And now, a little break from vacation posts...

Ok, sort of. Technically, events of this post did not occur during our official vacation. But it has vacation-esque elements...namely beach, sand, swimming, boardwalk. Yes, this past weekend we decided that we didn't have enough of the beach and headed down to Ocean City, MD! Ron had some work to do so Maddie and I tagged along and enjoyed the beautiful Hilton Suites! (Thank you Betsy!)

The weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate with my plans to sun and swim but we still found some fun things to do. Saturday we spent a good portion of the day shopping at the outlets for new clothes for Maddie. She started out enthusiastic but after the 4th store she was more interested in seeing how many times Mommy could say "Maddie, stay here with Mommy". Nonetheless, we did get some new jeans, several dresses and socks...MY GOSH, did she need socks. I had been smooshing her little tootsies into socks made for 18 month olds when all of her other socks were dirty (shall we say that I dislike laundry?) The biggest score to Maddie's mind was that she got a purse. A pink purse. A pink purse shaped like a heart if you can imagine. For the rest of the weekend, it was in her hand...

After we had our fill of doing our part for the economy, we grabbed some lunch, Maddie took a nap and then off we went to swim in the pool which was wonderful. Ron was vexed by the computer issue he was dealing with so he called it a night in time for us all to hit the boardwalk for some so-not-good-for-you-but-tastes-great burger and fries and then to Trimpers for kiddie rides that kept Maddie entertained for 2 hours past her bedtime...(Yes, yes, I know...feel free to judge me!)

Sunday's weather turned out to be a mixed bag of fog, sun, humidity, cloudy and rain...we ran the gambit. Ron dove right back in to the computer problem that plagued him from the day before and after some coloring at Miss Betsy's, we headed to the boardwalk for a walk (yes, still with her pink purse). We walked a good portion of the boardwalk looking at the shops, checking out the waves crashing on the beach. We made it down to the inlet, but Trimpers was still closed (and Maddie was fading from all of the walking) so we decided to take a ride on the tram up and down the boardwalk and then spent some time playing dress up. I hope you like the results...

Here is Maddie at the Beach with her "old time" bathing suit and floppy hat holding a starfish, very beach/vacation appropriate. And....

Maddie as a 1920's Flapper! Yes, that is a bottle of Jack and a shot glass in her hand. She had a blast with all of the costumes and the different sets and accessories if you could not already tell by the HUGE smile on her face in both pictures....she wanted to keep wearing this dress after we were all done with the photos and wear it out on the boardwalk. She liked how all the tassels shaked when she shimmied *grin*

After we were all done with the photos, walking the boards, and Ron finally threw in the towel (or was it waved the surrender flag?) we headed back to Trimpers for some more kiddie rides before we grabbed an early dinner and commenced our drive back to Delaware.

All in all...a good weekend!

High Hook

For quite some time, Maddie has been talking about going fishing and having PopPop and Daddy teach her how to do it. Well, during our vacation trip, her wish was granted. Not only did she catch fish on a fishing pole but we also crabbed until we had caught enough for dinner as well. This is a picture of one of our tasty blue crab morsels we caught that day on Barnegat Bay. We had a multi-prong approach to crabbing....We set two pots when we first got out into the Bay. Maddie's job was to toss out the buoy marker, which she did like a pro.


We also crabbed the way we used to while I was growing up. Piecies of fish tied to a sinker along a string, and every so often slowly pull the line in and see if there is a crab nibbling on it...then the real skill comes into play. You have to then net it before it realizes that it's about to be caught because it's too busy eating up the bait. Oh yes, I have many memories from crabbing this way off of the boat when I was young. Including Kristy falling into the bay from our perch on the bow of the boat and then freaking out because there were crabs in the water! Ok, so maybe you had to be there to truly appreciate watching your sister flail in water that was maybe 3 feet deep because she had just lost a crab off her line and then leaned over too far *giggle* In any case, Maddie picked this method up pretty easy and soon became the "good luck charm" of the boat. We would send her around from line to line to help pull it in since she was the only one catching crab on her line. In the end it was not our best crabbing day on the bay, but we did catch enough to nicely compliment our steak dinner cooked on the grill making it a surf and turf night down the shore.


Poor MomMom decided that even though we were crabbing, the fish on the bottom didn't get that memo. She spent a good portion of the day watching her bait disappear and her line move thanks to a couple of fish. Well, PopPop came to the rescue, dropped a fishing line in the water near her bait and hooked a couple of things that he had Maddie reel in. The first was a small sandshark (aka dogfish) and then an oystercracker. Maddie loved it and hence her title of the day....High Hook.

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf...

