Vacation Pictures

So we got back from Hilton Head late Sunday night. We had an hour and 45-minute flight delay and I kind of lost my temper towards the end. Then again, Dad kind of lost his, too, and he looked a little sillier than I did.

Anyway, enough of that malarkey, here are some photos from Hilton Head. We had a great time, eight days on Hilton Head Island just living it up. We had two 2-bedroom condos - Mom, Dad and I were in one with Uncle Brian, Aunt Tasha, Isaiah and Eli, and Nana & Papa shared a Condo with Uncle Kenny, Aunt Suzie, Hannah, Luke and Sophie (also known as The Soph Dog).

If you're wondering how the week went with the family, here is a snapshot of it. This is Eli, who was my roommate for a week, and, yes, that is a diaper on his head.
I got completely off my sleep schedule and had no idea what the difference between night and day was... needless to say Dad and I had frequent 3am and 4am play times, which was fun for me, but he may have a different take. (Editor's Note: Dad does not have a different take. He honestly loved the middle-of-the-night play time, too). My life became a series of 3-hour naps and I never knew where I'd wake up - the beach, the pool, the condo, Piggly Wiggly (the grocery store)... it was fantastic.

The weather was great - in the 90s and sunny every day, and we spent a lot of time at the pool and beach.

When my Uncle Brian gets home I'll post more photos because he took a bunch of good ones, but for now this is what I've got.

Here's me hanging out with Dad at the pool, having a good ol' time.
Here's me after the pool in my post-swimming jumper, very comfy.
One night Mom and Dad went out to dinner and I stayed home with Nana, Papa and all my cousins. This is Papa and me having a laugh. Oh, and his hair isn't always that out of control, just one of those hair days for Papa.
Here's Mom, Dad and me when they got back. Mom was lookin pretty cute in her dress. Dad was in pants that weren't even ironed... as usual.
And here's a picture of me at the ocean for the first time. I absolutely LOVED the ocean at night with the wind blowing and my feet in the water. I often just sat in the Bjorn giggling.
Well, that's it for now, I'll have more photos early next week. This week it's just good to be back home where Mom, Dad and I are back in the swing of things, but are still in that vacation state of mind.

Greetings From Hilton Head

Aunt Tasha and I are headed to the beach to pick up some hottie life guards.

Finley Used to Work on the Docks

So last weekend mom and I took a trip to Omaha. Mom was getting together with her girlfriends for a double baby shower and I was going to stay home with Dad for the weekend but at the very last minute Mom decided she wanted to take me. She told Dad she wanted the girls to meet me.

In reality I think she thought she'd come home to find I'd lost my piggy bank savings in a poker game on Saturday night with dad and the boys, my locks replaced by a pink mohawk, me cursing like a truck driver and a tattoo on my forearm that reads "Livin On A Prayer." (and I honestly can't say none of that would have happened)

Editor's Note: You will never see another photo of anyone that is not a family member or friend on this blog. This is not a platform for celebrities to get more publicity than they already get, most of which is not deserved. Not the case, however, for Dad's mancrush - Jon Bon Jovi - who deserves any praise he gets for the dozens of hits he has produced with Richie Sambora, Tico Torres (drums), David Bryan (keyboards) and Alec Jon Such (ex-bassist, not pictured). Oh, and Michael Jordan photos are aloud on this blog as well.

Anyway, so I left on Friday night on my first airplane ride. And I have to tell you - all those babies that are screaming on flights and everyone says, "Oh, their ears must be popping from the elevation... poor thing." Yeah, let me just tell you, that whole ear-popping thing is a myth, an excuse made up by some poor mom who's kid was a nut. All went fine for me - I chilled from the C-H-I all the way to Omaha and slept soundly on the way home, not a peep.

On Sunday morning Mom took me to a baby photojournalist to get some pics taken. And as you can see, they're a step up from the photos Dad takes of me for this blog (no offense, Dad).






Stay tuned for my fifth month birthday photos.

Yummy

So tonight I was lounging around in my Bumpo chair

Mom and Dad were eating and I couldn't stop staring at their food, so we decided that I was finally going to eat some big people food. Not a cheeseburger or crab cakes, mind you, but something other than the milk, so we busted out the rice cereal and I got after it.

And then I got after it a little more...

And then I took a breather...

And then I remembered how much I liked it and I got after it again...

And then, finally, I was done.

We're not sure just how much I actually ate because, as you can see, the food was everywhere; but I sure was content. Only thing is, next time Dad said he's going to give me a bath after we eat rice cereal, not before.

Happy 4th!

