Activity Weekend

Christmas started on Thursday this week!  A local shopping center had Santa and Christmas activities.  There was a fantastic picture of us with Santa but I can't share for it will spoil the Christmas surprise!  Madison wanted to take her chance at a snow slide.  This is the first time she had ever gone down a slide covered in ice.  She was a little scared BUT she was eager to do it again!

Look at the face of fear!

Jeff was a traitor on Saturday.  Lowes had their equivalent of the Home Depot's Kids Workshop.  They built a Santa and sleigh...gosh!  Lots of Christmas this weekend!!!

After the workshop, Jeff and I dropped off Madison for a playdate with Emma.  She had a really nice time at the park and going to the library to pick up a few books.  

You would think she had enough "playdate" time for the day but she wanted to spend time time with Allie.  We really put the couch to the test as the girls took a few minutes to have a jumping contest.  These are the pictures of the girls having such a great time.

Sunday was more time with Allie while mom and dad spent the day cleaning the yard of the leaves!!!  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is Thursday!  Hope everybody is ready...I'm not!

Love to all!!

And the trip continues...

Tuesday Nana and Papa took us to the Tellus Science Museum.  This is the very first thing that Madison saw when we pulled up and her eyes got about as big as the tires on this boulder moving machine! 

Moving inside, there was so much to look at.  She LOVED the planetarium show that featured Elmo and Big Bird teaching her about the moon, Jupiter, and the North Star.  That evening we checked out the sky and she looked for Big Bird and Elmo!

Checking out the exhibits Madison found what she really wanted to do...play in water and dig in the sand!  She played with the fossil exhibit for a bit then went on to pan for gems.  The sand was messy but the panning for gems was a little wet!

Panning for gems

And then there was the drying off

Finding the fossils

Our visit with Nana and Papa came to a close on Wed morning.  Instead of making the trip back to Raleigh in one day, we broke it up by stopping near Asheville, NC to visit with Uncle David and Carson.  We took the scenic route on our way and stopped at a beautiful waterfall, however, Madison was sick of having her picture taken and I had to assist her in taking just one more picture.

Wearing Carson's shoes, hat and glasses

It was a very quick visit and can't wait to get back up there to see more of where they live.  Thursday morning we took an hour or so to do a quick hike to find a letterbox.  The first one was a no show but the second one, with a little guidance, she was able to find it.

And the fun continued once we got home.  Emma couldn't wait to see Madison, so I invited her over to play with Madison for the afternoon.  Allie came over too!

Back to work and school on Monday...one more week of work and the another short week around the corner!!!

Anna and Vince's Wedding Weekend

I missed a week since we have been on the road and now that we are back it's time to get all the pictures posted.  Last  Friday we made our way down to Canton Georgia to stay with Nana and Papa for a few days.  There was a wedding on Saturday and Madison was looking forward to seeing the "princess"!  It was a very early morning for us on Friday, getting on the road by 5am to put us in Atlanta early in the afternoon.  There was plenty of time to play outside and get out all the energy from being cooped up all morning!

Playing at Nana's

Saturday was the day Madison has been waiting for all week.  It was finally time to see the princess.  This was her first wedding and she did really well sitting during the service and being such a quiet little girl.  At the reception she and her cousin Carson wrote well wishes for the couple.

Madison and Carson writing well wishes.

Vince and Anna

No pictures were taken in the church, so this is the real first picture we had of the couple.  This is at the reception after all their pictures had been taken, now it was time to eat.  Speaking of eating, it wasn't until after Madison had something to eat that she finally came to life.  She and I did a bit of dancing and then after she warmed up, she spent some time playing with her cousin, Grace.

Madison and Grace playing

The clean up had begun, but the DJ kept on playing.  I put in a request for Madison's favorite song, The Macarana. Here she is putting a hurt on that song!

Sunday was a day of "rest" and time to have some quiet family time and really getting to visit.  Oh...and Vince and Anna got to open some presents!

We had a wonderful weekend visiting with family we knew and getting to meet family we had heard so much about.  With a week of vacation left, we still had so much more to do.

CONGRATULATIONS ANNA AND VINCE!!!