Just imagine a little 3 yr old girl, (perhaps even the one pictured above) with her little tiny little girl voice singing over and over "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, Big Bad Wolf, Big Bad Wolf..." and you will have an idea as to how big a hit Storybook Land was while we were on vacation. (Katy - this post and pictures are for you!)

One day last week, while we were on vacation, the weather was just a bit breezy shall we say...Ok it was chilly (one of the perks of September vacations), so going to the beach was not really an option unless you wanted to be cold and sand blasted. So, instead we decided to head on down to a place that my parents had taken me when I was a kid (Yup, me too Katy!) Storybook Land! It's a cute premise, fairy tale themed park with everything from Goldilocks and the 3 Bears to Jack & Jill, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater and the 3 Little Pigs, just to name a few. Now, Disney animitronics it is not, but it facinated Maddie.


Well, that PLUS there being a bunch of different rides that were just her size. I think there were maybe 3 rides in the whole place where Ron or I had to go on with her...all the rest were specifically her size! She rode a roller coaster all by herself, a flying elephant, dragon, monster truck, teacups, Train ride around the Park, etc, etc, etc.... You can see how shaded, uncrowded, and pleasant a place it is here in this photo. We really enjoyed it - pretty good place for a young child.

One thing I loved about this park, is that it is entirely wooded, so there is shade trees EVERYWHERE, and where there isn't there are these HUGE umbrellas to provide shade. In the picture above, I'm not sure if you can see it, but it is a Watering Can House with real water sprinkling out into the pool of water....

Here is Daddy and Maddie strolling along the shaded path past lots of pretty flowers and since it's Sept, they were decorating with corn stalks, scarecrows, pumpkins, mums and having special hayrides too! Oh yes, Storybook Land is open almost year round... Apparently they have special holiday events there too including Mr & Mrs Santa in their Workshop.

Now, we were there in the off season, so of course they closed early (3pm) so we decided that we'd then drive in to Atlantic City and stroll the boardwalk for a bit before heading back to LBI. After a bit of driving around (as neither Ron nor I had ever strolled the Atlantic City boardwalk before) we picked a casino to park at and headed on in. We went through the casino [note, a 3 yr old is not allowed to dawdle (that is a word, isn't it?) on a casino floor. They CAN pass through, but there is to be no dawdling.]


We successfully made it out onto the boardwalk where we could promptly see nothing much *laugh* We did decide to grab some dinner at the Rainforest Cafe which amused Maddie even more with the pretend thunder & lightning storm, elephants, gorillas and aquariums full of colorful fish to watch while we ate. Here is one of those rare photos that includes Mommy & Maddie at the Cafe. I'd give it good marks for atmosphere and so-so marks for the food.

Now, here is the best part... We spend the majority of the day in a place with kid focused rides, stories, went to dinner where there were fish swimming next to our table and a Mommy and baby elephant trumpeting and moving near us every 15 mintues, lots of good kiddie stuff right? Well, after dinner we headed back to the car, got in and as we were starting our drive back to the house, we asked Maddie what her favorite thing was that we did during the day. She had been singing the "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" the entire day, so that is what I had expected to hear.

So, what was the best part you wonder to the mind of a 3 yr old? It was the escalators at the Casino. That's right...the ones we took to get the parking to the boardwalk and back again.

On the bright side, I doubled our $ (a whopping $10) in the slot machines! Oh, and that brings me to another note...times have changed in AC. No longer can you go up to a machine and drop a couple of quarters in, poor Ron had some change and wanted to try his luck (hence the dawdling that I mentioned earlier) but there were no machines that took change, only bills or special cards. Yes, it has been a LONG time since we've been to AC.


A parting shot until next time where I recount another story from vacation...

Down the Shore in September...

It's the perfect time of year to be down the shore. The water is warm, the days not too hot, humidity is low, light breezes blowing through the windows...yes, we've just returned from our LBI vacation.

I'm already depressed!

Can I tell you how much I would love to retire right now and spend all of my days playing with Maddie on the beach, or taking a walk to the playground, riding our bikes around the island (thankfully it's a very flat island, I can bike alot farther that way!). Don't worry about me though. I always get this way when I come back from the shore. I have a hard time describing to people what it's like to be down there. There are sooooo many good memories I have and they all flood back every time I'm there.

We had originally planned on spending two weeks down the shore for vacation. But, unfortunately due to that silly thing called work schedules, things changed and we were there for a week. It was a very good week though! I'm downloading the photos I took and there are over 225 pictures! All of you that are still on dial up need not fear, I am not going to post them all here. It's also late so I'm not going to be able to detail vacation in its entirety tonight but here are some highlights & I'll write about the funny stories later this week.

