amish country

matt was going to golf with his dad after the soccer game but when papa had a last minute trip come up for work, he had to cancel. so we decided to take nana to "amish country" and go exploring. "amish country" is about 100 miles of roads, stores and attractions where there is a large amish and mennonite population. we had never been before and were given a few recommendations on places to stop, but i really don't think that we could have made any 'bad' choices of stops. our first stop was the warther carving museum. it was a tad pricy to go on the tour so we thought that we would wait until papa was with us since he would probably enjoy the carved train models most. just the one in the lobby was impressive! mr. warther was a knife maker (the family still makes fine knives) and carved fully-functional model trains out of wood and, later, ivory. the nuts and bolts, everything. i guess there is an 8-foot model carved entirely out of marble on the tour.

anyway, we did not go on the tour but we still enjoyed exploring the grounds which were very picturesque with gardens and small buildings.

this is the "button house" which was the original 'museum' and later where his wife created her button art.

there were a few trains on the property for the kids to climb into and explore.

"we miss you, papa!"

we were all pretty hungry, so our next stop was lunch! we went to der dutchman and the line was out the door (of course, noon on a saturday probably wasn't the best time to go), but we were sat relatively quick. the kids loved the wax strips that came to entertain them while we were waiting on our meal. i had the best piece of baked chicken i have ever had in my life. the kids ended up eating most of it and they even commented on how delicious it was. we will be back!

enjoying some honey sticks nana bought them at the bakery at der dutchman.

how beautiful is this view from the restaurant?

and, of course, we saw horse drawn carriages everywhere! there was also almost no cell reception most of our trip. i guess the amish aren't really a target market for good reception...

we spent a long time trying to find an old fashioned soda shop that we had gotten directions to from a friend but without our phones to find the actual name (which i found quite easily when we returned to the modern era) we just picked the next place we saw with an ice cream sign.

i love this picture of manning watching mason eat his ice cream

we all rode in the same car so i got to ride in the back with the kids. manning decided to give me this headlock hugs that i thought were incredibly awkward and thought i would take a picture. and then i realized that we could have some fun taking 'selfies.' here are some of the keepers (the first one is a chokehold):

our last stop was at a hardware store that has practically everything - including lots of non-electric options - that was a lot of fun to explore. inside they had an exhibit of carvings by a local craftsman. they were amazing 3d pieces each carved from a single block of wood. the pictures don't do them justice.

mason was excited to see a "lego" sign on the front door and we found him the "lego loft." notice daddy photo-bombing behind him.

madelyn and nana rocking while we waited for matt to pull the car around and get us.

the wax strips were extremely entertaining in the car too. maddux and madelyn were building all sorts of things...

we had such a great time! while the kids weren't totally appreciative of the scenery during the drive, it was really beautiful. we will be doing this again - maybe as soon as this fall when the leaves change. love.

on the road again

and yet another road trip!  this is one we were going to do earlier in the summer (for the kids' birthdays) but it didn't work out.  so early this morning we loaded up the car for a short drive to columbus, ohio!  the kids even made it without watching a movie.

we made a short stop for a bathroom and coffee break at a mcdonalds.  the funniest thing (and the reason for this post and picture) was that the tops of huge fries they had out front to advertise the monopoly game were covered in mold (or moss) or something!!  we were laughing because not only is this disgusting and unappetizing on its own, but supposably their real fries can't grow mold!!

let the family fun begin!!  love.

san diego-kansas city-home

the rest of our time in california was spent in the laguna beach area for a wedding (julie and joe's). madelyn got to go 'swimming' in a big pool for the first time at the hotel there friday afternoon before we went to dinner (where she enjoyed the flowers outside again). i took some video of her splashing on the steps but none of her actually 'swimming' - matt and i were both needed for her to go back and forth. she is so fearless! another lady at the pool was commenting on madelyn's bravery ("go girl" was the repeated phrase) and was surprised to hear that it was her first time in a big pool. madelyn was even kicking her legs and arms a little when matt and i would send her surfing on her belly back and forth between us - with a huge smile the whole time. she really liked that she could hold the railing on the pool steps to step into the pool. that was something new she did on this trip - walked down a flight of steps. she had started walking up steps (not crawling) about a week before we left, but refused to walk down more than 4 steps so this was huge! (particularly since we have stairs in the house.)



the wedding was lovely and the church was just what you would expect a beach side catholic church to be - very calming. (that is the ocean behind us in the picture.) we were lucky enough to be able to sit next to double doors that were opened to a little courtyard with a fountain. this came in very handy for a couple of reasons - one, there was a great ocean breeze since the church was not air conditioned. two, we could make a quick exit when maddie got too squirmy or chatty. and three, the water fountain made for great white noise to make maddie less disruptive to the ceremony.


madelyn really enjoyed watching malikai (sp?), aubry, and keturah at the reception and really took a liking to keturah. once the dance floor cleared for the cake cutting in the other room, maddie and keturah made their moves on the dance floor. maddie got her knees bouncing and roamed around on the dance floor. keturah was really good and twirling and that got maddie even more excited about dancing with her. it was too dark to get any video - i tried. they were so cute and both laughing.

