Disney - Day 2 (Monday, August 17th)

Although Sunday was an extremely long day, we were up bright and early to get ourselves over to Magic Kingdom. We spent the morning in "Fantasy Land", which is the area of the park that had a lot of rides familiar to Talia. We first saw Philharmagic and then rode Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Cinderella's Carousel, and of course, It's a Small World. The masked islander puppets crack me up.

The go-go-go morning wore both the girls out, so Fran and I were able to sit and people watch for a bit while the girls napped in the stroller.

After the girls woke up, we went back to the "Toontown Fair" section of the park to finally meet Mckey and Minnie. We had to wait in line for a bit, but when we finally got to the front is was well worth it. Mickey and Minnie signed Talia's autograph book, goofed around with the girls, and posed for quite a few pictures with us.

We spent a few minutes blowing off some steam in a small playground before dinner.

We were very happy that Talia's hairdo held up for a second day, because she wanted to look her best for our dinner plans with Cinderella at her Royal Table in the Castle.

We were treated to a floor show by the Fairy Godmother. She sang "Bibbidy-Bobbidy-Boo" and Talia was dancing around and waving her own wand in tune with the music.

Giana liked the character costumes.

After dinner, we went back to "Toontown Fair" to ride Goofy's Barnstormer, which is a "kid-sized" roller coaster that actually isn't so kid-sized. Talia loved it though. I think you could put her on Raging Bull at Great America and she'd ride it all day if you let her. After the roller coaster, we rode It's a Small World one more time before picking our spot to see the nightly Main Street Electrical Parade. Unfortunately, everyone who was sitting down before the parade decided they needed to stand up when the parade started, so we weren't able to get many decent photos.

On the way out of the park, we snapped a couple pics of the castle. We were able to catch the nightly fireworks while we were waiting for our bus back to the hotel. Overall, it was truly a magical day.

Disney - Day 1 (Sunday, August 16th)

We just got back from our WONDERFUL trip to Disney world in Florida, and b/c we took close to 650 (!) pictures, I will have to break it down day by day. We flew out of Midway on a 7:05 am flight on Sunday. I knew it was going to be early, but who knew it would be that early? This picture was taken just before we got on our flight. Surprisingly, the kids did great on the flight, as Giana slept most of the way and Talia quietly colored in her new Princess Color Wonder book and then fell asleep toward the end of the flight. We took a big Magical Express bus to the Caribbean Beach Resort, checked in and quickly changed in our room before heading to downtown Disney.

covering her face so the gallon of hairspray does not get in her face

Our first stop was the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where a Fairy Godmother in training did Talia's hair and make up princess style--complete with jewels, and a ton of glitter that is still in her hair! It was so great and Talia really then thought that she was a princess. We also did some shopping and Talia even had a photo shoot by one of the professional photographers with her Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora) dress and new hair do.

We then headed to Epcot, and as the girls napped, we walked around.

We saw Alice and Mary Poppins.

Then we had a Princess dinner at Akershus Royal Dining in Norway,

where Belle

Aurora,

Cinderella,

Snow White

and Ariel joined us.

Talia was so excited to see Aurora--here is what she told her "Aurora, I've been waiting my WHOLE life to meet you! I'm so excited. Hey--there's Cinderella behind you!" It was hysterical!

After a 2 hour delicious dinner, we walked around,

stopped at Trevi fountain in Italy,

and waited for the fireworks display in a close VIP location. When we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted! It was a wonderful first day.

Giana at 7 months

It's time for another monthly Gigi update. She is now 7 months and her personality is really coming through. She is such a happy baby and she is constantly moving and babbling and screaching. We went to dinner the other night and we kept having to shush her as she kept "talking" and getting a lot of looks/smiles. She is sitting up with some support and starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. She even went from all fours into a sitting position yesterday...and then promptly fell back on her head. Although not crawling, I consider her to be mobile. She is rolling all over and can move her body to get exactly what she wants. Her favorite person is Talia, (although I am probably a close second, sorry Kenny), and she just laughs and laughs at her. (Talia loves the attention, hard to believe, right?) Her sleeping is getting better, going about 8-9 hours or so...but I am able to put the pacifier in her mouth and can sometimes get a little longer--hooray! She has started to eat small gerber puffs and is working on getting them in her mouth by herself, but will fist grab them instead of using her pincer grasp. She will get it soon, I am sure. She is still consistently checking to make sure that her toes are there--she always has to be holding them--whether she is nursing, playing or getting her diaper changed. Too funny. She loves to swing at the park and gives out the best giggles while going back and forth. Our next doctor appointment is at 9 months, and I expect there to be a big weight gain, as it seems that she is getting bigger each day! It is going too fast!!!!

Giana holds her own bottle

In an effort to get Gigi to sleep through the night more consistently, we have been giving her a bottle before bed. While the bedtime routine is going great, and she is falling asleep between 7 and 7:30 most nights, she will not always stay asleep all night long. 3:30 seems to be her wake up Mommy and play time. This is definitely a work in progress....

Anyway, she is starting to hold her own bottle now and sometimes can even do it with one hand...as she has to know where her feet/toes are at all times!

Birthday Lunch and Swimming

We drove up to Wisconsin today to celebrate Auntie Diane's birthday. We headed to Olive Garden (again!) and then went back to Auntie Diane's apartment to let the food digest, before going in her pool. As we watched the sky get darker and darker, we decided that we should get in the pool before it started to rain. Talia was super excited to swim using her floaties and she did great. She swam across the pool all by herself! She got about 30 mins in the pool before it started to storm. Oh well. She still had a great time!

Just look at those smiles!

"I look fancy, Mommy!"

Pierce looks so cute in his swim trunks!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!

Today is our 8th anniversary, and to celebrate we headed to our favorite restaurant for dinner, Olive Garden...well it is our favorite restaurant to go to with the girls. Talia just loves that place. Tonight she ate 3 breadsticks, salad, a bowl of olives and probably more than half of my 5 cheese ziti. She also very sweetly asked the waiter for extra chocolates, and before we knew it, ate 5 of them! Wow! Gigi kept talking all throughout the dinner and today has learned to blow raspberry kisses. So cute! She is also learning about cause and effect, as she is starting to throw her toys on the floor, wait for us to pick them up (she will even cough at us to get our attention), smile and then throw them down again. What a fun game!