• Maddie as "High Hook"
  
• Beach fun with cousins Gulian & Gavin
• Boat rides with Captain PopPop
• Storybook Land, Atlantic City and Escalators
• Swimming "out far" in the Ocean
• One word: Skeeball
• Kite Flying (5 mph winds...really!)
  
• Spending time with MomMom & PopPop

The simple things...

Yes, it is the little, simple things in life that I'm thankful for... A younger version of me would not have ever thought that the highlight of a Saturday night would be PJs, popcorn and an animated movie about a Lion, Zebra, Hippo and Giraffe. But, that is what we did Saturday night, and Maddie has been asking every night since if we could have movie night again, so I guess it was a hit. Saturday was rainy and miserable thanks to the hurricane, so we just spent the day inside at home - I'm glad we were able to have some fun too!

Here is a random photo of Maddie playing at the playground climbing up the rope mountain. Fun times I tell you! She weaves her way in and out and around while I'm at the bottom circling trying to figure out how far away I can be to still get there in time if she slips and falls on her head upsidedown with a foot caught dangling in a rope. Uhm...I am a tad protective. I'm working on it =)

Our Labor Day weekend was a busy one, we definitely do not have a very good carbon footprint. We were in Maryland visiting Nana and then decided last minute to drive up to Pennsylvania to the Renaissance Faire for Children's weekend and got in a bonus of visiting with Auntie Amy and Lily! The Faire was ok. I do have to admit that I enjoy the Maryland one more although I do like that the PA one is on a winery and there is alot of wine to taste! Yum! But it was great visiting with Auntie Amy and Lily. Happily my cell phone held its battery long enough for us to find each other! We saw a show, wandered about and then grabbed dinner before we had to trek back to be ready for work and school the next day.


Auntie Amy and Lily watching the crazy jugglers and fire eaters!

If there is face painting to be had...Maddie is there! She got to pick what she wanted on her face. Was it another butterfly? Did she finally get to be Spiderman? (Hold on - remember this is a Renfaire! No Spidermen!)

She chose hearts on one cheek and a mermaid on the other...This is what you get when you tell Maddie that you want to take a picture. She "poses" for you. Heh...

One of the things they had for Children's Weekend was a Birthday party for the Queen. They staged a surprise party and then the Queen gave all the kids a cupcake and posed for a picture with them. Maddie went up to her and wished her a Happy Birthday and then decided to get shy =)

The weather for Labor Day weekend could not have been better though! It was perfect beach weather! Speaking of the shore...My two week vacation down the shore is now cut in half! Gasp! The horror, I know! Ron's work has a crazy system of scheduling and things worked out at the last minute that we couldn't take our planned two weeks. I'm just grateful that we'll get one. Our time of being able to take time off in September is dwindling quickly! It's already tough that Maddie started Gymnastics class and will be missing it while we're away. By the way, she LOVES the class. I'll have to take a picture of her in her leotard - adorable - if I do say so myself.

Here is a picture from earlier this summer at Nana's house. Yes, it's an actual photo of Mommy and Maddie together. We were swinging on the hammock. Nana snapped it with her trusty new digital camera - so here is proof yet again that I do exist!

Things I love - first installment

I love the bedtime routine that we have with Maddie. It involves getting PJs on, reading a book, making a Monster with Daddy on the computer, then it's hugs and kisses and we're off to tuck her in bed. THEN we have to sing Lullaby and she recites Wee Willy Winkie. THEN she gives instructions to the person tucking her in. It usually involves tickling the other parent anywhere from 2-7 times, then flop on them 4-7 times, then tickle them again 7 times and then tickle them 2 times, etc, etc. I swear, the instructions could go on for a minute solid if you didn't redirect her! THEN you say night night and go and "tickle and flop" on the "unsuspecting" parent who exclaims loudly and all you hear from the other room is giggles...oh yes, the puppet master is at work here!

I love how Maddie's mind works. She is potty trained fully during the day and nap time, but isn't completely trained for nightime. So she wears pullups to bed at night (some nights they are dry in the AM but not many - blame us for eating dinner so late!) The other morning she had taken them off and turned them upside down and started to shake it. I asked her what was she doing and all she wanted to know was why the pee didn't come back out. Ok, so I'm a sucker and all the rest of you reading this are grossed out. I'm telling you when it's your kid you'll think it's funny too =)

I love the stories that Maddie tells. She has another house where her horsey lives. Well, her horsey and her brother live. Oh, and the horsey's name is Strawberry Shortcake. Apparently her horsey lets her do alot at his house. Dancing, singing & "stuff"...

I love watching Daddy try to keep a straight face while Maddie says things out of the blue like "I'm freaking out Daddy" or "Look! Elvis!".

More to come later....