Baby Gator

Yesterday was the big Florida-Florida State game in Tallahassee so Michaela got dressed up in her cheerleader outfit. I took advantage of the empty stadium and brought Michaela over to get some pictures. I still remember the first time I ever stepped foot in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - aka the Swamp. I know it sounds weird, but it is almost a religious experience. There is something about this stadium that is magical and I hope one day Michaela will get to experience going to a game there.

We snuck onto the field for some photo ops. I figured it's no big deal because there are no more home games this year. Michaela had a blast running around in the end zone.

This is one of my favorites. It's the one time she actually stopped and took in the surroundings.

This one is my other favorite. You can almost hear the roar of the crowd. I can only imagine what it must feel like to actually play a game on this field.

ICE at Gaylord Palms

The day after Thanksgiving we met up with my mom, brother, and Nana in Orlando to visit the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms hotel. The Gaylord Palms is a huge and beautiful hotel worth exploring on any given day, but it awesome at holiday times. They have a Travelocity gnome hunt where you have to find hidden gnomes throughout the hotel. They also host the ICE exhibit annually. ICE is worth checking out! There are the most amazing ice sculptures that are about 2 stories high and so colorful! I had a feeling Michaela would enjoy seeing everything, despite the 9 degree temperature inside. My mom snapped this beautiful picture of Michaela while we were waiting in line.

There is a long trail of Christmas trees on the way to the exhibit. Michaela loved looking at all the colorful lights.

Once we got dressed up in our parkas Michaela cuddled up with her Uncle Sweater and we headed inside. I loved the welcome sign - even the fish wore earmuffs!

This is the best picture of Michaela and Jay. These two a great buddies!

This was the smallest parka they had. Poor Michaela looked like a little penguin.

Standing on the ice bridge.

This was my favorite room - the room of ornaments. They were so bright and colorful!

Here we are standing in the gingerbread house in Candyland.

There was a huge Santa whose lap you could even sit on!

By this point Michaela was getting tired of the cold. Look at her little tear spilling out of her beautiful blue eye.

This tunnel was amazing. All the white you see is actually ice. It was beautiful!

At the end there is a huge ice slide. We waited patiently in line, until some girls who were about 12 years old tried to cut in front of us. At that point Michaela was really done with the whole thing and was crying. I calmly explained to the girls that we were there first, Michaela was cranky, and they should not cut in front of us because it's just going to make her cry more the longer we wait. One girl then proceeded to call me crazy and start arguing with me. I told her that she was being very rude and should just wait her turn like everyone else. When we got to the top of the slide the lady told me Michaela couldn't ride on my lap (I have no idea why because the sign said kids under 4 could not ride unaccompanied - which to me meant they ride on your lap). The girl then goes "Ha Ha!". So I turned around and told her she was a very rude girl and should learn some manners. All this while her mom stood and watched! Her mom never said anything to her or me. I'm always amazed at what kids get away with these days.


Anyway, here's me going down the slide alone.

Afterwards I took Michaela straight out while everyone else enjoyed the rest of the exhibit. We founds some great stuffed animals, and although I was pushing for the moose Michaela ended up picking out a chimpanzee. This girl loves her stuffed animals!

Thanksgiving fun

We headed down to Bradenton for yet another fun Thanksgiving. This one was a quieter one, with just us, my parents, and my brother Jason and my Nana. Michaela was looking forward to seeing everyone again. It was freezing that morning, and Michaela snuggled up in her carseat for the long ride.

Nana was so excited to see Michaela. The last time she saw her was in July - before Michaela started walking and talking. Nana saw a huge change in her. Of course, Michaela wanted to take a walk up the street to pick an orange.

My dad had the brilliant idea to give Michaela the beater after Mom made whipped cream. Michaela loved it so much!

Nana just loved being able to sit with Michaela on her lap.

A girl after my own heart. When I was little I used to ask for a bowl of whipped cream for dessert and skip the pie. Michaela may follow in my footsteps.

