Fireworks for the Fourth

I waited in line for over an hour in order to secure tickets to the Houston Symphony's performance at Miller Outdoor Theater and they had sold out before I could reach the box office.  Such a bummer, I was there before the office opened and everything.  I guess that free tickets on the Fourth of July mean you need to get there real early, which isn't worth it to me since the Symphony does several free shows at Miller Outdoor over the month of June.  So I went home with no tickets in hand and we decided to walk over for just the fireworks portion of the event.

At 8 pm, Finley started asking to go "night night".  We settled in for an episode of Sesame Street and crossed our fingers that she would stay up late enough for the fireworks show.  We left our house a little before 9 pm.  When we arrived, the Texas Tenors were still performing, which was neat to hear.  We couldn't get close enough to see anything, but the music was loud enough for us all to enjoy.  The music wrapped up around 9:15 pm and we thought it was time for fireworks.  We were very very very wrong.

Are these fireworks ever going to begin?

There was about a 15 minute intermission and the Symphony was back out again.  At this point, we were all restless and ready to see the fireworks.  The music kept going, the Texas Tenors came back out to perform more songs and I kept looking at my watching.  Surely the fireworks wouldn't start past 10 pm, that is illogical.  Finally around 10 pm, they announced it was the last song, The 1812 Overture, complete with real cannons.  The fireworks themselves didn't begin until 10:18 pm and we weren't home until after 11 pm. 

Watching the fireworks spectacular

Finley was quite a trooper, she mostly wanted to "walk walk walk".  The fireworks didn't seem to scare her at all, but she did grow bored of them after about 10 minutes.  I think it is because she was much more interested in walk walk walking.

Next year, we are going back to the fireworks show downtown. It is a much bigger spectacle and ends at a much more reasonable time.

Trying to get a good picture with mommy in the dark

Grocery Store Fun

Finley and I usually shop during the week, when the crowds are light and we have the store to ourselves. I had to run to the store this holiday weekend and I forgot the spectacle that the grocery store becomes. Finley got a balloon, a sticker and a balloon animal dog on a leash. She was also entertained by a live band and a patriotic clown, not to mention the crazy amount of samples that we enjoyed during our shopping.

Finley is a really good shopper, she is quite content to hang out in the cart and realizes that she gets the food when we get home.  It took us a bit to work through that, but I think the free samples are a big help.  Unless there is ice cream, that still causes a melt down.

Happy Fourth of July!

Finley woke up super early this morning, I am guessing she heard there was going to be fireworks tonight and was so excited that she couldn't sleep any more. We had blueberry and strawberry pancakes for breakfast and dressed in our only red, white and blue outfit.  Today we are going to watch the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, eat hot dogs & burgers and end the day watching the Houston Symphony play with a fireworks show at Miller Outdoor Theater with a special guest, the Texas Tenors.  If you watched America's Got Talent last summer, you should know them.

We hope everyone has a fantastic 4th of July with family and friends.

Playgroup Fun

After not being able to make it to playgroup last week because Finley had a fever, it was great to be able to see our friends this week and have a good time playing.  Finley is happy anywhere there are friends and food.  And if there is a play kitchen there, even better.  Stuff to push around, she is ready to go.  It is so fun to watch all the kids interact and play together, so much more fun than when thy were just babies "playing" on the floor.  Finley does get feisty around the play kitchen, not matter where we are.  She always gives a good "bump" to push whoever is standing there out of her way.  She has cooking to do!  We are working on stopping that, but it has been hard.  She is an independent spirit and she knows what she wants.  She does love playing with friends, as long as she is the executive chef in the kitchen.

Camden Kitty

Camden and Finley have usually had a mutual toleration of one another.  Camden often avoids Finley as best she can, scampering upstairs whenever she hears her coming.  It was amazing that I actually taped this exchange between the two of them.  Camden was letting Finley pet her, which is a big step in their relationship.  Wrigley lets Finley chase her, grab her fur, try to pick her up, etc..., but Camden is usually escaping from any situation that involves Miss Finley.  My sweet Camden kitty is 11 years old and rather set in her ways.  I think she is still a little ticked off that Clifton and Wrigley moved in.

