Living Desert

Alex was able to take a few days of leave before the Memorial Day weekend so we took advantage of that and went down to Palm Desert and visited the Living Desert. It was pretty hot (mid 90's all day), but we had a lot of fun and Madison did great! We had so much fun spending time together as a family looking at the animals and playing in the kid's discovery center room. Madison really enjoyed seeing all of the animals too. We can't wait to take her to the San Diego Zoo and back to Sea World (now that she's a little older).

Here are just a few of the pictures we took that day.

Water Bug

Pool season has officially begun here on base and we took Madison for the first time this year and she LOVED it! Here's one picture (and I'm sure there will be many more) of her in the pool with Alex...this was taken right after she dunked herself in the water!

Lucky Park

We went to Lucky Park (just off base) a couple of weeks ago! We had never been there! It's a great park! It actually has very nice grass and a lot of fun things to do and Madison had a great time. Sherry and I threw the football around for a little bit, while Kody relaxed in the grass and Alex followed Madison around as she explored. Then we all cheered Madison on as she went on a big slide and explored the play area a little more. At the end of our time at the park, Madison discovered an area that was full of ladybugs and we spent the rest of our time counting them and trying to pick them up! It was a great evening!

Fondue Night

Last night two of our friends, Kody and Sherry, came over for a fondue night. We had a lot of fun. We started out with a cheese fondue and dipped green apples and some of Sherry's homemade bread in it. Then we had a Coq Au Vin Broth to cook pork, chicken, steak, shrimp, veggies, and tortellini in. This part of the night always takes the longest since you have to wait for all of the meats to cook, but we had so much fun just talking and hanging out. Then we finished the dinner with a Dark Chocolate fondue complimented with strawberries, bananas, and Sherry's homemade marshmallows and pound cake. It was quite the tasty evening filled with laughter, good food, good friends, and full bellies. To finish the night off we played some Wii. Alex and Kody went head to head on a few different games. Very fun to watch! Thanks for joining us friends! We hope to do it again very soon!

Ladybugs

Madison has a fascination with going to the park and looking for ladybugs. The other day, while I was at volleyball, Alex took Madison to the park in search of ladybugs and for the first time, Madison put her fingers down so that they could crawl on her. Alex was able to get some great pictures.

Easter

We had a big Easter Feast at our house this year...kind of like what we did for Thanksgiving. We had so much yummy food, it was crazy. We had lamb, pork tenderloin, butternut squash, strawberry spinach salad, zucchini casserole, green bean casserole, Resurrection Rolls, honey ham, apple pie, pecan pie, pineapple upside down cake, and Bellini's. Everything was quite tasty. Alex's parents came out to join us. I was a little busy once everyone got to the house, but I have some pictures from the morning.

Madison Helping Make Three Cheese Lasagna

Madison, as I've mentioned before, has become quite the little helper in the kitchen. Her latest creation was helping me to make homemade three cheese lasagna. She helped me layer everything and she had a blast doing it.

Easter Egg Hunt #2

Madison was able to participate in our communities Easter Egg Hunt this year. It was quite the production. They had at least a thousand eggs out there for the kids. They had a snow cone machine, pickles, popcorn, candy, and raffle drawings. It was great. They sure do take care of us here in our housing community. Madison actually found one of the five golden eggs. She won a $25 VISA gift card, which we spend buying her some cute sunglasses and a shirt. Madison had a wonderful time at this eggs hunt.

This is just one view of only part of the eggs

Dying the Easter Eggs

I know Madison is still a little young, but thought it would be fun to try dying Easter Eggs with her this year. She had a blast! All together we dyed 24 eggs. She didn't quite grasp that the eggs were fragile, but we still succeeded in starting one of our many Easter traditions.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

I had an Easter Egg Hunt at my house for all of the kiddos. We had about 250 eggs and about 15 kids. They each left with a bag full of eggs. When the kids had finished finding the eggs, they had the chance to decorate their own sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles (this was my new neighbor's idea...so cute). It is always such a joy to have a house full of friends and their kiddos. Thank you to all of my friends who indulge my need for feeling like a teacher every once in awhile.

"Mommy, horsey"

Okay, I know it's been forever since I've blogged, so sit back, I have several posts I am planning on posting right now.

The first one that is long over due is a fun birthday party that we went to for my of the guys' on my volleyball. His son was turning three and he threw quite the shindig. There were two bounce houses, a volleyball court, a swing set, bubbles, relay races, and HORSES!!!! Now that's my kind of party, even it was for the kids. At the end, Steve's wife and I got to ride the horses. We had so much fun. BUT, before that Madison got to ride a horse, all by herself and she had a blast!






This picture, as Steve referred to it, is Madison's impersonation of Paris Hilton.