Good Times in the Cincy

Hit the Cincinnati Zoo (so wonderful), but its so big we didnt get to see all of it.
My Mother in Law, Gail, made the trip with me! So wonderful
Uncle Garry
Got to see Garry play Hockey one night. They lost to a cheating girls team
In Cincy, all the catholic churches and firehouses have festivals each summer to raise money. We got to go to the IHM (Immaculate Heart of Mary) Festival.
Gail drinking a NON-Alcoholic beer-big day for her!


eating fresh blueberries-so much better than store bought
Helping Grandpa water his vegetable garden
eating cherry tomatoes off the vine. Didnt like them at first with the big squirt, but then couldnt get enough
More festival activities
baking cookies with the grandmas










Well, the rest of the pictures messed up when loading so here's the breakdown. Saw my great Aunt Faye (w/ my mom and M) and my grandma (with my dad and M). Got to go to my friend Becky's baby shower and saw my other friend Tammy there. Inside Woodland Mound Park is this place called the Wetlands (see above pics) that was a huge hit with M. She was a little scared at first but then Gail picked her up and ran through and then she was hooked. Couldn't get her to slow down, she was running from one thing to the next and went down the slide at least 6 times. Got to see a bunch of my extended family as well though I dont have any pictures of it. Great trip, but busy for just 4 days!

The Beach

We went to the beach (more specifically Gulf Shores) with Lance's mom's family last week. It was the first time our little family has gotten to go to the beach too. Madeline was hot and cold about the sand and ocean-sometimes she liked it, others she did not. We mostly hung out in the indoor/outdoor pool (which was great since I prefer the pool over the beach. I'm a little OCD about sand being all over me). What she really loved was the hot tub. This girl likes the finer things in life. We had to cut it off though since I don't think you are supposed to let small children in hot tubs for too long. We had a great time hanging out with the extended family as well. I like vacationing with extended family-instant playmates and extra toys!

We also found out on Friday that Lance passed his last exam! Praise God for his wonderful blessings. We found a babysitter quickly and headed out to a nice restaurant to celebrate, followed by drinking a good bottle of champagne in Vulcan park. Lance has three small projects to finish and then he can go to the actual credentialing weekend (which he won't be able to make before December), but after that, he will officially be an FSA (fellow of the Society of Actuaries). I am so proud of him and thankful that this exam process is over!

Curly

She's getting some cute curly hair
Some friends of ours moved home from Scotland and I kept two of their boys one morning. This is Sam and Owen (who have been on here before). 3 Children between 1 and 4 years old is enough to make sure you never get anything done!
Our friends Price and Luke (only half pictured due to some poor cameraMAN's skills) came to visit. This was the first time P and M could interact and play. Price didn't like Madeline all over the toys with him so he kept pushing her down. It will be a fun story to tell them someday (maybe at their wedding)!
I just liked the way this picture turned out. If you click on it to enlarge it you can see her body is moving but her head is still. Plus, I like that dress. Its pink seersucker!
She took all the books out of the basket, climbed in and started reading. Then she leaned back like it was a chair and fell back! She got up, got back in, and did it again! I guess she was expecting a new result.
Lance took her out to play with the hose. This was great fun!
Good times, yeah


One funny story about how incredible our child is. Last week I was emptying the dishwasher and remembered I needed more diapers for her bag before we left. M was "helping" me with dishes and I decided to test her to see how well she understands me and how good her attention span is, so I asked her to go to her room and bring me three diapers. She left and about a minute later she appeared with low and behold, three diapers! I'm sure the number was a coincidence, but none the less I was impressed that she did it! Its amazing that in under a year and a half she understands language.