Say What?!

Time for another edition of 'Say What?!': the funny things that Finley says and does.

- While heading to go see Uncle Donovan today Finley declared, "Uncle Donovan, he's so silly. But we still love him". 

- Finley has recently discovered the beauty of showers. After he is done with his bath, he requests to turn on the shower and dances around in the 'rain'. 

- Lately Finley has decided upon a new career. When he grows up he wants to be an Astronaut Dentist. He is willing to clean astronaut's teeth or alien's. 

- One morning David walked into the play room and noticed that Finley's train set was all messed up. When David asked him what happened Finley said that "there was a storm last night and the tracks were washed out"  (a direct quote from his book Puff and Toot). 

- Finley has been the manners police lately. Every time he tells you thank you for something, if you don't respond with 'you're welcome' he reminds you "You are suppose to say you are welcome!".

- Finley was finishing up his lunch down stairs while I was folding laundry today when it got really quiet. I came down to check on him to discover that he had been 'feeding' our recently acquired rubber chicken, noodle soup. The chicken has an open mouth, so the noodle soup had made it's way all the way to down inside to the chicken toes. Not fun to clean up, but at least it wasn't chicken noodle soup right?

- While unpacking our bags today Finley found David's belt, handed it to him, and told him "Here's your seat belt".

- Every time I ask Finley what he wants for breakfast or lunch these days he always lists a few normal items and concludes with 'and a box of cookies'. Then he proceeds to laugh his head off.

- Finley and I enjoyed a $1 movie together today and unfortunately they had some technical difficulties. We were waiting for the staff to get the movie going and Finley was so patient and kept saying 'What's the problem here?' and 'Is the movie still loading?'.

-Finley injured himself doing something I told him not to this morning. When he got hurt I told him "Too bad, soo sad", and his angry reply was "NO! You are sad!".

- Today we started talking about going to the 4th of July parade. Finley's first question was 'Will there be a fire truck?' and his second question was 'Will there be cheerleaders there?'. Not sure how he even knows what cheerleaders are! AHHHH!

- David was out of town for work so Finley and I went for a run together and I had to push the jogging stroller. I was telling Finley how hard it was to run and push him at the same time and he responded with 'Push with all your might!'.

TI 2012

I didn't think we would make it to the beach this year. 

With my mom in the hospital for almost the entire month of May I thought for sure we would have to cancel our annual family vacation to Topsail Island. 

But by the grace of God we made it there. All of us! 

My mom was able to be at home resting for one week before we packed her up and took her to the beach for a week. Luckily we were able to schedule her dialysis in Jacksonville so we didn't have to drive up back up to Durham during the week. She had to rest a lot, stay off her feet, and stay on a strict renal diet, but it was so nice to have an entire week with our family all together. 

Finley was so excited to be on vacation with the whole family!

He kept saying at the dinner table, 'we are one big happy family.'

We didn't see too many live crabs at the beach this year. But we did find a dead one. 

For some strange reason David was obsessed with burying himself in the sand this year. 

I think he did it 3 or 4 times during the week. 

This picture might be my favorite from the week. :)

I was always worried that David might not be able to get out of the sand, but each time he was able to wiggle his way out. 

He convinced Finley to get in one of his holes, but I would not let him bury him! 

We had two cooler and windy days, so we broke out the kite!

I had visions of controlling the kite and doing all sorts of tricks (like Kite Runner), but the kite just did what the wind told it to do. Which most of the time meant diving towards the ground. 

We had fun with Auntie Michelle and Mishay blowing bubbles and playing Bocce. 

And watching amazing sunsets over the sound from our back deck. 

On days when my mom felt good she was able to do her exercise and go for short walks on the beach. 

Her brother, our Uncle Michael, was even able to join us for a few days!

But my poor mom almost always felt cold. 

Sisters, sisters...

Finley sure got a lot of attention at the beach from both sets of grandparents and his aunt and uncle. 

I must say we went all out this year and got this amazing house at the beach! It even had an elevator. Great for my Nani and for moving groceries up three flights of stairs. Finley had an absolute ball riding in the elevator at every chance he got. The only problem is, from here on out we might always have to stay in a place this nice!

Most days the water was a little chilly, so Finley wasn't too excited about going in the water. We only got him in all the way one day. The other times he just jumped the little waves for a while before calling it a day. He did love exploring the tidal pools though. 

Playing in the sand was probably his favorite part of our vacation. 

The beach is the only time I let him play in the sand, so we let him live it up! I am so anti sand unless we are at the beach. 

Eternal companions. 

Enjoying the sun and warmth!

Hanging out post family soccer match. 

My mom and her brother Michael. 

Me and my siblings. 

All the Harrises!

The whole gang. 

I can't believe the week went by so fast! 

When we were packing up Saturday morning Finley was so sad to leave. He almost started crying. He didn't understand why we couldn't stay there forever! 

I totally felt him on this. I just wanted to stay there with family for as long as possible. 

I can't even express in words just how grateful I am for my family and the time we get to spend together. 

This past month has been the hardest of my life. It just makes me appreciate every moment we spend together that much more. I love you guys!