First Official Haircut

After my disastrous attempt to trim Finley's bangs, once her hair started getting into her eyes again, I knew it was time to call in a professional.  We made an appointment with Maria at Snips and Snails.  I gathered up Finley, a book for her and my camera and off we went to the salon.  Snips and Snails is actually in an adult salon, which really helped because there were no screaming, terrified kids there to distract and rile up Finley.

Finley was so good during her haircut.  I think she was part terrified and part unsure at the beginning, but she listened to Maria and did what she said, she was totally cooperative.  A book is a good thing to bring to a kids' haircut, when she needs to look down, there is something there for her to look at.Maria trimmed Finley's bangs, evened up the long part of her hair and shaped it for it to grow out longer in the future.  I was so nervous about how her cut would turn out, but all those nerves were unnecessary, she looks great.  She even got a blow out at the end and the back of her hair flips up in the cutest way possible.  She looks like such a pretty (and smart) little girl.  I am amazed how much she has grown up.  I was looking at our digital photo frame today and it was so bittersweet to see the pictures scroll by when she had just the wispiest bit of hair.  She still will not cooperate with pigtails or a ponytail, she yanks the ponytail holder right out.  Thank goodness she still loves her hairbows!Isn't she gorgeous?

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Ryan's second birthday party was at Gymboree this past weekend.  Finley had the most wonderful time, she was loving all the fun stuff that Gymboree had to play with.  Mr. Michael was a fantastic host for the party and Finley loved watching him "pop the popcorn."  Finley was all smiles the entire time we were there, we can see why Ryan loves Gymboree so much, I only wish it were closer.  The location is only about twenty minutes away, but it is nearly 20 miles, so not entirely practical for our family.  We will have to make do with the Tot Spot for now.  The Gymboree closest to us doesn't have nearly the amount of open gym time that the Missouri City location has, which feels like a rip off when compared to having the option of open gym every day.

I cannot believe Ryan is two!  I remember when he came over after Finley was only a few days old, he seemed so much older than she was.  Now, they are perfect playmate age.  It is truly amazing to watch them blossom.  Ryan is so much fun!

Can you see how much Finley was loving Gymboree?

Mr. Michael was fantastic with all the kids, they all loved him

 Fun in the tunnel

Pretty Riley enjoying the bubble madness

Parachute fun

Finley's favorite part of any birthday party: cake!

Notice that Finley is the last one left with cake, she was savoring every bite and being so neat about eating

She loves her cake!

Baby Stella

We finally found a soft baby doll that has outfits to change into for Finley to stroll around with. Baby Stella, her pajamas set and toy bear arrived this week and Finley loves her already. We have changed her outfit several times, she gives her a pacifier and blanket when it is "night night" time and she feeds her all sorts of goodies from her kitchen.  Such a good baby mommy!

It is so fun to watch Finley's imagination at work.  Her play kitchen is her biggest source for it and now that she has found the Dairy Queen play food set, she is cooking all the more.  She warns you when things are hot out of the oven and is sure to give you a cold drink with your meal.  Her favorite things to serve are french fries and pizza.  She has also gotten good at making a hamburger with all the fixings.

Water Table Chaos

Joe's mom, aka Marianne, invited Finley over to have dinner and play with Joe and his friend Luca.  Finley loved his backyard with the giant swingset and exciting water table.  Joe's water table puts Finley's to shame, it is in the shape of a pirate ship and has so many neat toys to go along with it.  The kids eat a little bit of pizza, but the allure of the backyard was way to strong to contain them indoors for long.  Marianne filled up the water table and the "fun" began.  The boys had such a good time with the table, throwing water everywhere.  Finley was content moving her water from cup to cup, totally oblivious to the chaos around her.  The boys got her drenched.  Joe was by far the best splasher and Luca was loving getting splashed.  Finley couldn't understand what all the fuss was about, she had water moving to do.  It was so cute to watch them all play.  It is so much fun now that Finley is old enough to play with Joe.

Thank goodness Joe had a shirt for Finley to borrow.