san diego-kansas city-home

the rest of our time in california was spent in the laguna beach area for a wedding (julie and joe's). madelyn got to go 'swimming' in a big pool for the first time at the hotel there friday afternoon before we went to dinner (where she enjoyed the flowers outside again). i took some video of her splashing on the steps but none of her actually 'swimming' - matt and i were both needed for her to go back and forth. she is so fearless! another lady at the pool was commenting on madelyn's bravery ("go girl" was the repeated phrase) and was surprised to hear that it was her first time in a big pool. madelyn was even kicking her legs and arms a little when matt and i would send her surfing on her belly back and forth between us - with a huge smile the whole time. she really liked that she could hold the railing on the pool steps to step into the pool. that was something new she did on this trip - walked down a flight of steps. she had started walking up steps (not crawling) about a week before we left, but refused to walk down more than 4 steps so this was huge! (particularly since we have stairs in the house.)



the wedding was lovely and the church was just what you would expect a beach side catholic church to be - very calming. (that is the ocean behind us in the picture.) we were lucky enough to be able to sit next to double doors that were opened to a little courtyard with a fountain. this came in very handy for a couple of reasons - one, there was a great ocean breeze since the church was not air conditioned. two, we could make a quick exit when maddie got too squirmy or chatty. and three, the water fountain made for great white noise to make maddie less disruptive to the ceremony.


madelyn really enjoyed watching malikai (sp?), aubry, and keturah at the reception and really took a liking to keturah. once the dance floor cleared for the cake cutting in the other room, maddie and keturah made their moves on the dance floor. maddie got her knees bouncing and roamed around on the dance floor. keturah was really good and twirling and that got maddie even more excited about dancing with her. it was too dark to get any video - i tried. they were so cute and both laughing.

we were so spoiled by the thought and effort liz and julie put into making maddie content during the reception! they had a 'goodie bag' for her at the table (and for the other children in attendance) that was personalized especially for her. her goodie bag had a stuffed dog, which she kissed repeatedly upon receiving it, a doggie book and a good night california book, and assorted snacks. these items were very useful for everyone at our table to have an enjoyable meal with a very content little girl. in fact, madelyn did outstanding that night! it must have been all the excitement and having other children to entertain her didn't hurt either because it was well after 10pm when we called it a night! and we left more because we had to get an early start back to san diego for our flights than that maddie was fading.

amazingly maddie was all smiles the next morning too with the monkey her uncle derek got her at the zoo. after a long ride back to san diego, we said goodbye to uncle derek and boarded our plane with papa and nana on our way to kansas city. thank goodness for laptops and dvds is all i can say about that flight! madelyn was starting to get cranky before getting on the plane and waiting for take off was torture. i think that is the worst part of flying - waiting on the hot plane for take off. matt and i have concluded that pre-boarding is not really an advantage when traveling with a lap child. once we got above 10,000 feet we got the movie going and after watching for an hour maddie fell asleep for about an hour - that was the only nap she had all day. she didn't even get to bed until around 10pm.

we just love how excited maddie gets to be back home after a trip. she must have pulled out every toy in the house just to say "hi" - literally. it is just so sweet. it is going to take a few days to get her back on central time but it was nice to take this trip and see everyone out in california. i know that madelyn enjoyed seeing her papa, nana, and uncle derek again too.

we start construction on our basement this week and since our personal computer is in the basement, i don't know how frequently i will be posting over the next month. (i say this, but with her doing new things everyday i don't know if i will be able to stay away other than from sheer exhaustion from my work project this month.)

just one more note and video. madelyn now really says "hi" - not in a soft, baby voice, but in a real speaking voice. that is the best way to explain the change. it is totally different from how she said it before even though it was clear that she was saying "hi" before too. she did it for the first time at our first hotel in california while playing with the phone. i didn't really get it video of her best "hi"s, but you should get the idea. love.