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!!

What Have We Been Up To??

What have we been up to since I last blogged? Well, here are a couple of photos and a video to show you!!

Maddy enjoyed a little breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Little Rock. Here she is waiting for her pancakes:



Once we made it to Franklin, we headed to Bryan's Granny's house. Maddy helped "cook" dinner.



After dinner and hanging out a bit, Maddy hung out with Granny. I think she enjoyed herself. What do you think?!?!


Today, we went to visit Chris at the fire station.



Uncle Chris gave Maddy her very own fire helmet and badge!!


Uncle Chris put Maddy in the driver's seat of the ladder truck. I'm not so sure that she was sold on this part of the tour:


I think she liked sitting on the front bumper a little better:


She tried on Uncle Chris's turnout gear, too:



He also let Maddy play with the levers for the bucket truck.


After lunch, we went back to Bryan's Granny's house where Maddy showed off her new-found skill:




Here's a picture of Bryan and Maddy resting on the stairs:


Finally, once we got back to Bryan's parents' house tonight (where we're staying while we're here in Franklin), Bryan decided to give Maddy a ride in the laundry basket before her bath. Again, I think she had a WONDERFUL time!! (She even had her driver's license for her little ride... Wouldn't want to get caught without that!!!)


Please say a quick little prayer for us as we're beginning to suspect that Maddy may have another ear infection. If tonight continues the way it began, we may be heading to a walk-in clinic in the morning. She didn't go to sleep until about 10 tonight. We were trying to get her to sleep starting around 8:30. Everytime we laid her down, she'd sit right back up. So, please say a little prayer for us that Maddy was just over tired tonight and that she'll sleep well tonight and feel all better in the morning!!

Love you guys!! :)

Too Cute Not To Post

I thought this video was too funny not to post tonight. I know, I know. I went for DAYS with no blogging... now I'm posting TWO in ONE day!! I think you'll agree that it's worth it, though... Here goes nothing:







I hope you enjoyed a little look into our spoon-usage lesson for the night!

Love you guys!! :)

Just an update

Well, we've been in Little Rock since Sunday. Not much has gone on. Here is a picture of Maddy in her carseat on Sunday when we told her that we were going on a roadtrip:



I didn't take one of her when we got here. That was a memory I didn't want to capture. I'd like to let it fade this week before we hit the road again next week. LoL. Needless to say, she was DONE sitting in the carseat by the time we got here!! :)

Last night we took Maddy to a Mexican restaurant here that is near the townhouse we rented when we lived here. We used to come to this restaurant pretty frequently as we enjoyed the food. The first picture is Maddy's new "evil grin". She sometimes makes this face, and, let's be honest, if you look at her eyes, it really looks like she knows that she's up to no good!! :)


The next picture is Maddy enjoying her chip at the restaurant while waiting for dinner...


I think she really liked her dinner. She had a cheese quesadilla with rice and beans on the side. I didn't know how she'd feel about the sides, but she really liked them. She let me feed her the beans with a spoon (THANK GOD... That could have gotten messy... QUICK!!)... and she chose to eat the rice one...grain...at...a...time... It was a slow and tedious process, but she seemed to enjoy it. LoL.

Today, we went to Best Buy and Toys 'R' Us. The Best Buy in Abilene in tiny and is located inside our "mall". We do not even have a Toys 'R' Us. Maddy, of course, made out like a bandit at the toy store. Well, actually, we got her a small toy and a bath toy (Bryan was pretty bent out of shape that I didn't pack any bath toys for her and didn't think that the 2 plastic cups and plastic spoon were enough for her highness). I also got a couple of things that I've been wanting to get for her that I couldn't find in Abilene (these certain bowls for snacks and new sippy cups).

Bryan is at work right now, and I'm cooking a Stouffers lasagna for dinner. He should be home in about an hour. Tomorrow is his checkride (hopefully if the weather cooperates). If all goes well tomorrow, he will officially be an instructor navigator!!! Woo-Hoo!! :) Once he files all of the necessary paperwork, we will be finished here. We are hoping to stay here for the weekend so we can go to the zoo and maybe do something outdoors (go for a nature walk or something). We'll just have to see how long the paperwork takes.

Our current plan is to leave here on Monday and head to Franklin to visit with Chris and April and Bryan's family.

I guess that's about it for us for now. Maddy's taking a little late afternoon nap, which I'm okay with. I changed her diaper a little while ago and out of nowhere she's got a terrible diaper rash, so I'm hoping a little rest will help heal that. I also think that one of her molars has started to cut through (could explain the diaper rash) and another seems to be on the verge. Poor kid... See? A late afternoon nap isn't such a bad idea now, is it?!?!

I hope all of you are having a good week... It's HUMP DAY!!

Love you guys (and see you VERY soon)!!! :)

First Leg Down...

...Five more to go!

We left our house around 8:15 this morning and drove all day to arrive here in Little Rock around 5 PM this evening. We're one step closer to visiting with everyone!! Bryan will finish his training this week (if all goes as planned), then early next week we'll be heading to Nashville to visit with Chris and April and all of Bryan's family. :) I'm so glad that we're finally on our big road trip!!

Maddy did exceptionally well in the car today. There were a few "hairy" moments, but all things considered, she did very well. We DID stop one more time than we had planned, but I think Maddy appreciated it. She was pretty "over" being in the car seat, so we stopped at a rest area, laid out a big blanket and let her crawl to her heart's content... for 15 minutes, then it was back on the road for us. We were really glad that we stopped when we did because about 20 miles down the road, we ran into some TERRIBLE weather. We made it through with no problems, but there was NO WAY we would have stopped during that weather.

After we got here, we got settled into the "hotel" on base (yes, Mom, it's the fancy-shmancy place where we stayed in December). Once we were settled, we went to our friend Carrie's house for pizza and a little chatting. Now, Miss Maddy is sleeping in her room (hopefully down for the entire night). Bryan and I are pretty worn out. Bryan is tired because he drove to Abilene yesterday to pick us up then did most of the driving today. I'm tired because, well, I have been chasing after a VERY mobile Maddy all by my lonesome for several weeks. I think we're both glad to have each other's company again. Parenting is really a job for 2 people. I think God knew what he was doing when he came up with that plan...

I realized that I am not sure that I ever shared with everyone what our actual itinerary is, so I'll leave you Atlanta folks with the part that pertains to you. You can plan to see us from Friday, August 14 until Monday, August 17. Bryan and I are hoping to take Maddy to the aquarium while we're there. Looking like Saturday will be the best day, but we're certainly flexible!!

Well, I think it's time to turn in for the night. Can't wait to see everyone soon!! Love you guys!! :)

Any Suggestions?

Hi all!! I have a home improvement question for you today. The other night we had a big storm here, and when I got up in the morning, I found that this piece of my roof was coming off. Now, I'll tell you that this particular piece was slipping out from under the shingles a couple of months ago, and Bryan slid it back under, and we completely forgot about it. Now that we've had the storm, it has fallen completely back out. What would your suggestion be? Should we tuck it back under and staple-gun it? Tuck it back under and nail it? Pull it off? Call a roofer? What would be your suggestion?? Thanks so much for the help!! I know I can always count on you guys for some opinions... ;)



If the pictures are too hard to see, you might try clicking on them to make them bigger. Hopefully that will help!! :)


With that being said, I'll leave you with this little photo I took of Maddy yesterday (sorry she's not smiling, she was still a little under the weather). I like to call this one, "Like Father, Like Daughter". Yep... Maddy flew Elmo's plane yesterday when we went to her friend Charlie's house!! :)



Love you guys!! See you SOON!! :)