Vacation

Well, since I am posting a blog, you can all assume that we survived the trip. Madeleine was an absolute angel. I couldn't even believe how good she did in the car. We drove a total of 4 days, about 8 hours each day. I had planned on Maddie sleeping most of the trip, but she only slept about 1 hour each day. When she did start to break down after riding for a long time, we just broke out the dvd player. She really thought it was great to hold the t.v. in her lap.

Here she is in a Blue's Clues trance. Broo, broo, broo!

On the way down, we drove until we got to Atlanta, where we spent the next morning at the aquarium, Olympic Park, and 'The Body' exhibit. The aquarium was the best place to take Maddie, and the adults seemed to enjoy it, too. I would go back in a heartbeat and recommend it to anyone who is in the Atlanta area.Steve loved the whale shark. I liked the manta rays. Maddie loved everything! She ran from tank to tank, bending down in her shortstop stance (which means she is excited or investigating). She shrieked and giggled and I think we all enjoyed watching her having fun. To burn off some of that energy we crossed the street to the Olympic Park where Maddie played on the swings and watched the other kids. We walked down to see the fountain, but they had it completely drained. It sounded like they were in the middle of a drought and were trying to conserve water where they could. After lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, we decided to visit 'The Body' exhibit. For those of you who haven't heard about it, this is a presentation of all the body systems using real bodies and body parts. Cameras aren't allowed in the exhibit, so we don't have any pictures, but it was very interesting. I think Nurse Sarah really liked it. I was most proud that Steve didn't pass out and Maddie didn't knock over a body!

Notice the African penguin behind my head?

If you look carefully, you can see Maddie's gleeful face reflected in the glass. She had just given the piranha a kiss. I was just too slow to capture it.

Cool...jellyfish.

Apparently, Hard Rock Cafe was a little too loud for Maddie. She has never put her fingers in her ears before, nor has she done it again.

From Atlanta we drove straight down to Melbourne Shores. We spent the rest of our week there enjoying the sand, sun, and water. We spent the first two days at the beach near Alice and Brian's house. On Sunday, Alice and Brian's friend, Ski, took us snorkeling at a different nearby beach. Everyone, minus me, snorkeled a bit. They saw little sharks, a ray, and some sea cucumbers. On the way back to shore, Derek discovered a skate with his foot. It was hilarious once we realized he wasn't injured, because he had been obsessed all week with being killed by a ray (like the Crocodile Hunter). He was not killed, but I think he was a little leery the rest of the day. Steve tried to take me out snorkeling later, but my claustrophobia took over and I couldn't make. I know, I'm a loser. On Monday, we took Maddie to the Sebastian Inlet Tidal Pools. She had enjoyed the beach, but seemed a little scared by the waves, even though the water had been extremely calm for the area. Since there were no waves and the tide was out, making the water shallow, Maddie had a blast. She saw the other kids digging around in the mud, so she had to get her shovel and pail, too. A little boy worked really hard to catch a blue crab. As soon as he sat the bucket down, Maddie proceeded to throw two giant rocks right on top of the crab. Luckily the crab survived and we convinced Maddie to throw rocks in her own bucket for the rest of the morning! The boys bought some scary looking shrimp and attempted some more fishing off the dock, and then back to the beach. Maddie had built up her confidence with the calm tide pools, so she took off charging into the ocean, which had gotten a lot rougher than her other trips. Around the third wave, a giant one came in and knocked her on her face. She was a little in shock, but I think the adults were more freaked out that our one, and only, pacifier was washing in and out with the waves. Luckily, we caught it and placed it safely on shore. While Steve, Sarah, and Derek tried their luck skim boarding (which resulted in some hilarious wipeouts), I thought I would try Maddie in her life jacket on the waves. Bad idea. I have to admit that the waves terrify me. I obviously did not grow up with the ocean as my swimming comfort zone. Anyway, we did fine at first and then a humongous (okay, I might be exaggerating) wave headed for us. I knew I couldn't jump up and ride it, so I grabbed Maddie by the armpit and held her up. The wave totally busted us both in the face. It scared us both. After several waves got us in the face while siting on the shore, Steve tried her again. Again, another giant wave headed for them. He didn't have time to get her up, so he just held on tight. Poor girl. At that point, her eyes were burning and she was DONE! No more waves! On Tuesday, some of us were a little burned, so we took the day off and went to Cocoa Beach. We visited Ron Jon's Surf Shop and ate at the pier. Steve and I took Maddie back to the tidal pool that afternoon, where she had a great time....eating mud. We could not keep her from taking handfuls and shoving them in her mouth. Gross! Alice and Brian prepared us a delicious seafood meal on our last night. Boy, the crab cakes were awesome! (That is for Derek.) Wednesday was our last day. Steve, Mads, and I went back to the beach for about an hour before heading back to the house to pack up. The ride home seemed like one of the longest ever, but I guess the ride home is never has fun as the ride there.

The closest we got to getting everyone looking the same way at the same time.

Maddie's first kayak experience. She was just waking up, because it lulled her to sleep.

A nap on the beach....life doesn't get better than this.

In the water on a calm day. One of her shoes cut her foot early on in the trip and we think the salt water wasn't feeling too great.

Sarah and Derek making a shell design. (She will probably kill me for taking this picture and most definitely for posting it, but in 10 years she will want to have used it as her Christmas card. Trust me on this, Sarah!)

We had a great time getting to see Alice and Brian. Another of Steve's aunts, Ruthie and her husband Chris, were able to come over from Orlando for the weekend, which was a nice surprise. We hope they enjoyed getting to see Maddie. Brian hadn't seen her in over a year; everyone else saw her in October. She has changed so much in the last week, that she must have seemed like a different kid after a year.

As for Maddie, she is growing up in fast forward. She has started repeating words that we tell her, and making sounds. They don't really sound like the right word or sound, but she is trying to figure some things out. She is very clearly saying 'more'. She knows what she wants and she makes sure we do, too. Today she was shouting and signing 'more' at breakfast. I kept getting things out of the cabinet and she would say 'no, no, no' until I got out her dried fruit, to which she giggled with glee. Last night, she figured out how to open our back door, which means we have to keep it locked at all times. In our vacation pictures you will see lots of pacifier, but I am officially trying to break her from it starting yesterday. Pray for us!

Maddie had been wearing the cutest little sundress from Grandma Fox. She stripped it in one swoop and then started trying to lose the diaper. Note to self: No dresses at daycare or they might kick us out!