I just realized that it has been almost a month since my last post......wow. Well we were gone for two weeks and I did take all of last week to try to catch up with some things and look for jobs....well here is a quick update and I will do more details and add some pictures soon (I will also be sending out pics soon).
We had a wonderful two weeks on the Tour O Grandparents. Madi, Riley and I had a very uneventful trip up (thankfully) on Sunday and spent the night with my mom. After a great dinner at the Charcoal Pit (one of my favs!) we actually had a short night with Madison sleeping most of the night in my bed. We were able to see where Grammy worked and got a muffin on Monday morning and then headed up to Mom Mom and Pop Pop's for the afternoon. We decided that Madison sleeping in the car does not ususally make for a great wakeup and unfortunately, Pop Pop witnessed a meltdown. But we had a great evening out on the deck. Aunt Kristen came up and we relaxed outside and Uncle Dave stopped in right before Madison went to bed. Some of Kristen's friends stopped by and we realized that it had gotten really late it is was only Monday. Riley loved hanging outside with Haley pretty much the entire time we were in PA. On Tuesday afternoon, Mom Mom, Pop Pop and Aunt Kristen took us to the Brandywine Zoo. We also had a great picnic down by the water before we went in. LOVE CAPRIOTTI'S. We got to see some pretty interesting animals and a big sleepy tiger.
On Wednesday we said a sad goodbye to Mom Mom and Pop Pop and headed over to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had great night out on their beautiful patio by the pond and Uncle David came up to visit too. We settled in very nicely visiting with grandma and grandpa - riley too! Although I am fairly certain the cats were not thrilled we were there. We had wonderful trips to a great park by their house. Riley got to come along as well. Grandma took her for walks. Madison also got to go to a dairy farm to see some cows and baby cows with Grandpa. And there was ice cream! She was in heaven. We had several other wonderful nights on the porch - and I got to do SMORES! YUMMY!
On Saturday, Madison and I headed to Baltimore to pick up Chris from the airport and then we head to Beltsville to go to my Great Uncle's 100th birthday party. Riley stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was so wonderful to see my family - aunts, uncles, cousins and more extended family - some I had not seen in years! We also caught up with the Mahoneys who were up visiting as well. We had a brief stop at my grandmother's after the party and then headed over to Steve and Christiane's for dinner. It was great to finally see their house in Annapolis and spend a little downtime with them, as well as the Mahoneys and Mom Mom and Pop Pop.
We then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a busy couple of days. Uncle David came over on Sunday to spend the day with us again and see Chris. Monday was another trip to the dairy farm (we had to show Chris the cows - and the ice cream!) and then the Ellis' came over to have a BBQ. Madison had a great time with Ainsley and Chesley. I think they must have made 10 or 20 laps around the pond!!
Tuesday we left Grandma and Grandpa's, where we had been for almost a week. I think the only happy ones were the cats - glad to have their house back! We headed on down to Bethany Beach to catch up with Grammy and the Mahoneys again. We also got to spend some time with Ron. The beach house was amazing and so lucky to spend our week there. It was so much more than my mom let on!!! We spent Wednesday at the beach - it was very overcast, almost foggy. This actually turned out good b/c it gave Madison time to get use to the beach without all the heat from the sun. Water is still completely off limits but I am ok with that for now. I just wish she wasn't terrified of it. Thursday was another amazing day at the beach. We headed to a state park that had bathrooms and a snack stand. The sun joined us that day and we had fun playing in the sand. This was another day of realizing Madison really needs to still get naps. Once the meltdown (and it was probably her worst ever) was over, we had a great rest of the evening. Friday the kids, Chris, Steve and Grammy headed to the beach for the ENTIRE day - they had a blast and the kids were great. Natalie and I headed back to PA to attend the funeral of Karen's brother who passed away almost unexpectedly. It was a very rough day but Natalie and I were so glad we could be there to be with our family.
July 4th - we had a great Fourth of July. We got a great place on the beach and enjoyed the boardwalk as well. Grammy joined us for dinner in Rehobeth and while we hadn't planned on it - we stayed for Madison to see the fireworks. She loves them but they were a little loud. Unfortunately, we had a really long trip home sitting in over a hour of traffic to go 2-3 miles.
Sunday was the long drive home. It took about 10 1/2 hours with several stops. We had a fabulous trip but were happy to be home. I know I wasn't going to give all the details in this post but oh well. Hope you enjoyed it! We definitely did!
