Madi and Eric

Madi's cousin Eric has been staying here for the past 4 days, and Madi has been in absolute heaven!! They are a little less than 3 years apart and get along GREAT!! It's been super nice for Madi (and mama) to have someone to keep her entertained. Hanging out with mom 24/7 can get a little boring! I've loved watching the two of them interact! It's been super cute listening to them play and talk back and forth with each other.

They've enjoyed playing blocks...



reading stories....



eating snacks (Mmmmm...frozen peas)....



Racing cars....


and everything else in between!



Madi made sure that Eric shared, and Eric made sure to let Madi know that it's NOT ok to take other people's toys. When Madi got hurt or cried, Eric was there to comfort her and tell her, "It's ok baby Madilyn, it's ok!" They had fun sharing a bedroom for 4 nights!! We learned our lesson the hard way -NOT to put them to bed at the same time. Madi thought that was WAY TOO FUN!!

We were sad to see Eric go home today. Madi is looking forward to playing with her cousins again soon. Thanks for the fun week Eric- we love you!!

Noah's Ark

This afternoon Madi and I joined 6 other moms and 6 other kids for some fun aboard Noah's Ark at the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles. We had such a great time!! This ark was seriously AMAZING!!! Kids are able to play and climb all over this gigantic wooden ark, filled with handcrafted animals.


Madi had fun playing aboard a miniature ark with small toy animals.


She adored all the stuffed animals (2 of each kind of course)! Her favorite was the wolf! It took a lot of coaxing to get her to let go of her new friend and move onto a different area.


She loved meeting turtle.....


After seeing that he was nice, she went ahead and got a little more comfortable!



Madi taking it all in!


We also enjoyed a dramatic story telling, told with the help of drums and shakers. Madi had fun making rain and thunder!!

It was a wonderful afternoon! Madi was happy to have some seriously FUN play time, while I was happy to watch, take pictures, and most especially- hang out with other moms!!


Thanks again Candace for putting this together and inviting us!! We can't wait to go again!

11 Months

Madi is 11 months old today! It's been fun watching her "grow up" this past month! This has definitely been her most active month yet! As I mentioned in a post awhile ago, Madi has been crawling since the beginning of the month as well as pulling herself up to standing. She is also able to stand by herself for about 5 seconds before plopping to the ground. Since learning these new skills, she always seems to be on the move. The scary thing is that they only get faster! After spending some time with Madi's "older" friends, I realize that it only gets MORE tiring!


Aside from her new found ability to move, my other favorite thing about this past month is Madi's increased communication skills. She is quite the chatterbox! It's been fun to chat back and forth with her, like we're actually having a conversation! My most favorite thing though is just listening to her talk to herself and to her toys as she plays. I've gotten a few of these conversations on video, but they are STILL not uploading! Though it's fun to hear her babbling away, I get excited for when I can actually understand what she's saying. It's those times when she fussing that I sit there, begging her to tell me what it is that she wants!


Here's a few more pictures of some of the fun that Madi is having now that she's 11 months old!!! What a BIG GIRL!!

Memorial Day Weekend

The day after we arrived in California, the rest of the Jenkins family took off for a weekend in Utah. Since Spencer had to start work right away, we had to be the party poopers and not join the family for our newest nephew's baby blessing. So, we had a pretty lonely, but relaxing first weekend here. The Stolworthy family came over for a BBQ on Saturday afternoon. Madi had a great time hanging out with Milana who's 3 months older. They had fun trying on all the pretty necklaces.



Milana tried encouraging Madi to start walking. She was a little bored playing with this "baby" who couldn't move as fast.



Our afternoon with Kirk, Valerie, and Milana was definitely the highlight of our weekend. The rest of the weekend consisted of watching movies, playing outside in the sun, going shopping (Petco is always a hit with Madi), and out to eat.



Even though it was a pretty uneventful weekend for Spencer and I, Madi was completely content with all the simple things. She was thrilled to just hang out here at the house and play with Truly and Lincoln. Yes, dogs are her new favorite obsession!!

DC to LA

After 2 crazy days of packing and cleaning, we were finally ready to say goodbye to our home in Maryland (temporarily) and board our flight to LA. We got to the airport at 6:30 am (thanks again Melissa for getting up and taking us bright and early!) and flew out at 8 am. I was a little nervous about flying with Madi for 6 hours without a bed for her to nap in. She is NOT a cuddler and typically freaks out on us when she gets tired. So you can imagine my surprise when about an hour into the flight I buckled her on my lap, put pillows around her, and with her blanket close to her face, she closed her eyes and went to sleep!! We were SUPER EXCITED, but even more THRILLED when she ended up sleeping for 2 HOURS straight!!! WAY TO GO Madi!! I don't think I've ever sat so still- for fear of her waking up, but it was SO worth it! With the remaining 2 hours we were able to keep her entertained with snacks, books, pressing buttons on the TV screen, and waving at people walking to and from the bathrooms. Overall, it was a great flight!


We were excited to get to Camarillo and relax. As soon as we got to Spencer's parent's house I had to head outside and enjoy the beautiful weather! Madi, Daddy, and Truly were also happy with the gorgeous day!!



Madi's cousin, Kaitlyn, was also here visiting. Madi LOVED having Kaitlyn here to play with!

On the Move

So, I got in trouble for not mentioning that Madi is now officially crawling (yes, this post is for you Melissa)! She started off slow at the first of the month and is now quite the pro. She gets wherever she wants to go, but mostly just likes to follow me around. It's fun to watch her move, but with packing and cleaning all day on Monday and Tuesday I couldn't help but wish she'd just stay in one spot! We were having car issues that Spencer was off dealing with. So it was just Madi and I at home, trying to get things done. Here's a video to show how fast Madi now moves. I have 3 or 4 other videos that aren't uploading right now, so I will have to post the other videos on here later!