Grandpa Lammel's birthday was on July 3 and Papa's birthday was on July 4 so I'd like to open by wishing both of my Grandpas a Happy Birthday!

Now back to me because that's what this blog is all about (it isn't called GrandpasBeginleys.com, now is it?).

I had a great Independence Day weekend with my mom and dad and some of my other good buddies. We woke up early on July 4 and mom and dad decided to go play some tennis. Dad's friend Andy came along and gave them both a really good lesson, which was sorely needed because Mom and Dad are, I should say, not Roger Federer or Martina Navratalova. Dad is not a 6-foot Swede with black hair and Mom is not a lesb... well, you get the point - they both stink at tennis.

Later, we went out to Nana and Papa's for a 4th of July/Papa's birthday celebration. We had great food (well, it looked great, at least, I'm still milking, of course), we washed cars and everyone played outside. Mom and Dad even got a rest in the hammock while I slept. Here's a shot of my cousins, Eli and Sophie, just hanging out in the front yard.
We didn't go see fireworks with the rest of the gang because it wasn't going to work for me. My bedtime is 8:30-9:00, so fireworks going off at 9:15 would have made me extremely irritated, but while we drove home from Nana's we got to see several Chicago neighborhood fireworks shows going off, which was pretty cool.

Here's me in my 4th of July outfit.

On Saturday we went to Arlington Race Track with Uncle Brian's family, Hannah and Luke, and Dad and Mom's friends, the Drurys. They have a little girl named Mattie that goes to the same day care as me and she's a lot of fun. Actually, one time I was getting picked on by a 9-month old and after I told him that I was friends with Mattie, who is an upperclass(wo)man (she's 20 months and in the big kids room), he stopped picking on me and asked me out on a date (I said yes, but don't tell Dad).

Back to Arlington - the day was great, 80 and sunny, and Hannah and Dad won a couple $2 races. Hannah won $5.80 on her horse and took her winnings straight to the Dippin Dots booth. Here's my big cousin Luke and me in the shade at the track.
Hannah came back with us after the horseraces and spent the night. Now there are a lot of people I like but I gotta tell ya, Hannah is at the top of the list. I laugh and smile at her all the time, and we play together and I hold her hand when I go to sleep. On Sunday morning Hannah, Mom, Dad and I went to the tennis courts again. I guess Dad figured he'd feel better about himself after beating a 10-year-old at tennis. He spent the last 15 minutes smashing cross-court forehands and screaming, "I GOT GAME, HANNAH, I GOT GAME!!!" and pumping his fist and motioning to a crowd that didn't even exist... what a lame-o, seriously. Anyway, here's a couple great shots of Hannah and me from the day.

What A Week!

Had a really good, long week.

First, earlier in the week, I was playing by myself on the couch with my rings and when mom and dad turned around, they realized that I had gotten the rings around both my arms. So they snapped this photo - It was my own little circus trick.

Then, later in the week, I had a nice long snooze on mom and dad's bed, once I had dad's t-shirt to sleep with. Don't worry, it was a clean one; not too sure I wanna be hanging with a t-shirt that dad has been running around in all day.

Then on Friday, I had a program at my day care - Rainforest. I got dressed up in a swimsuit and they had my whole room up on stage dancing while Wipeout played. I wasn't up for dancing too much, so I just hung out in my bouncy seat, watching them boogy down with their subpar dance moves. Earlier in the week when we were practicing I busted out some Michael Jackson moves and one of the girls got mad because she thought I was showing off (which I was). Don't know if any of you have seen dad's Michael Jackson moves, but they're a spinoff of those; only mine actually look good.



After the show, a pic with the Momser.

Then, today we went to the park down by our house and boy do I love hanging at the park.

I like to sit or lay on the towel and when that breeze blows through, I get really excited.

Here's a shot of dad and me just hanging out together. I can't wait to go back next weekend.

Finley's First Concerto

So mom and dad went to New York for the weekend. Mom had a retail therapy session and Dad got it done at the Yankee game with some friends. I stayed the weekend at Nana's and we had a blast.

Dinner with all the cousins on Friday, a breakfast picnic on Saturday morning, some bumming around with Nana, a bath, the whole sha-bang.

I also decided that by the time Dad got home on Sunday night I'd be able to play the piano, so I propped myself up with some pillows and practiced all weekend at Nana's, and if you click on the video you'll see the result.

I needed Dad to scoot me down for the last note. I know, pretty freakin good, right? Notice how at the end I look right into that camera. The bright lights don't scare me one bit. Bring on Madison Square Garden! Bring on The Chicago Theater! Bring on... some breast milk, I'm hungry.