Breaking down Lindt's door and an awesome pair of shoes

 Last Friday Princeton had a big sidewalk sale. We were planning to go as a family but Matt got off work a little late. Madeleine and I ended up going instead as mommy daughter and Sophie date.

We biked over to downtown and stopped by all our favorite places. We dropped off our library books, admired and touched all the purses at Kate Spade, and Madeleine ran around the toy store with her arms full of baby dolls. Leaving the baby dolls behind was very emotional. The toy store gave her with a consolation lollipop. We started walking over to Lindt chocolate but Madeleine got distracted by the jazz band. She sat on some steps just listening to the music for a while.  

To be honest, I got bored before she did, and I dragged her off to Lindt. Oh man, does my baby know her way around a chocolate place or what. She walked in and held her hand out to the person giving the free sample. I started laughing, usually the sale associates just give one to me and then gives another when Madeleine eats it. I guess this time she figured she'd just tell them right off the bat that she wanted one. We then went and picked out a few pieces and sat on a bench to eat them.

 She tried to get the chocolate out of the wrapper but then decided to ask.

Picking one favorite of chocolate is so hard! There were only 3 pieces and one of them was for Matt. She debated between the two for a while.

She picked the pink one and popped it in her mouth. I told her it was all gone and she jumped up with Sophie.

And took off running....

She stopped to touch the directory.

And then started running again.

All the way back to Lindt chocolate which was now closed.

She was so confused why they wouldn't let her in. She pushed and shoved at that door. She asked me for help. Poor thing. All she wanted was chocolate.

Eventually I was able to drag her away from the door. We walked around for a bit. She stopped at every light or grate to inspect it.

Then right in the middle of a door knob inspection, she saw something!

Daddy!! 

Well yeah...I mean he did happen to show up then, but the real thing that caught her eye were these girl's shoes.

Can I just stop and say for a second that I'm so grateful for all the people that let my toddler pet their shoes? This actually happens a lot, and people are always so sweet to us. This girl was French and thought it was so funny that Madeleine was completely enamored with them.

Our date ended soon after that. Madeleine is so funny. I love her little fearless personality. She's so curious and determined. 

Jenkinson's

Matt planned an awesome family adventure for us today. We went to Jenkinson's boardwalk, which is not too far from the normal beach we go to. They have a small aquarium and of course rides. We went to the aquarium right when it opened. 

We checked out sharks.

Seals

Piranhas

Penguins

and fish...along with a lot of other random things they had there. There were even monkeys (not sea monkeys like real ones). We were pretty excited to see moon jellies after they were Madeleine's result in DC.

(flashback photo)

moon jellies!

We even found out that Madeleine is the exact same size as gentoo penguins.

After that we got crab cakes at this beach restraunt. Every time we go to the beach someone we know comments on how busy the shore usually is. Matt and I were always a bit confused about it, but after seeing this beach, we get it. There were so many people. You totally had to stake a spot. We decided just to wait to go to our favorite beach when we were done.

Then it was time for games and rides.

 Madeleine wasn't sure about the first ride. She put on her brave face as she went around on the little guppie ride.

But we broke her in pretty fast. :)

We ended our time on the boardwalk going on a rollercoster together. For some reason they would let Madeleine go on this one. She was terrified but really liked it. She cried when we took her off of it.

We left and got ice cream from The Cone Zone. I was just supposed to sneak in there while Madeleine napped in the car with Matt. But apparently the ice cream woke her up. She got to eat her first ice cream cone. She had no idea at first what to do with it. I told her it was like a lollipop but with ice cream. After that she very carefully took a tiny lick. After a minute of tiny licks, she started getting more into it. By the end she was scooping the ice cream out with her fingers. It was good ice cream. We had XXXchocolate and Madeleine had cake batter. :) Then we wrapped up the day at the beach.

I've really loved this summer. I'm pretty sad it's winding down. On the upside, I'll probably start blogging more regularly again. 

Year 3

We made it another year! Three years! In some ways I can't believe it's been that long, but at the same time we've done so much. We've moved twice, had a baby, graduated college, bought a car, started graduate school, and got out of debt. That's pretty awesome!

This year I had to get a bit creative. We didn't do much last year or our first year, so I wanted to do something a bit special. Madeleine has been teething, so while I'm usually okay with taking her to a restaurant, I figured we wouldn't see each other much. One of us would constantly be chasing her down or taking her out. So instead, I made our living room into a restaurant.  

It was a bit of work. We usually have our dinning room stuff in the closet. We can't fit our couch and our table in the same room. I ended up putting the couch in the closet (yay for small couches!) along with our piano. :)

Then I got working on decorating.

I named it and made a sign.

Madeleine helped me put up lights around the window and unset the table.

We found some candles at the thrift store along with some china and glasses.

I pulled out the cards that were part of our center pieces at our wedding. Some have engagement pictures, others have random facts and stories.

I used our coffee table to display photos.

We got Outback take out for dinner. While Matt and I chowed down on that, Madeleine had olives. Lots and lots of olives. Then it was time for our family's birthday cake! 3 years old!!! Madeleine had been wanting this thing all day. Every time I opened the fridge she would stand on her tip toes and starts say "ca ca ca" and then try to pick off the chocolate swirls. She started saying "oh wow" when I brought it to the table. 

We each blew out a candle.

Madeleine practiced blowing candles out all week in preparation.

Then we took some family photos and watched the sunset. While we were outside, the rain stopped and a rainbow appeared. It was pretty cool. (Madeleine: "Oh wow!!!") We had to stop family photos outside since the camera wasn't nearly as cool as the rainbow.

This was the best one with all of us in it. :)

We ended the night with watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 

It was a fun family night. :) Over the last 3 years we have grown up a lot, and Matt and I are both pretty proud of what we have accomplished so far. We are happy and enjoying our lives together. Can't wait to see what the next year brings.