Father's Day & Old Traditions

Chris had a great second Father’s Day this year! We BBQ’d some yummy ribs at our house and all the kiddos played while we watched and laughed. We also introduced an old tradition by giving the kids paint brushes and a bucket of water to “paint” the wall in the backyard. Probably from the time I was two, my grandpa would let me “paint” the wall in his backyard. My brothers and I would spend hours with paint brushes, rollers, and squirt bottles just “painting”. As we got older, we would stand in front of the wall and get hosed down to leave our silhouettes on the wall. It was great to watch our little ones continuing the tradition. Madeline has “painted” every day since Sunday…

Our "Mini-Vacation" in Palm Springs

We have had some horrible June gloom here in “sunny” Southern California. So, Chris and I decided to take Madeline to Palm Springs for a mini-vacation and some fun in the sun! We stayed at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa which has its very own “Splashtopia” consisting of waterslides, a lazy river, splash park, sandy beach, and wading pool for little kids. Madeline had a ball! She loved the splash park and floating in the lazy river with mommy and daddy. She played for hours at the sandy beach, while mommy and daddy relaxed and enjoyed a couple cold beers. She felt like such a big girl “swimming” in the wading pool. After several hours of water park fun, we walked across the street to “The River” and had dinner at The Yardhouse. Madeline had her very own kid’s pizza (she ate ¾ of it) and ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s for dessert. It was her first time staying in a hotel since she was just a couple months old, so we were a little worried she would not sleep well, but she fell asleep at 8:30 as usual and slept ALL NIGHT LONG! It was an amazing mini-vacation!

The kid LOVES to eat...

Lasagna...

Muffin...

Apple...

Cupcake...

Cookie...

Lasagna (again, it's her FAVE!)...

Orange...

Yep, caught red handed...what is that, an ice cream cone?

She does love to share though...maybe that's how she can eat non-stop and still squeeze into this teeny-weenie bikini!

We'd love her even if she ate us out of house and home...

Meeting Baby Parker

Madeline got to meet her new baby cousin, Parker, today! He was born this morning (just one day before Mommy's b-day)! He weighed 8 lbs 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. Madeline was soooooo excited to meet him. She even says his name...it's pretty cute. She was surprisingly gentle with him (as gentle as a 14 month old can be expected to be) and we can tell she just loves him to pieces. She will be such a great big sister!