First Family Vacation

I hope going to Tulsa for one night counts as a vacation! Because last weekend thats what we did and I'm counting it as a vaca. The point is, all three of us had a great time together over our Labor Day weekend.

The fun started Sunday afternoon, we took advantage of Mady's afternoon nap time and drove to Enterprise to see Michael's Grandma Sandy. She had relatives in so we got a lot of visiting done in a short amount of time. Then, we drove an hour to my grandma's house. There, Mady learned to say 'Joyce' and had a great time trying to pick up Grandma's large living room rung. I don't know why she wanted to pick it up so badly but she kept grunting and struggling with the thing. Pretty funny.

The next morning was Labor Day so we all drove to Owasso for a yearly get together at Michael's Aunt and Uncle's house. We had a good time. Mady wouldn't nap, but Aunt Sara helped keep Mady's attitude positive. They played and watched cartoons on Sara's computer (thank goodness for that).

Next we went to my friend Tre's house for dinner. He lives in Tulsa and we NEVER see him so we made plans! Mady loved playing with Tre's dog and running around the backyard. In full Mady tradition, since this was the first time she had met Tre, she had to have a massive dirty diaper that left her shorts unwearable. She spent the last 30 minutes running around in a tank top and diaper...how redneck did we look?! She tends to have blowouts every time we visit someone new. The worst was our friends from church, Beth and Joe. Poor little Beth was holding sweet Mady who was only a few weeks old at the time. All of a sudden, Beth shrieks and I'm mortified to find that a 'leak' had sprung. I won't go into details, but Beth had to wash her hands and Mady had to change her clothes. (Note to new mom's, leaking means the diapers are too small...no one graced us with this knowledge...which seems obvious now but what did we know?)

We stayed in a hotel Monday night and decided to visit the Oklahoma Aquarium on Tuesday. We didn't really know what to expect. Michael and I had both wanted to go, but never had. I'm not going to lie, the morning was a little rough. At first, Michael and I had to try to be in good moods, but after we got into the Aquarium, everyone had a great time.

We didn't take in the stroller...which could go one of two ways: 1) Mady runs wild and we have to chase her, get onto her or carry her, or 2) We take the stroller and Mady screams the whole time because she'd rather be walking (thats code for running). We decided to give it a shot and wen't stroller-less. Once we got past the parking lot, and Mady didn't have to hold our hands, she was thrilled to have the freedom.

The Aquarium was great. We fed shrimp, stingrays and turtles. Mady loved watching as Michael and I did the majority of the feeding. But the whole time, she was pointing, giggling and squealing. We also got to pet fish, crabs and stingrays. By we I mean Michael and I did...don't get me wrong, we wanted Mady to experience petting the animals too, but she was more interested in splashing in the water. We were covered in fish by the time we left, it was gross, but fun. It was Mady's favorite part. Michael's favorite part was the shark display. You walk through a glass tunnel into a room with a glass dome, so, all around you are sharks swimming. He giggled nervously while looking at the all the scary fish that surrounded us. My favorite part was showing Mady the fish. We would stand her on the ledge next to the display and she would say, "Whoa" and then ask to get down so she could run to the next display. She wasn't still for 2 seconds while we were there, but we didn't mind. She was loving it and her excitement spread to us too.

We also took our first family picture in a photo booth. The first 3 takes we were just trying to figure out how to get Mady to show up in the picture. She had this concerned look on her face like, "What are you two doing...its worrying me". Finally, we got her in place and just before the camera took the final pose, I yelled, 'Make a face!" Mady knew exactly what that meant and immediately stuck out her tongue. Its a really cute picture, I will try to post it sometime. On the way out of the Aquarium, Michael and I just laughed to ourselves...we had such a great time. Not necessarily because the trip was exciting, or because fish are amazing, but because we were together as a family, experiencing something new. No time constraints, no worry about money or cleaning the house or making decisions...just being together and having fun.

After a quick lunch in Tulsa we were on our way home again, with Mady asleep in the backseat. It was a great first family vacation. I look forward to many more (and hopefully longer) trips with my awesome family. God did a good thing when He created families...and when he created fish. :)

Hi Pa...

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Red Oak where Mady got to do one of her favorite things...hang out with Ma and Pa (Michael's grandparents for those of you outside of the family). I'm pretty sure she loves everything about them and thier house.

In past visits, she has played outside, which she LOVES. She spends her time sitting in rocks and dirt and moving them from one area to the next. We're not really sure why these rocks need moved, but its very important to Mady that they not stay where they are. I think she spent a solid hour moving rocks during our visit in May. Ma also has decorative rocks inside. Mady will move them to different places in the house too. I told her it was good that she had a skill and she just laughed to herself.

Also in May, and to Mady's delight, Michael unpacked a weedeater and left a nice big box for Mady to play with. Michael and I walked into the house this weekend after Mady had been there playing with Ma, and there was the box. Mady had moved in...all of her toys were sitting in it like decorations in a living room.

Other wonders at Ma and Pa's house include a drawer full of plastic containers. Mady will open the drawer, choose a container apparently based on a very strategic plan, and then bring it to me to open... 'Opeee peas' was my que. After the container was open, she would then exclaim with much excitement, 'icsh screem'. "Thats right Mady, ice cream, yummm!" Then everyone would take turnes eating the imaginary ice cream from the container.

She also loves the grandfather clock. Months ago when it would chime, she would run to it and say, 'cluck, cluck, cluck'. Now, its a little more recognizable as 'clock'. Her talking has really improved the last few weeks. I think she thrilled Pa when he walked in this weekend. She said very clearly, "Hi Pa". He nearly squeeled.

She really enjoys her time at Ma and Pa's. She helps Ma cook, sits on the window seal and has learned to open all the doors in the house. Its perfect.

Last night Mady wanted another Garner Dance Party. So, after dinner she came up to me and Michael and said, "Dance". Michael turned up the music and we all danced. This time, Mady wanted us to dance a certain way. Every 10 seconds or so, she would throw herself onto the floor and put her legs in the air...of course Mom and Dad needed to do the same thing! If we took too long to get up and start dancing again, Madalyn would try to pick us up and say, "Sta Up". After about the 15th time pulling ourselves off the floor, we were a little tired. But it was so much fun. Its so interesting to see what she comes up with in her cute little head.