The Happiest Place on Earth

We recently took a trip to Disney to celebrate my niece's 5th birthday (I can't believe she's five! I remember being in the delivery room when she was born and it feels like it was just yesterday!!!) and we had a great time!! There was a pretty decent size group of us, too. My parents, my younger sister and her husband, my aunt, my niece's family (her parents and younger brother came - the youngest 2 stayed with my brother-in-law's aunt and uncle near Orlando) and us. Reese came with us, too. Yes, I know - she won't remember, but we took lots of pictures and I have to say I couldn't imagine the weekend without her! :)

It was a wonderful weekend of celebrating! We visited Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We ate some pretty good food, too. :) My niece seemed to really enjoy her time there as well. She got all dolled up on Saturday (her actual birthday) and loved strutting around the Magic Kingdom in her fancy duds. :) Below are lots of pictures from last weekend! I hope you enjoy them!!

Reese will be turning 11 months old very soon and I can't believe it! I keep getting asked about her first birthday and I have to admit that I'm kind of in denial about the whole thing. I love watching her grow and learn new things, but this turning one stuff just isn't allowed! :) She's crawling everywhere, pulling herself up and, I'm sure, will be standing very soon. She is such a joy!!

Oh and one thing I learned while I was away last weekend - the happiest place on earth isn't Disney. It's home. :)

Time out

This past week our family took a time out from our normal day to day routine and spent some time with my family up in PA. The plane rides were a little more adventurous this time as Reese is more active and dislikes remaining still for long periods of time! :) Thankfully, though, she slept for half of the flights going up and we kept her "busy" for the other half by feeding her puffs. :) She's an awesome baby! :)

I love fall. And I especially love fall up north. There's nothing like a nice 60 degree day with falling red, yellow and orange leaves! So I really enjoyed the trip up last week. Mom, Dad and I were able to get outside and walk one morning and it was lovely! We also had to pull out the jackets in the evening and early morning. I absolutely loved it!! :)

While we were there this past week, we were blessed to be able to participate in Vision Walk 2010 in Pittsburgh, PA. Most of you are aware of my niece, Finley and her situation (If you're not, then please go to www.finleyfighters.com to read about her story). Well, Vision Walk occurs once every year and it is a fundraiser to raise awareness of eye disease and blindness. This year my sister-in-law and brother worked really hard at getting Finley's story heard and raising money for this organization (Foundation Fighting Blindness) - they ended up raising over $10,000 and I think we had the biggest team at the walk. It was awesome!! Finley's Fighters even won the t-shirt contest (with a little help from Finley)!! :)

This trip was also special because my brother and sister-in-law were able to meet Reese for the first time. Reese seemed to really like her cousin, Finley! :) She always wanted to play with her - or play with the toy Finley had. :) We spent some time celebrating Aunt Betty's birthday as well and of course, enjoyed a Sunday full of football! :) All in all, it was a great trip and I'm so thankful that we were able to spend this time with my family!

I love my family!! :)