After dinner we changed Michaela before heading down to the playground.

She ran the whole way! She's getting very fast on those little feet.

Michaela decided she wanted to ride the swings all by herself. I wish they had toddler swings, but they don't so I just had to hold on carefully (if she knew I was holding onto her she got all upset!).

What a fun Thanksgiving! Michaela ate way too much, and we paid for it on the ride home. Lets just say my car will never be the same. Regardless, the food and company were wonderful.

Monday Nov 24 - Animal Kingdom

Last Monday we went down to Orlando to go to Animal Kingdom. It had been a while since we've visited there and even though it was a holiday week it was surprisingly uncrowded. Michaela enjoyed the Christmas tree out front and all the cool ornaments.

Before heading into the park we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Michaela was fascinated by the gorillas and butterflies. She wouldn't take her eyes off them. It was hard to convince her that she needed to eat.

Michaela loved looking at the animals in the park. Here she was staring at colobus monkeys. She's so into watching the animals move around their enclosures.
We got a real treat when we went to the hippo enclosure. They were fighting right in front of the glass. It was pretty cool to watch.

Next up were the gorillas, who were also putting on a show. One of them ran around beating on his chest which made everyone jump. Michaela couldn't take her eyes off them.

We also managed to find some other animals who were decked out in their holiday garb. Michaela was a little scared of these guys, but we still got some cute pictures.

Chatterbox

Michaela is quite the chatterbox these day, and I wanted to record down some of her words for prosperity. Although a lot of people may not understand what she is saying, Craig and I do. Here is a list of the words she can say:

Daddy, Mom (yes, Mom, not Mommy), doggie, kitty, cat, fish, woof woof, duck, quack quack, Bud (the name of our steer in the backyard), Hi, Hiya (my favorite), and baby. Last weekend she strung two words together and said "Hi doggie" to my parents' dogs. I'm pretty sure I heard her say "Abby" as well, who is my parents' Aussie. She tries to say milk, but mostly it comes out as "Mi".

Michaela can also blow kisses, making sure to make the sound "mmmm...ah!".

Today her 7th tooth broke through, meaning the 8th is on its way shortly.

All this before she's even 15 months old! What a big girl we have these days!

My Little Project

So I've had the itch to be creative lately, so I bought a sewing machine and decided to sew a dress for Michaela. I started last night and finished this afternoon. It came out surprisingly well. If you look closely you'll see that some of the stitching is uneven, but all in all it doesn't look half bad. Michaela tried it on and proceeded to run around the house like a wild woman so that I couldn't get a good picture.

This one is a little blurry, but I love how you can see the skirt flowing.

Goofing off with her kitty.

Michaela really loves her Daddy!

Fun times

Last weekend I gave all 4 dogs a bath, which ended up being a lot more work than it sounds. First I had to brush out the 3 long haired dogs to get any mats out, then bathe them, then brush them again. Michaela thought it was lots of fun to help with the brushing, which meant that she kept stealing the brush from me and chasing the dogs around the house. Riley wasn't too sure what to think about all this, but she put up with it pretty well.

On Monday Michaela and I went down to Bradenton for a quick visit. While my mom, Jason, and I went to see the So You Think You Can Dance show my dad babysat Michaela. She had lots of fun showing off her dancing moves to my dad and playing with the new toys my mom had picked up. Michaela loves this guitar. It actually plays some pretty good rock and roll songs, which means we don't get tired of listening to it. Michaela is learning how to hold the guitar correctly as well.

My mom also picked up this little fire truck for her to ride around on. It only plays one song, which Michaela loved listening to over and over and over. After about the 10th time we were all tired of hearing it, but not Michaela!

Today we got to visit with Marcia and Matthew again. They were in town for the Citadel game and we met up with them for breakfast this morning at Panera. Michaela loves these two! She had lots of fun showing off and flirting with them while she ate her breakfast. Then she cuddled up on Marcia's lap and sprawled out to relax.

