Dustbunny

When Patrick was leaving for Afghanistan, he made a deal with Madigan that they would get a dog when he returned. While Patrick was gone, however, Thomas' allergy doctor discovered that he is allergic to dogs and cats amongst many other things. The doctor said that even though some breeds have hair instead of fur, that they still produce allergens specifically in their salvia. The doctor said "No dogs" and Thomas was a happy camper, since the only dog he wants is our old dog Tessa (who passes away 7 years ago). But Madigan was very unhappy.
My friend Lisa finally caved in on the pet front with her daughter Kelsey last November. For Kelsey's birthday, Lisa and Tim adopted a pet Lionhead rabbit affectionately known as Pepper, a.k.a. "Sir Poops-a-lot". Madigan went to Kelsey's bunny birthday party and set her sights on a pet rabbit. WELL, this spring Lisa's neighbor bred her pet Lionhead bunny "Simba" with another neighbor's rabbit "Max". Simba gave birth to 7 baby bunnies on Tuesday May 20th and Lisa called right away. Only 6 of the babies survived, and ultimately Madigan had first choice on which bunny to take home. Orginally she wanted one of the 3 white ones... I thought the gray one was the cutest.

We went over about once a week to visit the bunnies, I started to like one of the white bunnies. But when it was fianlly her time to choose which bunny to bring home... Madigan picked the gray bunny. He is the runt of the litter and the most docile... and she wanted a bunny that wanted to be held all of the time.




For her birthday, we bought Madigan this bunny hutch. We refer to it as the bunny condo and keep it on the front porch so that snakes and other animals can't get to it.


On Sunday July 6th - 4 days after her 7th birthday, Madigan was allowed to take the bunny home. yes that is a bunny on leash that Lisa made for Madigan's birthday.

We went through a lot of names before we came up with one that Madigan loved. She named him "Dustbunny" and calls him "Dusty" for short.
These are real dust bunnies...

Madigan is one happy girl... and has forgotten all about getting a dog!

Corvette Diner Brithday Dinner

Madigan chose to have her birthday dinner this year at the Corvette Diner in Hillcrest. It's a fun 50's themed hamburger joint with fabulous milk shakes. They have a roaming magician who pulled coins out of her ears.

And dancing waitresses. Our waitress "Big Mama" gave Madigan a new hair-do with red milk shake straws... it was very fetching.

Matthew was in town on a lay over with FedEx, so it was great to have him with us!

Madigan's 7th Birthday

It is hard to believe that Madigan has turned 7 today. Days with my kids can be very L O N G but the years seem to fly by. Madigan's day started this morning with breakfast in bed, a tradition in our house. You only get the blue "Celebrate" plate on special occasions.

Today Madigan is spending the day at YMCA Day Camp with her friends. Her specific camp is called "Top Model". (Thomas is at a putt putt golf camp). Madigan came home yesterday afternoon with pink and green hair... and eye shadow. Oh boy. For dinner, we are going to the Corvette Diner. It's a fun 50's themed restaurant. Uncle Matt is in town on an off this week (flying for FedEx) and as it works out, Madigan gets a bonus guest for this year's birthday dinner.

You'd think that would be it for her birthday, but no. We make a big deal about birthdays. Yes, we (really it's just me, Patrick just plays along to appease me) are part of the eleborate kid party problem. Admitting it is the first step I hear...

Birthdays when Patrick and I were kids, consisted of a few gifts and cake after dinner with your brothers and sisters. But then when I was at Boston College and discovered the pleasure of a week long birthday celebration - yes Sally D, I'm talking about you - I was hooked. By the time I graduated college, I had two really good friends (Kelly and Clare - see the party pictures) that had the same birth date as me and we had some really great parties together. And part of the reason I overdo birthdays is because of my sister Nancy and the Irwin sisters. They always have fabulous parties for their kids... really memorable. So now I am doing it for my kids, and I have lots of help, so it's out of control... but I LOVE it! On Sunday Madigan had an Enchanted Tea Party at the Grand Del Mar.

Linda discovered this invitation in a book. Linda made all of the crowns, so all I had to do was the wording and assemble the cards.

Kristin made these amazing wrist corsages out of blank slap bracelets. Yes Elizabeth, they are butterflies and I did save you one... and one for your sister.

Kristin and I worked our fingers numb making pearl, crystal, and flower hair pins.

Linda and I made up a princess bingo game.

