Then on Sunday...

...most of the family came over to see Maddy (Bryan and I were simply her chauffeurs). Here are some of the best moments that were captured on "film":


The day began with us going to church. Here are Maddy and Greatpop hanging out before church. Don't they look snazzy??


Here are Heather, Maddy and me shortly after everyone started arriving:


and Maddy and Great Aunt Do-Do:


Jimmy, Maddy, Great Uncles Dennis and Mike:


Maddy learning what to do with a baton while "playing" with her Great Uncle Mike:


Here's a video of Maddy and her Great Uncle Mike:




Kelly and Maddy:


Maddy, Heather and Great Uncle Mike:


Maddy and Great Uncle Dennis:

As promised, here's the picture of the scrum-diddly-umptioius treat that Grandmom and Grandpop had for us... Philadelphia Soft Pretzles!! Boy oh Boy were they FANTABULOUS!! I think that, other than Maddy, these made the gathering!!! :)

After the gathering, Maddy and her Greatmom hung out on the couch waiting for the Braves game to start. Much to Maddy's dismay, the game didn't start until after 10 PM, so she missed it. Don't worry, though, Greatmom filled her in on the game the next morning before we hit the road again...


I hope you've enjoyed this latest installment of our epic journey. Tomorrow I'll tell you all about what happened once we made it to Shrieveport and back home again!! We miss you already and can't wait to see some, if not all of you in a few weeks at Chris and April's Anniversary party!! Love you guys!! :)

And The Saga Continues...

Well, everyone, I apologize for my absence from blogging, but we were just having so much fun that I didn't have time to blog. Here's my plan... I am going to break up the rest of our trip into a couple of different blogs. I'd like to start with our trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Maddy, also referred to by her birthday buddy as Mer-Maddy, LOVED the aquarium. Here are a couple of blogs and a video. You can be the judge!!

Maddy and Bryan playing at one of the "touch tanks":


Bryan took Maddy down the Whale Slide:


The men-folk, deep in thought:

Hang on tight kid!!

They had these really neat places where kids (big and small) can crawl to the other side of the tank and look through these bubbles. Here, Maddy and Bryan were looking through the bubble, and I was on the "adult" side of the tank:

Maddy and Bryan checking out the beluga whales:

Maddy and me looking at the sea snakes... EWWWW...

Looking at the jellyfish. Pretty neat, huh?

Maddy... Deep in thought:

WOW. What an inopportune moment to take a picture!!

A little family portrait:

This was the coolest of the "bubbles" that you could look through. This one was big enough that Maddy could crawl on it. It looks like she's on top of the water. FUN FUN FUN!! :)


Here's a video of Maddy looking at some of the fish:





After the aquarium, we went back to my Grandmom and Grandpop's house for a bit, then went to visit my dad's parents. Here are a few pictures from the visit with them!!

Maddy's Great Grandmother let her play this drum that she got while she was in Ireland. Maddy LOVED being able to make noise!! :)


Here's Maddy with her Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather:


Here she is again... Cheesing like always!! :)


Maddy got to take a ride with her Great Grandfather. I think she enjoyed that, too!! :)



Watch out for another blog (hopefully tomorrow) that has pictures and videos from the family gathering at my Grandmom and Grandpop's house. There was a very yummy treat at the gathering that I took a picture of. My mouth is watering just thinking about it... Betcha can't wait to see what it is?!?!

Love you guys!! :)

Last night we sat out on the deck and made s'mores (a treat I've been craving since the 4th of July). We had a very nice time hanging out and chowing down. Maddy had her own version of a "s'more". I didn't think that warm, gooey marshmallows were a good idea, and per the doctor, she's not allowed to have chocolate yet, so her "s'more" consisted of a graham cracker. I think she enjoyed it, though... You can't miss what you've never had!! :)






Here's a video of Maddy demonstrating her independence. My mom had been helping her drink out of the water bottle, and she was having a lot of fun. Then, all of a sudden, she was just, plain DONE. Well, I'll let Maddy speak for herself: HaHaHa...




Today, we did a little shopping. We started at REI. I have this GREAT jogging stroller, but the cup holders are very small. My normal water bottle that I like to take on walks will not fit, so I have been in search of the perfect water bottle. I FOUND ONE TODAY!!! Can I get a woo-hoo?!?! :) Here's a picture of the perfect water bottle (in case you were wondering what the perfect water bottle would look like):


After our REI trip, we had some lunch at McAlisters, then wandered around the mall. We found a playground at the mall (where were these when I was a kid?!?!). Here's Maddy playing on the playground:





Maddy learned that she was short enough to play:



On the way home, we got our Baskin Robbins fix. We don't have Baskin Robbins in Abilene, and since we love it so much, we just HAD to partake!! Here are Maddy and Bryan enjoying their ice cream:



Once we were home, Maddy did a little exploring. She ended up on the bottom of the end table, and had a BLAST:


After dinner, we introduced Maddy to "Bucky the Wonder Horse". Chris, do you remember Bucky? She had so much fun playing with him!!!


Here's a quick video of Maddy taking a ride on Bucky the Wonder Horse:




We're having a great time here in South Carolina with my parents. We aren't ready for the trip to be over, but we'll be in Atlanta on Friday afternoon sometime. For those of you that are still waiting for us to come to a city near you, we'll be there soon!!

Love you guys!! :)

Discovery Place

Today we went to Discovery Place in Charlotte. It's a hands-on museum. We had a really great time, and Maddy even gave me a little clue on some things she might like for her birthday!! Here are a few pictures we took:

There was a pirate exhibit, and they had a place to look through and "be" a pirate...



Here's Grandmom, Daddy and Maddy getting ready for the IMAX movie all about under the sea. It was a 45 minute movie that Maddy sat still for the first 30 minutes of. I think that at the age of 10 months, that's pretty dang good!!!


Here's Mommy, Daddy and Maddy posing in front of the Parthenon:

Look how tall I am!!!!

The biggest Leggos we've ever seen!!

Maddy showing off her kitchen skills:
Maddy learning how a lever works:



Hercules!!! Look at her lifting that 25 pounds of marbles!!


We had a great time today!! I wonder what tomorrow will have in store for us???

Still Vacationing...

We're still vacationing, and LOVING every minute!! Here are a couple of photos and videos of what we've been up to since I last blogged...

We went to the mall yesterday, and discovered a playground much like the one at the mall in Abilene. Here's Maddy enjoying the slide:

"Climbing up the steps" (we helped her)...



And down she goes...




Today, we went to the Nashville Zoo. Maddy seemed to enjoy the zoo quite a bit!! :)


Check out Maddy's new kicks from her grandparents... I think she likes them... She left them on all day!! :)


Here we are with an elephant bottom for our background!! :)


Of course, Maddy LOVED the fishies. I can't wait to take her to the aquarium in Atlanta next weekend!! :)



This is a quick video of Maddy watching the meerkats:



As you can see, we're having a great time!!! Tomorrow night is the big bar-b-que that Jay and Jenny are throwing in Maddy's honor. I hope to get some good pictures of Maddy meeting everyone!! :)

Love you guys!!