This is my favorite picture of the three of them. Michaela kept staring up at Matt with her big blue puppy dog eyes.

We love these guys! Too bad we only get to see them every couple of months. We miss you!!!

Weekend at Nana and Pop's

Craig and I actually had 3 days off together in a row!! That never happens! We took advantage of the time to go down to Bradenton for 2 days. I'm not even sure when the last time Craig was down there. Anyway, we had lots of fun seeing my parents and just relaxing. We took Michaela out on a boat ride, but she wasn't really happy so we had to cut it short. I still have no clue what was upsetting her so much, but she screamed the majority of the way. After we got back home my mom took Michaela for a walk up the street. Michaela picked herself an orange from a tree and carried it for over an hour! She also had a blast coloring with markers, which she got all over herself. Next we walked over to the little playground in the neighborhood, where Michaela had a blast playing. Notice the orange in her hand at all times.

She LOVED being pushed on the swing by her daddy. They didn't have toddler swings so she had to ride on my lap. She laughed the whole time.

A cute little collage of our fun on the playground.

The next morning we had a great breakfast. Michaela's orange was delicious! The we headed out to the beach for a walk and lunch at the BeachHouse. Yum! There was a great blue heron on the beach who just fascinated Michaela.

Michaela had lots of fun playing in the soft sand. She's finally figured out that the beach is not such a scary place. It only took her a year, but I have a feeling we have ourselves a little beach bum in the making. Notice her poor giraffe getting his face smushed in the sand. Giraffe goes with her everywhere and is a mess by the end of the week. Thanks Uncle Yiger for picking out the best stuffed animal in the world!

We decided to walk closer to the heron and see what he did. He let us get pretty close to him.

The bird and Michaela strolled along the beach together for a while, until she found some sand pipers that were more interesting.

A family shot in the same place that our first beach shot was taken a year ago.

For a while Michaela wasn't too sure about the water.

But walking with her Daddy made it so much less scary. She actually started laughing whenever the water hit her toes. I love my girl to pieces!

Jacksonville Zoo

Last Thursday I took Michaela to the Jacksonville Zoo. It's a great little zoo about an hour and a half north of us. Craig was working up in Jax that day, so we met up with him for lunch afterwards. Michaela had fun seeing all the animals. Her favorites were the little tamarin monkeys that move so quickly. She was very earnest and waved hi to all the animals we saw. Here she's saying Hi to the bonobos.

Being that the NFL team in Jacksonville is the Jaguars, the zoo has a great jaguar exhibit. Michaela loved the "big kitties".
"Look Mommy! Kitties!" She actually kept pointing at them and saying "kitty". How cute!

Michaela had lots of fun looking at the capybara and giant anteaters.

I love this picture of her with the elephant statue. She wasn't too sure what to think about the big thing.

Michaela's First Concert

Yesterday Michaela had a chance to go to her very first concert. Jimmy Buffett was in Tampa performing a free concert in support of Barack Obama. Now, those of you who know me know that I like to stay away from political conversations and keep my vote private. I'm not saying who I'm voting for by going to the concert. This was purely an opportunity for me to see Jimmy Buffett for free and have a fun day with Michaela and my mom. Anyway, Michaela slept the whole way down in her car seat. To combat the head slump I propped her up with her stuffed bunny. It seemed to do the trick, and was pretty cute as well.

When we arrived my mom was already set up for tailgating. Her car was decorated and she had leis waiting for us.

Michaela loved the people parked next to her. She kept walking over to them and dancing for them. Too cute!

There were plenty of Obama supporters there. One woman had made t-shirts for her 14 month old son and her niece. The niece cancelled last minute so she gave Michaela the shirt. I put in on very briefly, mainly to say thank you to the woman and take some pictures to torture my brother with. Yiger was NOT A FAN of seeing his Goddaughter wearing an Obama shirt.

That's Michael in the background wearing his matching shirt. It was amazing how many people stopped us to ask if they could take pictures of Michaela wearing this shirt.