we were so spoiled by the thought and effort liz and julie put into making maddie content during the reception! they had a 'goodie bag' for her at the table (and for the other children in attendance) that was personalized especially for her. her goodie bag had a stuffed dog, which she kissed repeatedly upon receiving it, a doggie book and a good night california book, and assorted snacks. these items were very useful for everyone at our table to have an enjoyable meal with a very content little girl. in fact, madelyn did outstanding that night! it must have been all the excitement and having other children to entertain her didn't hurt either because it was well after 10pm when we called it a night! and we left more because we had to get an early start back to san diego for our flights than that maddie was fading.

amazingly maddie was all smiles the next morning too with the monkey her uncle derek got her at the zoo. after a long ride back to san diego, we said goodbye to uncle derek and boarded our plane with papa and nana on our way to kansas city. thank goodness for laptops and dvds is all i can say about that flight! madelyn was starting to get cranky before getting on the plane and waiting for take off was torture. i think that is the worst part of flying - waiting on the hot plane for take off. matt and i have concluded that pre-boarding is not really an advantage when traveling with a lap child. once we got above 10,000 feet we got the movie going and after watching for an hour maddie fell asleep for about an hour - that was the only nap she had all day. she didn't even get to bed until around 10pm.

we just love how excited maddie gets to be back home after a trip. she must have pulled out every toy in the house just to say "hi" - literally. it is just so sweet. it is going to take a few days to get her back on central time but it was nice to take this trip and see everyone out in california. i know that madelyn enjoyed seeing her papa, nana, and uncle derek again too.

we start construction on our basement this week and since our personal computer is in the basement, i don't know how frequently i will be posting over the next month. (i say this, but with her doing new things everyday i don't know if i will be able to stay away other than from sheer exhaustion from my work project this month.)

just one more note and video. madelyn now really says "hi" - not in a soft, baby voice, but in a real speaking voice. that is the best way to explain the change. it is totally different from how she said it before even though it was clear that she was saying "hi" before too. she did it for the first time at our first hotel in california while playing with the phone. i didn't really get it video of her best "hi"s, but you should get the idea. love.

the pacific coast

madelyn took in her first view of the pacific ocean today in del mar, california. she was so excited! i didn't catch it in this picture, but she was squealing and waving her arms with excitement. we stayed for a while just watching all the surfers (sitting on their boards, there wasn't much in the way of surf) before going down a little ways to a kiddie park and maddie got a swing with a view! not only was there an ocean view, but there were train tracks so we turned her to face the other way in the swing when the train went by. she wasn't that in to the train. we didn't actually go down to the beach today we just walked down for a look after getting breakfast.

next we drove around going down 'memory lane' for daddy. we went by the house he lived in, the hospital he was born in, and so on. i don't think maddie was taking notes...

next we went to the scripps aquarium to prove to everyone that maddie really wasn't afraid of fish any more. she started out a little slow, but by the time we got to the seaweed tank she was running up, climbing up on the little step to see better and pointing out the fish to us. in the picture nana is showing maddie and papa some fish. the seaweed tank was one of the coolest things i have seen at an aquarium - it was around two stories tall! they even had a little theater seating built in so that you could sit and take it all in. maddie really liked these spotted fish and some bright orange ones in the tank.

they also had 'tide pools' set up outside to look in and older kids could listen to instructors tell about the sea life and touch a few animals. for real hands on action they had an area with fake rocks with plastic/rubber tide pool animals in water. madelyn was a little afraid to touch anything for a while. she would get real close, sometimes squat down for a look, watch the other kids, but wouldn't touch anything. she finally felt safe enough to touch a lobster leg a few times before deciding to pick up an octopus (i think that she picked the octopus because a little boy had just put it down in the water). she kept picking it up, turning it over and then dipping it back in the water over and over. once the front of her dress was nice and wet (and she was getting brave enough to try putting it in her mouth) it was time to move on.


as a final highlight of the day, madelyn got to have her first ice cream (well sherbet). the first two bites were more like licks because she didn't really like how cold it was, but once she got the hang of things she managed to eat the whole scoop! and the sugar didn't even keep her up later.

thankfully, madelyn has done really well with the time change. she did get up at 4:38am this morning but slept off and on until 6:45am so we got a little more sleep. matt and i were exhausted since we didn't get into bed until well after midnight and every extra minute helped. then she went until almost 3pm before getting a nap. she has been such a trooper and hopefully she will keep it up for the rest of our trip. tomorrow we are headed to the highly acclaimed san diego zoo - i am hoping that it lives up to the hype. love.

the joys of travel

on our last day in florida we headed back to orlando for our flight. since our flight wasn't until the evening we were able to meet our friend jenny for lunch. jenny was the first of our out-of-state friends to meet madelyn when she was just a few weeks old last summer.


after lunch with jenny we went back to the park that we had gone to earlier in the week to let maddie stretch her legs after the long ride and high chair contained lunch. then back in the car as we headed to the airport.