From the same book as the invitation, I made these placecards. The candies inside are called "Dutch Mints" and they are delicious.Kristin made up the party favors. When we went to the El Capitan to see "Enchanted" last December, we collected and saved 20 popcorn buckets. Since Patrick was in Afghanistan, Uncle Gordy carried them around all day for me. He's such a sport. Then Kristin sent pet gummy rats and "I Love NY" t-shirts. We added an apple for good measure - not poisoned of course.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Gordy had bought Madigan a beautiful pink and light green tea dress. Sadly Madigan proclaimed "it itches" and she begged to wear her all white Flower Fields dress. Still pretty, but I was disappointed that she wouldn't wear the green and pink dress.Gordy, Patrick and Thomas walked the girls from the valet to the library dressed in their tuxedos.The Grand Del Mar is a spectacular hotel. It's my new favorite place and it's only 5 minutes from our house. For the tea party, the staff put us in the library by ourselves. With 15 girls and a few parents watching it was perfect. We had one server named Jessica, who as fate would have it, is in school studying to be a teacher. She wants to teach first or second grade, how funny! She was absoultely wonderful and really great with the girls. Without requesting them, the chef made these beautiful choclate covered strawberries for Madigan's birthday party. I just can't say enough about the food and service and The Grand.

It is a very special place.Miss Kristin delivered a tea lesson to the girls, which they took very seriously. We played a memory game, an "Enchanted" Mad Lib, and then played princess bingo. To facilitate serving, we brought an "Enchanted" cupcake cake. Miss Kristin provided a sparkler candle - a number 7. Lots of excitement over the sparkler candle.
This is the group of 15 young ladies, they were all delightful!The birthday girl with the party planners.

Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Pride

On Sunday May 18, 2008, the Wade family along with Gordy, Linda, Michael, Kristin, Mel, and Karen emabarked on a week long cruise on the Carnival Pride to the Mexican Riviera. We went to Puerto Vallerta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. It was a fantastic vacation.

Because we had booked suites, the McGuire's and the Wade's were given VIP boarding. Which was terrific until I realized that we had left our camera backpack at the curb when we checked our bags. This had all of my camera equipment, Patrick's laptop, and our digital video camera. A costly mistake to say the least. After boarding the ship, Gordy and I backtracked through the lines to the curb where the porter took our bags. Unbelievably the backpack was sitting about 10 feet from where we left it. We were so lucky.

We met up with everyone at the buffet, had a quick bite and the $10 drink of the day and then went to check our room. Our suite was really nice, a big room, nice bathroom and a vanity outside of the bathroom.The McGuire's room was absoultely fabulous. The were on the aft starboard side of the ship - room 8-273. They had a sitting room, a vanity room, a separate bedroom, a walk-in closet and best of all a huge wrap around balcony.

While we waited for our bags to arrive, we took a tour of the ship led by Thomas. Thomas was allowed to wander the ship by himself provided he took a walkie talkie with him, he was out and about before we even got your carry-on bags into our room. His walkie talkie call sign was "Sushi Boy" which I am sure annoyed other people but we thought was funny. As he gave me a tour, he pointed out places of interest. Places of interest to a nine year old boy. I think just having the freedom to come and go as he pleased was the best part of the trip for Thomas. The best part for Madigan was room service every morning for breakfast. She diligently filled out the room service card every night and hung it on the doorknob before she went to bed.

After the lifeboat drill, we had a private sail away party on the McGuire's deck. They had brought some Rose Regale sparkling wine on board which was absolutely perfect.

Our second night on board was formal night. We had a great time dressing up and having our pictures taken. By a happy mistake, we had our pictures taken without having to wait in line. We were rushing downstairs for the"free drinks" (watered down nasty tasting Whiskey Sours) at the Captain's Party. But we stopped for our portraits before we made it to the party. Good thing. The lines after the "party" ended were really long.

We were at sea for 2 days and our first port of call was Puerto Vallerta. When we pulled into port on Wednesday morning, our ship docked right next to the Disney Magic. We had taken the Magic on our Carribean cruise in 2006. We had a nice time in Puerto Vallerta but honsetly it was just so hot. We went to a really nice restaurant called "The Blue Shrimp" and roamed around the town for a few hours. That night at dinner we had some excitement. Patrick had some side dish that had eggplant in it. OK - add eggplant to the list of foods he is allergic to... we got to see the medical clinic up close and personal. Not fun.

The next day we were in Mazatlan which was my favorite port. In the morning we took a pulmonia (golf cart type vehicle) to tour the city, and then spent the afternoon on Stone Island at a restaurant called Moloki. The coconut shrimp was fantastic. After lunch, Patrick rented an ATV and took the kids on rides while Karen and I sat drinking Coronas in a lounge chair. The water was really warm and the warning of jellyfish didn't scare any of us off.

We even got our Christmas card photo taken here (thanks Karen).

Our next stop was Cabo San Lucas. It was absolutley beautiful. It was a little chaotic for us because we hadn't booked excursions through the ship. Patrick found a parasailing excursion and he purchased one for he and Thomas to ride tandem. I went on the boat with them to take pictures and we had a great time. I was a little nervous watching them, but Thomas was all smiles.

The last night of the cruise we went to "David's Supper Club" which was a very nice restaurant on board that had an additional charge. It was well worth it and we had some very nice wine and some fabulous food.