family planning

this morning penny and i were talking about all of her friends at school who have little sisters - there are a lot of them.  "i wish i had a little sister", she told me.  "oh, yeah?  you're ready to be a big sister?", i asked her.  "yup.  if you ever get married again," she said.  "oh, daddy can't have another baby?", i continued. "no, daddies don't have babies, mommies do!".

that was the end of that conversation...

Penny fights off criminals before bedtime.

Penny loves her daddy

I am testing out blogging via my phone!

penny measures

penny has been growing a ridiculous amount.  she can now open the freezer if she stands on her tiptoes.  we both had the idea that it's time to measure her again.  we keep her height marked off on the side of her wardrobe along with the date, and alex was doing some work in the bedroom while all of this was going on.  she ran in to tell him what was up.

penny: daddy!  i am thirty nine and a quarter!
alex: you are older than me and mommy?
penny: no!  i weigh thirty nine and a quarter inches long!

an ongoing project

penny's first day of school, holding penny's first day of school last year - a bit of photo wizardry by alex.

penny the astrophysicist

I pointed out the incredibly beautiful crescent moon to Penny, and she told me that while she was riding in the car and walking around, the moon followed her.
"Do you know why the moon follows you?", she asked me.  I can't turn down an opening like that, so I asked her to tell me all about it.
"Because gravity. The moon has no gravity in space, so it follows you and goes and the sun is in space too with no gravity. Also Jupiter."
She already has a better handle on this than a lot of grownups I could mention.

Disney World 2013!

over this labor day weekend, we took our second annual vacation to disney world.  last year we went for four days, but this year we really pushed it and went for five.  the time just flew by, and here are a million photos.

and we're off!

airplane time!

the hotel has tiny chairs facing a tv playing cartoons.  i think they know their audience.

penny figured goofy must be going to a wedding.

aaah, home again.

we find clowns everywhere we go!

let me tell you - being cute and polite has its perks.  for example...

free chocolate covered favorite color sugar coated marshmallow on a stick.

we met ariel once, we rode the new little mermaid ride eight times.

this gaston was AMAZING.

can you see the lumiere up there?  the technology in this room is amazing!

wishes nighttime spectacular

day two!  the humidity makes beautiful effects!

highly authentic moroccan lunch

day three!  disney's hollywood studios!

penny shows off her daddy's new hat.

at the disney jr. live show. never have more things fallen from the ceiling.

penny learns the most important skill we can teach her.

so tempted, but i resist.

the line to meet buzz & woody is full of these photo ops.  it's a pretty cute, but poorly executed idea.

penny decides she wants to take photos.  i KNOW.

we take our photo with buzz and woody....

then penny takes over.  i KNOW.

i ride the tower of terror, penny gets a lolly as big as her face.

we head back to the hotel, spend some time in the pool, then penny gets a glowing buzz lightyear with her lemonade.

day four!  back to the magic kingdom!  they have installed a park-wide adventure game called "sorcerers of the magic kingdom" that is surprisingly engaging and fun.

surprise!  we're having lunch at cinderella's royal table for our anniversary!

we are inside cinderella's castle!

penny gets her own wishing star

penny LOVES princesses.

can you tell?

seriously, she loves them.

also, this jasmine was especially awesome.

this is a view i've never seen before.

make your own mickey ice cream sundae!  penny made it, but didn't eat any of it.  whose child is this?

the specialty dessert - the clock strikes twelve

high five from the genie

all penny has wanted all weekend was for tiana to recognize her dress.  SUCCESS!

penny's favorite princess.

and her favorite mouse.  then the question "when do we see the magic show?"  oops, too well themed, disney world!

anniversary portrait with a sleepy kid.

we discover how fun it is to lean back while spinning very fast.

our hotel room has a surprise for us every evening.  we got a double balloon the next night, a signed anniversary card from mickey & minnie...

we stayed up for the main street electrical parade - penny went to sleep at 11pm.  best vacation EVER!

 we spent the last day playing with friends at the animal kingdom park.  i was so tired and sweaty at this point that there are no photos - HOWEVER, it was an awesome time, and penny watched the "finding nemo" show that she was too frightened to watch last year.

even eating lunch at the hotel is full of fun - louis has lost his trumpet!  penny has found it!

and we are off.

what a truly wonderful vacation - now it's back to reality!  school starts soon!  i cannot believe that summer is over!