So we parked so Finley could grab a ride, like I had so many times as a kid.


After that, we headed down to Friendly's for dinner and a Conehead sundae, in pink of course. Yum!

Aprons and Frogs

Finley insisted on dressing in her apron and having her frog friend dress in their apron.  Later she dressed Penny the Penguin in an oven mitt.

It's Circus Time!

Finley and her daddy went to the Circus yesterday. It wasn't the first time they have attended the circus. The first year they went twice (one and two), she came home a huge fan of clowns and elephants. Last year she only went once and like the motorcycles the best. Finley has been super into bracelets since her cousins Zac and Josh made her a selection out of duct tape. She said she wanted a bracelet from the circus and they were handing them out for free, score! Until she dropped it in the toilet...whoops. She said they should have gotten more and will get more next time they go (next year!)

Children's Museum

Today Clifton had a eye doctor appointment, so Finley and I headed to the Children's Museum to take advantage of the early member morning. Finley wanted to go to Kidtropolis first and then we went to check out mini-Kidtropolis in the Mexico section, but we were surprised to see it is now Gullah-fied. Luckily, it still has the market and kitchen, so Finley was just as happy. After that we made a straw horn and some ice cream crafts. The highlight of the visit was that Finley asked to go into an area we had never been before, the Parents' Resource Library. I had no idea there were childrens' books there and that we could check them out. We checked out a book about the circus since Finley is going tomorrow.

July 4th Party

On July 4th we went over to Joe's house for a party.  There were burgers and hot dogs, so Finley was thrilled.  More importantly, Max was there, so Finley was doubly thrilled.  After lots and lots of playing, Finley ate (inhaled!) a slice of Miss Shannon's amazing cake.  We all headed outside to watch the boys set off fireworks to celebrate the 4th.  We didn't make it home until 10:30 pm and Finley was still awake.  She had so much fun.  She keeps asking me when she will be old enough for "sprinklers" (sparklers!)  Maybe next year Finley, maybe next year....

Crabs!

We finally got it together and had crabs down at Grammy and Grandads this week.  Finley napped through most of the eating, but she was a good helper in getting the crabs in the pot. Finley has been around crabs since she was a wee baby, but she still isn't a huge fan. I got her to eat a bite of crab cake tonight, but that was it. Let's look back at baby Finley...crab feast and crab feast.

Happy 4th of July!

HMNS with Max

It has been a long summer for Finley and Max so far.  Finley misses her best friend so very much and the feeling is mutual.  So both kids were so excited to see each other when I picked Max up from school on a day he had early dismissal.  It was near impossible to grab pictures of the two of them, they were constantly on the move.  And the random hugging just melted my heart.  It seemed as if every five minutes they were embracing each other.  Max's favorite part of the museum was the Mayan temple, just like Finley's.  He liked it so much, we visited twice that afternoon.  The both loved the new Paleontology Hall and of course the "lion eating the zebra."

Gymnastics Camp

Instead of doing summer gymnastics class this year, we decided that Finley would attend gymnastics camp at HGA for two weeks this summer.  Her first week was this week and she loved it.  She is still asking to go back to gymnastics camp.  I think the main reason is the jumpy house.  Finley started at HGA last summer and was always wanting to go in the jumpy house like the campers were, but her class only got to go in a couple times over the summer.  So this year, I promised her that she would get to jump.  I enrolled her in the half day camp, since I knew she would not make it until 3 o'clock with the full day campers.  I was very nervous about her going to camp.  She was going to be one of the younger kids and she was used to me watching her do gymnastics in class.  She picked out a new lunchbox for camp (Mickey Mouse at Old Navy for three bucks!) and I got her a new leotard.  I explained that she would be at camp without me and she seemed okay with it.  My biggest concern was her getting her leotard on and off for potty breaks.  When I picked her up on Monday, she was so excited.  She kept telling me that the jumpy house was "crazy!"  She had so much fun.  Today was the last day and they had pizza for lunch and got their faces painted.  She did not want to take off the butterfly from her face, she was so proud.  Her next camp isn't until August, so I hope she stays this excited to go back.

Happy Birthday, Bella!

It was Bella's third birthday and she had an amazing party at Wonderwild. Unlike most parties we have been to there, we were able to play at our leisure, use the party room and play some more. It made it so much easier to be able to return to the play area after pizza and then again after cake. Finley was so excited to be reunited with her best friend Max for the party. Happy birthday, Bella!

Back to HMNS

This weekend we went back to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to explore the new Paleontology Hall more. As per usual, it was so hard to get Finley to smile and pose for a picture. And the one picture I got, Clifton has a strange look on his face. Ah well. We also saw the exhibit where the Terra Cotta Warriors were on display. Finley was most fascinated by the bowls and dishes, she was so curious as to what each one held. We also saw my sorority sister (and fellow Junior Leaguer) Kristen working the touch carts at the museum. Finley loved playing with all the instruments she had on display.

Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday

Today was a big holiday in our house, both Father's Day and my birthday.  Finley had made Clifton a mug for Father's Day and we got him Apple TV.  Too bad I didn't realize that it needed an HDMI cable, so off we went to Best Buy.  Turns out, Amazon has a way better price (shocker!) so we will have to wait a couple days for the magic of Apple TV to enter our home.  For my birthday, Finley and Clifton got me a trip to the brand new Cars Land in Disney's California Adventure.  Finley was so excited to tell me about all the rides I would be enjoying there.  We had a delicious dinner at Pappadeaux and the bribe for being good during dinner was throwing pennies in the fountain, which is a carry over from the Louvre...and I promise I will get to those pictures this week.  Finley has gymnastics camp this week, so I will have some time to go through them.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day.

Birdies!

In school, Finley made a bird feeder and a set of binoculars from toilet paper rolls.  They have been some of her most favorite school crafts that she has worked on all year long.  She still talks about feeding the birds.  So today, we decided to make a new feeder.  I coated the empty roll in peanut butter and let her roll away. She had so much fun making it.