Teddy Bear Picnic

It's funny how every summer I can't quite find the will to blog. The weather is just too beautiful and summer days are literally full of our favorite things. 

With the summer coming to a close, I desperately wanted to throw a party for Madeleine. I was really planning on doing it on her half birthday, but we ended up moving right around then. So I decided to host an unbirthday teddy bear picnic. 

I kept the whole party pretty simple. I asked everyone to pack their own lunches. Siblings were welcomed and no gifts were needed. We pretty much just kept to inviting our neighbors that live in Princeton, but even with that limit we still had around 35 people come! 

It was so much fun. (At least for me)

Madeleine woke up that morning shocked to find so much sugar on our table. She only requested pink cupcakes (her current favorite color). I also bought goldfish, made honeycomb rice crispies, and 

Lotte Koala cookies. We grabbed our coffee table and our pile of quilts and headed to the park. 

Madeleine was thrilled that some of our friends were already there when we arrived, and by lunch time everyone had shown up. The kids ran around around while the adults sat on the blankets and talked. I really only saw Madeleine when she would run over and grab a cupcake before running off again.

We didn't have any games or anything, so around nap time people started heading home. It was nice and relaxing for me, and I loved seeing everyone that had been gone all summer. 

Hopefully we can do something like this next year. I think it was a good compromise for our little Christmas girl.

(All photo credit goes to my friend Rachel. I didn't take a single photo. Thankfully she did!)

End of Summer and 36"

One of my most favorite things about New Jersey is that the weather changes almost exactly with the seasons. It makes me excited for the change and we know when it's coming. With summer coming to the end, Matt wanted to celebrate with going to the boardwalk. 

We headed to the little aquarium first. It's pretty small but it's so perfect for a toddler. It's mostly full of rescue animals.

The sharks scared Madeleine a bit but then she saw the penguins. Oh she was SO excited, she screamed penguins and ran across the room. The run across the room reminded me of a sappy romance film. She was so in love.

After a while we were able to pry her away from the penguins to see the seals. One of the seals is completely blind. 

After about an hour we finally left, and headed to the actual boardwalk.

We walked over to the rides, and unlike last year, Madeleine was excited to ride. We were excited to find out she was over three feet tall so we didn't have to ride with her. 

Our little airplane obsessed girl was thrilled to see a pink helicopter. All of the rides seem to have the themes of "pink" or "transportation."

The last ride she went on was the "biking" ride. She was so nervous. haha. But after a few times around she noticed that several of the other kids were picking their hands up above the bike. She put on her brave face and tried a few times. The lady next to me told me that it was one of the best brave faces that she'd seen. ;)

I love my little three foot tall girl. She's grown up so much this year, and I couldn't be prouder of her.