El Paso (Part 1)

Over Labor Day weekend, we ventured South to the border (but not across the border) to El Paso, Texas to see my sister Lindsay and Phil.  A 15+ hour drive through Kansas, Oklahoma, and west Texas sounded absolutely awful, so we cashed in some of our Southwest reward points for a pair of free plane tickets.  Overall, Madeline did very well on the airplane.  We had a stop in Dallas, but we didn't have to change planes.  It was especially nice since everyone working on the plane LOVED Maddie.  During the wait, one of the pilots brought her a bag of Vanilla Wafers, and a stewardess gave her a coloring book with crayons.  Then, the other pilot asked if Maddie would like to drive the plane, so we got to go into the cockpit...

 She was pretty wide-eyed the entire time...

I had never seen the cockpit of a plane before.  It was awesome!  There are about a million buttons and lights that surround you, and the pilot hit various ones to make different sounds, make lights flash, etc.  It was a really neat experience, and by the time we were done checking it out, the plane was loaded and about ready to take off.

Lindsay and Phil met us at the airport, and they took us to get some authentic Mexican food from a small local place they love for lunch.  After that, we headed to their apartment to relax.  Although Maddie really did very well on the flights, it is still exhausting traveling with a 15 month old.  Therefore, this is how Mat and I spent part of the afternoon...

I think the last time we took a nap together was on our honeymoon, so this was a real treat!

Later in the afternoon, we ventured to downtown El Paso.  It was quite an experience.  Just south of the downtown area (literally about a block) is one of the entry points into Juarez, Mexico, so we saw a bridge with dozens and dozens of people waiting to get back into Mexico.  Apparently, they often go to El Paso to shop in the downtown area.  That seems to be good for Payless business as there were 3 Payless stores within 3 blocks.  I wanted to check out how the assortment varied in El Paso stores, so we went to check it out.  I was shocked when I found a pair of hot pink HEELS in Maddie's size... 

We tried them on her (just for fun), and she couldn't even stand in them, which was ok with me because I'm not sure I want her getting into heels already!

UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) was playing Oklahoma at home that night, so we tailgated at the gate with some of Lindsay and Phil's friends for a while.  Everyone was walking around eating corn on the cob, which seemed really odd (and random) to me, until we found the stand where a family was giving away free ears of roasted corn on the cob.  Apparently, it's a very popular thing in El Paso.

After enjoying some grilled ribs and chicken (thanks to Phil), we all crashed.  It was a jam-packed first day of vacation, but we had lots of fun.  I'll get more pictures off my camera to share how we spent the rest of the weekend!

Fun in the Sun

Aunt Lindsay got Madeline a water play mat for her birthday.  You hook it up to the hose, and it sprays water in all different directions.  We got it out to see what Maddie thought of it the other day.  Initially, I put her in the middle of it and turned on the hose.  She wasn't the biggest fan of that.  However, she did end up having lots of fun with it...

 She liked it when daddy swung her back and forth through it...

Here's a short video...

 She's not afraid of getting her face wet...

 Trying to get a drink...

4th of July

On the 4th of July last year, Madeline turned 1 month old.  Here she is "watching" the College Hill neighborhood parade at my parents' house last year...

Here's our 13 month old little girl in the exact same spot this year watching the parade...

 It's amazing how much she had changed!  Our toddler sits and eats ice...

 She LOVES chewing ice...

 She can drink through a sippy cup by herself...

 And she can run...

 Yes, that is a tennis ball in her hand.  At the rate she grows and changes, she'll be on a tennis court before we know it :)

I hope everyone had a very Happy 4th of July!

A common theme

In looking through the pictures of our trip to Florida, I noticed a very common theme...Madeline proudly walking all over the place with Daddy following closely behind!  Here they are at Sea World...

At Downtown Universal Studios later that day...

She was an absolute hit that evening.  She walked right up to everyone she saw, waved, smiled, and said "hi!"  That puts a smile on just about everyone's face, and there were several times when she had a small group of people standing around her smiling and talking to her.  She definitely knows how to work a crowd!

The same thing happened at the airport...Daddy following her around while she walked around smiling and telling everyone "hi!"

She is little miss independent these days, so she usually won't let anyone hold her hand, except to walk up the stairs since she decided walking is much more fun than crawling up them, but her little legs aren't quite tall enough to do it without a little assistance.  We have quite the sociable little girl!

