Well, it's here and gone. We had a blast! This was Madison's first real vacation that I think she will remember. Casey was a trooper. We drove down to Costa Mesa first and stayed at the Hyatt in Irvine.
Here's Madison after an exhausting round of jumping on the plush Hyatt beds.
Here's what Casey did after the 6 1/2 hour drive. The next morning we went to Long Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a fishy adventure with Maddie. Maybe I will soon learn how to upload video on this thing so that you all can watch our day at the aquarium. It was hard to take pictures because it was soooooooooooo crowded and Madison was running all over the place.
Here's us outside the aquarium. We asked a young teen couple that was making out to take our picture. Hey, at least we broke up the make out session! Madison has been asking adamantly to take her to Disneyland again, so we decided to take her to Downtown Disney (the next best thing). She really didn't notice much of a difference. This will be the last year we can get away with this of course. Here is Maddie with her birthday sundae at Rainforest Cafe.
Since our hotel was so nice we decided to spend the rest of the evening in our room and at the pool, where Madison proceeded to amaze us with her vocabulary and smart thinking. After having a nice conversation with a couple in the hot tub, Madison decided that she liked the lady, and said goodbye by saying, "Bye white girl." Hmmmm...I don't know how any of you would take it, but to me that sounds like we are instilling some interesting ideas in our child's head, but that's clearly not the case. The couple laughed uncomfortably as they said goodbye, when Tim felt the need to explain her comment. Quite simply put, Madison goes to school in South Sacramento, which is a very colorful part of our state. Most of her classmates are not "white" (i can't think of another clear term), so I think she was just very observant of the fact that this lady was different than what she usually sees. Anyway, we realize we are now experiencing the age that she will be saying some interesting things...pretty much what comes to her mind. Our next stop was to Uncle Art and Aunt Laurene's house in San Marino.
Now onto the big birthday party for Maddie! She has been talking about it for weeks now, especially since she saw her presents all wrapped up in princess paper, and decided it was time to open one early when mommy wasn't looking.
We had Maddie's party at Lake Castaic. Auntie Carrie and Uncle Frank brought their boat and we rode the wakes on a tube and ate lots of cake.
Ummm, I ordered the cake too late so I had to buy what they already had made...Madison loved it because it had princess rings on it.
Of course there were too many presents again...all princess and barbie stuff. She is such a girlie girl. Grammy and Papa got her a BIG WHEELS! Yeah, now she can reach the pedals and do it by herself instead of us always pushing her.
Of course, Casey was in all the action too. He didn't miss the day on the lake! He loved meeting his cousin Holly and Aunties!
Next stop, the beach house in Oxnard for the next week.
Casey is ready for a day on the beach with his sis.
Next stop, just for a few hours, Paradise Cove in Malibu. They say lots of celebrities come here...Matthew McCounaghy and the paparazzi fight with the surfers happened here.
We were gone for a total of 9 days, yet it seemed like just a couple, and as you can see somebody had a great time!
Three years ago today at 3:55pm, I looked into this little face. I can't believe she is 3 years old already! Where has the time gone? She is more smart than I could imagine, more beautiful than I dreamed, and will definitely challenge us as she grows up. She has a very strong will, which will make her a great leader someday. In some ways I am sad on this day because I realize that I have rushed much of her early years growing up. I was so excited to see the next stage of her life that I didn't always remember to just enjoy where she was at. I am catching myself doing the same thing again now that Casey is here. She much more challenging now that he is here, and I catch myself wishing that she was just a bit older so that she would be more self sufficient and understanding. Now I know that many moms raise many more kids than I do, so I really shouldn't complain, but it is a funny game that your mind will play. Needless to say, I am so in love with my kids. I am starting over with Casey, enjoying every "waking" moment with him, and now appreciating how Madison is growing up.
