Madison's Birthday Party!

I think all Madison's birthday celebrations have finally came to an end. We ended the celebration on Saturday with her birthday party! She had a great turn out and got lots of great gifts! Her big surprise from Mom and Dad was a horse. No, not to keep, but to have at the party to ride. She was so excited to see the horse. She just loved her. The horses' name was Jasmine, and Madison reminded everyone what her name was. She still talks about how Jasmine came to her party. Madison loved to pet the horse and even Aunt Hilary showed her how she could feed her apples. She loved doing this. She sat on Jasmine, but as soon as Jasmine started to walk, she freaked. She cried and wanted down. She did not like the fact that she moved I guess. All the other kids LOVED riding the horse. It was so great to see so many kids enjoy Jasmine...in my opinion...Money well spent!!

She really loved this horse, but just didn't want to ride her!

One of my favorite pictures!



Another Favorite!!

Madison got a lot of great gifts! She is very spoiled. A big thank you to everyone for the great and very generous gifts! I guess even the drum my dad (Papa) got her! Don't worry Papa, she will bring it to your house every time she comes. I wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun! She had a very exciting day and I am so glad everything is done. I still can't believe she is two!

All Madison's friends riding Jasmine!!

Yup, even Uncle Mike had to take his turn!

Happy 2nd Birthday Madison!

I can't believe it! I can't believe my baby girl is 2. Just doesn't seem possible. They grow up so fast! I really wish life had a pause button, just so time would go by just a little slower!

Madison has been celebrating her birthday all month. She loves it when anyone will sing Happy Birthday to her! She will keep asking me to sing it to her over and over! This past weekend was no exception! On Saturday, it was her chose to go to Red Robin. Both her and Ryan love that place. She had her choice of guests too. She had to have Grammie, Papa, Uncle Jay Jay, Austi, and of course Mommy, Daddy, and Ryan! She couldn't wait for "all the people" (that's what she would say) to sing happy birthday to her and clap for her! She really enjoyed every minute of it! My mom brought her a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and she got a sundae from Red Robin! She is just like her dad when it comes to dessert, she LOVES it!!
Papa and Madison


Grammie and Madison.


Enjoying her OWN Sundae!

Sunday was her actual birthday. Mike had to work. We were up at our usual time, a little before 7. Madison had donuts with candles and chocolate milk for breakfast. Yes, we had to sing happy birthday to her again. Actually I think we had to do it twice!

Her breakfast, her request...the simple things in life!

Since Mike was working, we were going to meet my cousin Annie and her two kids, Emma and Luke at the beach! We packed a lunch and headed to the beach around 11. It was a great time. Ryan really loved playing with Emma! Madison had a great time, she loves the beach and loves to go swimming. After a couple hours we headed home for naps.

Ryan, Emma, and Madison playing at the beach!

Madison and Luke. The water was pretty cold, but that did not stop them from using their swim rings!

As we headed home, Mike called and said he was on his way home too! We got home, put Madison down for a nap. We decided that she would open her presents after her nap! If we did it before, she probably wouldn't nap, so it had to be after. She woke up and was very GRUMPY! It took about 15 minutes to get her in a semi good mood. We told her she had a present outside in the backyard. She started to head outside to find.....

Her Jeep! She loved it. She does pretty well with it! She likes to have Ryan help her, well sometimes. After riding around the yard a few times, we had her open the rest of her presents!

There she goes!

After opening her presents, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese! Her choice again! It wasn't to busy and the kids had a great time. Uncle Jay Jay and Austin met us there! And YES, Chuck E. Cheese now serves beer, so going there in the future won't be so bad!!

Madison had a great a day and was exhausted by the end of the day! So was I!!! Her birthday party is this Saturday, which promises to bring LOTS of fun!! We are so excited!! Happy Birthday Miss Madison! We love you!!

A Weeks Vacation

I am still recovering from last week, and it has taken me awhile to get into the mood to write anything down! Last week Mike was on vacation, and we had big plans for the whole week! The kids wanted to do Michigan's Adventure and that's all they wanted to do! We had been watching the weather and it looked like Wednesday was going to be the best day. Well, on Monday it didn't look the best. We had already called and made our reservations for a cabana in the water park, and had until Tuesday to cancel. So on Monday, I mentioned to Mike the thought of taking the kids to Kings Island, instead of going to Michigan's Adventure, when the weather was going to be crappy. The only thing in our way.......the 6 hour drive. We debated and debated. The kids usually can only make it an hour before getting restless and want out of the car. So this 6 hour trip would be pure torture! Well, we decided to do it! The only way to find out how they will do, is to do it! So I got on the Internet, booked our hotel room, bought our tickets, and we were on our way Wednesday. On Tuesday night, Mike hit Family Video and rented about 5 "new" DVDs. Lots of Dora, Diego, and the Backyardigans! I packed lots of snacks, both Leapsters, lots of books, and other toys to play with! I was ready!

Mike was so excited to meet Spongebob!


She couldn't get enough of Dora!


Madison the Dora stalker! We had to go and find her a few times!


Ryan and his best bud Diego!

We left at 7:30 in the morning for the 6 hour trip! We stopped in Kalamazoo for a potty break at Mike's parents house. Then a couple hours later found a nice park to eat lunch and let the kids play for awhile. The kids did FANTASTIC! Only one melt down by Miss Madison, and that was with about 1/2 hour to go. She was so tired, but did not want to give up! I think she thought she was going to miss something!!





We got to the hotel, unloaded and headed to dinner. After dinner we found an IKEA so we had to go shopping there! Mike really liked IKEA. Even thought we had to do the "shopping with kids" tour, he was quite impressed! I think he may even be ready to go back without the kids! We headed back to the hotel and the kids were sleeping by 8:30!
On Thursday we were heading to Kings Island. We had breakfast reservations at 9, we were eating with the characters. The breakfast SUCKED! It was awful! But I guess what we were paying for was to see Dora and Spongebob! After you have been to Disney World, NOTHING compares to what they do, so my expectations were high. Madison was in love with Dora and wanted to keep going to see her!

Ryan and Madison on the Backyardigan's swings!


They got along so well, because they didn't have to share a steering wheel!



Me and Madison on the carousel!


Mike and Madison on the Monster! Madison turned a little green, but wanted to go again!



So precious!


Ryan atop the Eiffel Tower! He loved it!

The kids had a great time at the park. The Kids area was great! We spent the whole day in the kids area. Mike and I didn't ride any of the roller coasters of anything. Man, things have changed since having kids. Before we would have been racing from roller coaster to roller coaster, this time we were running from the Backyardigans swings, to Swipers Sweeper! I wouldn't have it any other way! To see the expressions on the kids face made my day. It was priceless!


This picture says it all! These are the faces that we saw all day! I LOVE these kids!!

I haven't been to Kings Island in about 20 years. We use to go there every summer when we lived in Indiana! It sure has changed a lot! It was great to get away and have a nice mini vacation! I am glad we took the challenge with the kids, they did so GREAT and I survived to talk about it!!

***NOTE: Sorry about the pictures being all over the place! Blogger would not cooperate, and I finally gave up!***