Notice how my mom cut Michaela's shirt out of this picture. She wanted nothing to do with this endorsement!

Once we took the shirt off Michaela got back in her Margaritaville garb.
This picture cracks me up. She looks like such a little diva!

My mom brought along a few inflatable toys to decorate the car and surrounding area with. Michaela really liked this parrot.

We took the parrot down and let her carry it around. She carried this thing all the way to the show! Once again, more people wanted to stop and take pictures.

Michaela's newest thing is sticking her tongue out at us when she's really happy. I think it's adorable!

Once we finally got inside we found great seats. Michaela had a blast watching the show, even though she was pretty tired by this point.

Here are just a few pictures I snapped of Jimmy and the band.

Can you tell Michaela was enjoying the concert?

During the encore one of the guys that worked at the venue asked me if I wanted to go closer to take some more pictures. He led me down to the back of the first section and I was able to get a few more pictures of Jimmy. I love how he performs barefoot!

Although Michaela was tired she still enjoyed dancing to the music. Here's a short video of her spinning around to Son of a Sailor.

Fun at the art fair

This morning we woke up late and got ready to go to the Micanopy art festival. Michaela is learning to brush her own teeth. She's getting pretty good at it. She especially loves it when I sing the "Brush your teeth" song while she does it.

We had lots of fun at the festival and even managed to find Michaela her own rocking chair. She sat down in it and almost rocked herself to sleep. How could I pass that by??

"Hey Riley! You like my new chair??"

Happy Halloween!

It's one year later and Michaela has grown up so much. We had a great Halloween together as a family. It worked out that Craig and I both had the day off to spend with Michaela. We slept in late, then played for a while. I wanted to see if Michaela would tolerate this giraffe costume that my cousin Caroline bought for her. She didn't mind it until I put the hood on. BIG MISTAKE!

I thought it would be cute to get a picture of her holding her favorite stuffed animal, which happens to be a giraffe. Unfortunately, that never really happened. I love the tail on this costume though!
Then we got Michaela dressed in her overalls and Halloween shirt. Look at her cute pigtails! They're getting so long! This book is her new favorite book. She follows us around the house with it, forcing us to read it to her over and over and over again.

Last night we took Michaela downtown for trick or treating on Main Street. She was dressed as a pirate and happily carried her pumpkin around.

I somehow managed to convince her to wear the hat for a few minutes. It helped that she had one hand full of pumpkin and the other hand was holding onto me.

There are always great scarecrows downtown, and this year was no exception. I loved the pig and cow scarecrows!

Fun with ties and kitties

Michaela has officially moved into her big girl seat. She didn't move up until the day after her 14 month birthday, which means she was rear facing for a very long time! The problem is that she's so skinny and didn't weigh 20 pounds until just recently. Some front facing seats actually have a minimum of 22 pounds, so we had to search to find one that she could sit in. She loves her new seat, but she's not too comfortable when she falls asleep in it. She ends up slumping over and it looks like she will wake up with a pretty sore neck.

For those of you who know Brody, you know that this is a spectacular photo. For those who don't know Brody - well, let me just say that he likes 2 people in this world - me and my mom. Everyone else gets a growl and a hiss if you come too close. I guess we can move the magic number up to 3 and include Michaela in Brody's list of people he will tolerate.
Thursday night Michaela was having a blast with her dad's tie. She loved putting it around her neck and running up and down the hall with it. I'm not sure why this was so much fun, but she was laughing hysterically.

The real fun started when Quincy got in on the action. At first Michaela didn't realize that he was following her, but she quickly figured it out. Michaela was giggling her little heart out as Quincy chased her around the house.

Here's a short video of the fun.

Big Girl

Michaela is such a big girl these days. She looks more and more like a little girl instead of a baby. I love this picture of her trying to give Duncan a kiss.

And then she's trying to play with Brody.

Here she is goofing off with her Daddy. We were trying to get her to show us how strong she is (she balls up her little fists and makes the funniest face). Instead she just swung her arms around.