Finley @ the Pool

As I mentioned in the Fathers' Day post, Finley has become a big fan of the swimming pool. She likes to put her head in the water . . . even though she hasn't bothered to master holding her breath. She had "lessons" last summer, but so far this year, she's been about 3 times and she loves to walk around in the water and play. Later in the summer, she and Shelley have more lessons schedule, but for now, she's just playing around.

Aunt Steph bought her a life jack for the river, but we put it on her yesterday a bit for the pool. I couldn't get too many pictures or video with the way she was splashing, but here is a good, short one for you to see.

Fathers' Day

Had a great 2nd Fathers' Day -- woke up to my wife making breakfast - one of her egg scrambles, which you can see the family helping me with in the first picture. Read the paper a bit, cup of coffee, and then on to the day. Now this was without question, my manliest weekend probably ever.

To start, I got a big, new John Deere garden tractor to mow my lawn, which I used yesterday. I took down two trees with my new 18" chainsaw -- a respectable size, I'd say. Finally, I actually burned my first pile of leaves and yard waste today. Yep, to all 4 of my loyal readers, I am finally a man.

Finley, on the other hand, is still all toddler. The "after" picture after she demanded to feed herself her mac and cheese. I had to get it out of her ears during our bath this evening.

Finally, we took Fin to the pool this afternoon -- after the manly burning, so I'll post those videos tomorrow.

The Mercures' Visit

A couple of weeks ago, Mike & Audra brought Nina & Gabby over for the weekend. They did the whole tourist thing on Friday -- Navy Pier and the Children's Museum, American Girl, Michigan Avenue, the Shedd, then came to our place Saturday. The girls don't have a dog, so the fact that they were "attacked" by our three left them a bit wary. Before they left on Sunday, though, they were all fast friends.

Finley couldn't stop watching the girls, who are now about 3 1/2.

While she couldn't stop watching, this was about two hours after they left; she stayed like this for about two hours.

Finley's Weekend

So, not a lot of pictures, but an update from this weekend. On Friday, Shelley and I went to see the Cubs get bombed by the stupid Twins. Great weather, beautiful day, but bad, bad game. However, to show her support, Finley wore her Cubs cheerleader outfit, as you can see in more detail if you click on the picture below.


On Saturday, the family went downtown for Ribfest, which is exactly what it sounds like. While Finley didn't put them down like her Daddy, you can see she tried to clean the bone just like me -- I was so proud of her!
Finally, on Sunday, we went to the swimming pool and played in the pool and sandbox. She absolutely loved playing in the water. She kept trying to put her face in the water, but since she didn't know to keep her mouth shut, we had to fight with her to stop. She and Shelley have swimming "lessons" this summer, so maybe they will work on it then -- or at the beach the first time she drinks the salt water.

Food Fun with Finley

So, Grandpa Joel doesn't think we ever post anything of Finley but her eating. We've had a solid run of walking a playing posts, so we are coming back to old faithful. Because Finley eats almost anything - and with such vigor, she makes for an entertaining dinner companion. Case in point, this weekend.

Shelley had 8th grade graduation Friday night, so Finley and I had Daddy/Daughter dinner. We talked and decided to have Moroccan - a first for Fin. She really enjoyed the fresh pita bread:
We decided to share some different preparations of beef with rice and a salad. She didn't love the beef, but was eating rice by the fistful.

While we were out running errands on Saturday, Shelley got in the mood for Olive Garden (I agree, it isn't REAL Italian, but who am I to argue with a pregnant woman about a food mood?). I am disappointed that the pictures of her with spaghetti in her hair and on her head didn't turn out better, but here are a couple of keepers.

I LOVE the breadsticks!!!

One down, one left:

Moments before that strand of spaghetti ends up on top of her head.

Finally, a little video of Fin eating a lemon -- rind and all. Again, she is a funny, funny, dining companion -- her expressions just kept us laughing last night.

Video from below

I cannot seem to fix the error preventing the first video from loading, so here it is by itself.

Finley's walking . . . and it makes her fall asleep at Target

Finley and I went to Target on Saturday to grocery shop and she wouldn't nap all morning. After sharing a big breakfast at McDonalds (she LOVES the hotcakes and eggs), we started our shopping. As you can see below, she was asleep in the cart, probably 10 minutes after we arrived. She slept for about 20 minutes and probably only woke up when she shifted positions and smacked her head against the bar in front.