Daisy

Five years ago, we took in Daisy (and Chance) from some friends as she needed a new home.  We already had two labs and certainly weren't planning on having four, but they needed a home badly.  Daisy is one of the sweetest most well-behaved dogs ever imaginable, and we absolutely love her.  At 8 years old, she has slowed down quite a bit, but she is still full of spunk.  Although she still loves fetching a tennis ball, she will go lay down in the yard and chew on the ball when she gets worn out.  If you say "let's go for a ride!", she'll run to the door.  If you say "bathtime", she'll run into the shower in the bathroom we use to wash the dogs.  She's a great dog.  Here are some pictures we took of her and Maddie...

 Daisy trying to get Maddie to rub her belly...

 A couple of cuties!

 Daisy is SO patient with Maddie...

 Kisses!

 Unfortunately, we have had issues with Daisy and our other yellow lab, so for a number of reasons, we decided to find her a new home.  Obviously, we won't give her to just anyone, but two of our best friends in the world decided to give her a wonderful home as she deserves.  We know she will be very well taken care of with her new mommy and daddy, and I know they are excited to have her.  We love you guys, Justin & Heather!  

Florida

Maddie went on her first vacation last week when we went to Florida for the wedding of one of Mat's cousins.  On the flight down, we had an empty seat in our row, so Maddie sat between us like a big girl and played with various toys.  She also smiled, waved, and said "hi" to everyone around us.  She even received numerous compliments on how well she did on the plane ride :)

On Friday, we went to Cocoa Beach.  Although she was not a fan of playing in the ocean (or having the waves wash up on her feet), she did have fun in the sand...

The wedding was on Saturday.  Maddie and Brody had fun playing with the yellow balloon during the beginning of the reception...

 Dancing with daddy...

 Dancing with Grandma Emma...

 On Sunday, we went to Sea World.  It was a very hot and humid day, but Maddie was a champ...

 We arrived around 9 AM, and around 1:30, she hit a wall.  Big time.  At that point, we called it a day and headed back to the condo to take a nice long nap since we had been going non-stop for 4 days, keeping her up late, and ruining her nap schedule.  She fell sound asleep on Mat's shoulder walking to the car, we put her in her stroller, and then we put her in her car seat, and she never woke up the slightest bit through all the transitions.  However, after a 30 minute power nap in the car, she was wide awake and ready to go when we got back.  We couldn't believe it.  I tried to get her down for a nap twice at the condo, and she would not have anything to do with sleeping.  Therefore, we decided to hit the pool since it was a beautiful afternoon!

We headed home on Monday, and once again, she was great on the flight.  During the time we were waiting to board, she had a great time walking around, smiling, and saying "hi" to absolutely everyone (as usual).

We wore her cute little butt out though as she took 5-6 hours worth of naps during the day at my parents' house for the rest of the week!

1st Birthday!

Our little Madeline turned 1 on June 4, so we had a party Sunday June 3 with our close friends and family to celebrate the occasion.  No surprise, the theme was lady bugs :)  Here I am with the lady bug cupcakes (thank you Pinterest!)...

For Maddie's smash cake, I made a giant cupcake.  She wasn't so sure what to think (especially when she tried to grab the lit candle as we were singing Happy Birthday and everyone gasped)...

Daddy giving her a taste of the icing...

She finally decided it was pretty tasty.  However, she was not one of those babies that dives right in and ends up completely covered in cake.  She's a lady :)

All of Maddie's aunts and uncles were able to come!  Here's the birthday girl with my siblings (who claim they did not make plans ahead of time to all wear orange)...

This little girl received an incredible number of wonderful gifts.  She likes to make noise, so my dad got her a pair of maracas at First Friday Art Night...

Her Rockin Harley from Gramps...

This pink rocking chair has her name engraved on it.  She has figured out how to climb into it, turn around, and sit down by herself in it...

 

She also received this pink Maddie-sized lawn chair...

The birthday girl walking around to say hi to everyone.  She's great at working a crowd....wandering around and smiling at everyone...

My siblings and I with Maddie in her red & blue tutu Aunt Abbey made...

Here she is on the Mickey Mouse tricycle that her Great Uncle Mo and Great Aunt Denise got her.  She LOVES riding up and down the driveway in this thing, and there are all kinds of buttons that she hits to play various tunes.  I'm not sure what she's pointing at, but that's her new thing...pointing at everything.

Her last (but certainly not least) gift was from Uncle Michael.  Since my sisters have both made her gifts, he decided that he wanted to make his niece something, so he built a bookcase!  It's red with white polka-dots to match her lady bug room.  I was VERY impressed!

I would say that Miss M certainly had a fantastic first birthday!