7 States in 7 Days

Monday morning, May 12th, Spencer, Madi and I set out for a week long trip up the East coast. We'd been looking forward to our family vacation for a while and we had such a blast!! Here are the highlights:

DAY 1: DC to New York City

On Monday afternoon, after a short 4 hour drive that took us through Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, we arrived in New York City!! We checked into a Marriott just outside the city and after a quick jump into the hot tub, we went out for some site seeing. We got as far as the Newport harbor to take a few quick pics of the Manhattan skyline and then nearly froze to death from the cold wind blowing off the water. Since it was already Madi's bedtime, we decided to head indoors and save the sightseeing for Tuesday with hopes that we would have some sunshine.



After Madi and I got settled in at the hotel, Spencer went into the city to meet up with his good friend Brian Swiss. He forgot to take along the camera though, so no pictures of their fun evening together, but we have to give Brian a shout out for taking Spencer out to dinner at Porcao Churrascaria. Spencer ate a lot of meat and slept well that night!!

DAY 2: New York City to Boston

We woke up early Tuesday morning and headed into the city to squeeze in some site seeing before we headed up to Boston. We had just enough time to see the WTC site, Trinity Church, and Wall Street before we had to head back to the hotel to check-out and get on the road.





After a quick 4 hour drive through New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, we arrived in Boston to see our friends, the Harpers, who live right on Harvard Business School's campus. Since it was Tuesday night (American Idol night) we couldn't go out on the town, so the Harpers ordered in some really good Thai food (actually Scott got carried away and ordered the entire menu!). I'm sure many of you are now thinking: "Anie...Thai food??! No...." I'll admit that I was very apprehensive, but I must admit it was pretty good stuff! I'm coming along from my strictly peanut butter and jelly diet when I was a kid!

DAY 3: Boston and Cohasset

We got up early Wednesday morning so Spencer could attend a class at Harvard Business School with Scott. After class, Spencer, Heather, the girls and I set out for some exploring of the Harvard campus-it is SO beautiful! Madi and Reina (who is about 2 months older than Madi) hit it off right away after not seeing each other for 5 months!!



Heather and I had a great time hanging out as well!! It was a beautiful morning, perfect for walking and taking pictures!






Later Wednesday afternoon, Spencer, Madi and I headed out to Cohasset (about 45 minutes south of Boston along the coast) where Spencer's mom grew up.



This is the house that Spencer's mom grew up in (built by his grandfather Ralph Keegan)!!



The highlight of the day trip was visiting with Spencer's great uncle and aunt, Eddie and Elinor. We had a delicious lunch at their place, learned a lot of neat family genealogy, and then Spencer drove while they gave us a tour of Cohasset, including all the family sites! It was lots of fun!!



DAY 4: BOSTON

After a late start due to sleepy girls, we got going around noon. We met up with Scott for lunch at the business school's "cafeteria" (this is Harvard we're talking about, so its not your ordinary cafeteria!) and then took "the T" (the subway) to downtown Boston where we visited Boston Common, Beacon Hill, the public gardens, and then did some shopping at H&M. Madi especially loved all the ducks around Boston! Then, we headed back to meet up with Scott for dinner in Harvard Square. Afterwards, we hurried back to the Harpers to catch the season finale of "The Office" and then stayed up until 1 am. Spencer and Scott reminisced, as always, about "the good old days where everything made sense" while Heather taught me to make cute bows for Madi. Thanks Harpers for a great time!






DAY 5: Boston to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

After 3 fun days in Boston, we left early Friday morning and drove 2 hours north to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire to visit Joyce and Joel-who are on Spencer's dad's side of the family. They have a beautiful home right on Lake Crescent (which for those of you who are familiar with the movie "What about Bob?", it's right next to Lake Winnipesaukee!!) Joyce and Joel really spoiled us and we had such a fun time being with family that we don't get to see frequently.





DAY 6: NEW HAMPSHIRE

Madi woke us up really early this day, but that was ok when we pulled up the blinds and saw the view from our bedroom doors leading to the back patio! The lake is SO beautiful. I snuck out for an early morning run along the lake path and Spencer just laid in bed while Madi plopped down in front of the window-pointing at the trees, the birds, and the fishing boats slowly trolling along the lake. Yup, this was pretty much paradise!




That afternoon, more family came up to visit! Madi loved all the attention she got and really enjoyed having her cousin Jessica to play with.



After lunch, we all went down to the beach to watch the annual canoeing/kayaking races. Joel took me out kayaking to get a closer look and then Spencer jumped in one and we kayaked up to Lake Wentworth and back. It was so much fun and a great workout! After a really nice visit with all the family, Joel (who by the way is quite the chef!) cooked up some delicious steaks and we had a really good dinner!





Here's a picture of the whole gang: The guys from L-R: Fred, Peter, Aaron, Joel, and Spencer. The gals from L-R: Joyce, Miriam, Jessica, Seron, Madilyn, and Anie


DAY 7: New Hampshire to Home

On Sunday morning, Madi woke us up early as usual and we began packing up for the long drive home. Spencer ran down to the lake to take advantage of the perfect light for pictures. Here's a good one-



Then, Joyce and Joel cooked us a pancake breakfast (with real New Hampshire maple syrup!!) and then we were on the road at 9 am. Thanks Joyce and Joel for a really fun weekend!!



10 hours and 7 states later, we were home. We had such a fun week and hope to be able to do this trip again sometime soon. For now, we have 2 days to do the laundry, clean the house, and then pack up again for our long summer in California. The fun never ends!!