finally, we were headed home! it was a wonderful trip, but we were all tired and ready for the routine that comes from going back to your own home. our flight was at 7 so we knew that we needed "bear" if we had any chance of maddie falling asleep on the plane.


the flight was 2-1/2 hours and maddie squirmed and screamed the first hour and a half. its not that she was bad. she just didn't want to sit still and was really tired. it didn't help that it was really warm on the plane - her whole head was really sweaty - and that it was packed. luckily the guy next to us was pretty nice and across the aisle was a teenage boy traveling with his four younger siblings. he spent a lot of time saying "hi" back to maddie when she waved. we finally got her to sleep by showing her pictures on our phone while she held "bear" and sucked her thumb. keeping her asleep was the real trick. like i said, she was pretty sweaty and hot which only made me hotter and more uncomfortable. plus she is really tall which meant that her head was in the aisle, her legs were on matt's lap, and i couldn't move at all. i did finally find a way to rest my arm under her head on the armrest, but it wasn't comfortable. and every time someone came down the asile i had to lift her head out of the way and she would startle awake and cry but then drift back to sleep.


all and all, it could have been much worse, but it definitely was not an easy flight for us. we are not looking forward to our 6 hour flight to california in a few weeks. we are excited for the destination - its the getting there that is going to be the trick...

love.

the most magical place on earth...

it has been a very busy weekend! (and we are exhausted!) we flew to orlando, matt was in a wedding, madelyn (and matt) had their first trip to disney world, and we drove down to fort myers. i will warn you now that this is going to be a pretty long post.

madelyn started the trip by eating her first banana straight from the peel while we waited for our flight on thursday morning. and she was just shoving it in her mouth. we would try to tip it to the side so that she wouldn't get a bite too big, but she was having none of that! this has been a really helpful skill during this trip. another new skill that has come in very helpful this trip is sitting in a kitchen chair to eat. she really likes sitting at the table and eating with everyone else like a big kid. i think we are going to have to buy her a booster seat when we get home and say goodbye to the highchair.

in orlando we stayed with "auntie" natalie and rob (who actually had to leave for the weekend, unfortunately) and attended chad and leslie's wedding. matt was a groomsman so he had lots of wedding activities thursday, friday, and saturday and natalie had to work on friday so maddie and i were on our own without a car for the day. natalie drew me up a map for walking to a nearby park. so maddie and i headed out friday morning (in the thick humidity) to find the park. there was a panera nearby so i picked up a bagel on the way and maddie checked out the great playground at the park. it was really nice and even had a canopy over the swings to block the sun. there was the neat "seat" thing that i had never seen before and madelyn really liked it! the video shows her spinning around in it - it sits at an angle so that when she shifts her weight it spins. she really got the hang of it when we took daddy and natalie on saturday morning. (it sounds like she wants to get out, but when i took her out she got right back in - i think she is just frustrated that her shoes get stuck on the rubber.)


natalie babysat while matt and i went to the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and reception. i am sure that she just loved having us - we stayed all weekend, asked her to babysit friday and saturday, madelyn broke her grandmother's lamp, and we drug her out to disney. she said that she enjoyed our visit - but...

so now for the big event! disney world! we never would have taken her this young, but as matt says, "the price was right". natalie works for epcot and was able to get us into the park for free. so there was no pressure to stay all day and get our money's worth. we just went took in a few rides and souvenirs and then got in the car to head to fort myers. i have a picture from my first trip to disney when i was at least 6 months older than maddie that we were trying to recreate. we took this picture on the way in while she was fresh, but then got the mouse ears and minnie mouse doll to match my picture. we forgot to stop again on our way out to take a picture with the accessories so we took one from the outside part with the same planter in the background (i didn't get my picture scanned in so i will have to add it later).

we were able to go on the small world, winnie the pooh, snow white, and peter pan rides. madelyn did really great on all of them. i was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to sit still long enough or would cry when it got really dark, but even on the snow white ride she never cried. she did stand up and hold on to me with a death grip while shoving her face into my neck for a while, but never cried. here are some more pictures and captions from our disney adventure...

heading into the park from "pluto 25"

the iconic castle shot down "main street u.s.a."

in awe of "small world". she finally started pointing at things towards the end of the ride. but she took everything in the whole time and would look where we were pointing.

auntie nattie is a natural with a stroller!

the snow white ride was just a little too scary. (yes, i took a picture. i know - i have a problem.)

maddie and auntie nattie in their 3d glasses for mickey's philharmagic show. the show is about 10 minutes and maddie made it through about 5 with the glasses on her face before trying to take them off. i was very proud!

madelyn was so in love with her minnie doll that we had to take the tag off to pay for it because she wouldn't let go. i was surprised because she has had so little disney exposure.

trying to stay hydrated in the hot florida sun was a top priority for us snowbirds.

today we are going to take some pictures with madelyn's two cousins (annabell and briana) before having dinner with the whole family tonight. but now, we are all going to take a much needed nap. love.