The One That Was A Blast From The Past

Look at the bright eyes on this little one at 7:00 in the morning (6:00 Texas time) while on vacation!

When we woke up on Thursday morning, we decided to go the Farmer's Diner, where just a few weeks ago, we saw this on Yahoo!:

The Farmers Diner

Quechee, Vermont

This retro-style diner in the Green Mountain State is a crunchy granola advocate of the burgeoning localvore movement: founder Tod Murphy’s mantra is “Food from Here.” So his short order cooks only use ingredients (milk, eggs, bacon, cheese, and even tofu) sourced from regional farms and purveyors. Naturally, real Vermont maple syrup and sweet Cabot butter comes with an order of the Gleason Grain’s organic wheat flour buttermilk pancakes. Ask for a cup of Vermont Liberty Tea Company’s fruit-lavender brew or, during harvest season, a cold glass of Champlain Orchard’s apple cider.Best sides: Vermont Smoke & Cure ham steak or maple sausage.

So we all got dressed up and headed out to Quechee for the best breakfast ever!
























































Ok. So maybe not the greatest...but all in all, it was pretty tasty. And filling. Just what we need to get the day started for working on a tractor:

























Attempting to save (and act like) local wildlife:











































Work with the trains:











Visiting the coolest toy museum I have ever set foot in:
























Check out the Quechee Gorge (and get a cache as well!):














































Lose (and find) a little pink sock:













As well as do a little shopping!




































By this time, Brylee had leaked through her diaper and onto her pants in the antique/cheese/souvenir store and her mom forgot to put extra pants in her diaper bag...that's me. Fortunately it was sunny and warm outside, so we were able to wrap her sweater around her and walk around town and shop...all while she was so sleepy nothing could wa ke her up. Even a kitty in Gillingham's General Store.

Best part about this? It all happened before lunch! For lunch, we stopped by the Farmers Market in Woodstock and purchased some sandwiches. Cary had the Moonlight In Vermont, which I actually chose because of the name of the sandwich...one of our favorite songs!

After lunch, we put new, fresh clothing on Brylee and headed off again to visit Killington and then come back later to enjoy some ice cream and play some pool, ping pong, and darts in the basement of the house, while Brylee enjoyed discovering a mechanical horse, keyboard, and crawled around on the floor between our legs!

The One That Was A Bumpy Ride

Vacation started out early Wednesday morning, September 15. I say it started then, but Cary had taken Monday and Tuesday off from work to get prepared for it. And Tuesday in itself was quite eventful with Brylee attempting to swallow one of T-Ma's fern leaves and (luckily) spitting it right back up...just the way you wanted to hear our start, huh?



As most of you know, I am a nervous flyer. And no matter how much information Cary sends me, I tend to get an overactive imagination and let it get the best of me. And I didn't want to affect Brylee's first trip on a plane, so I did what I could to make sure that she didn't sit with me and 'feel' the fear.

Perfectly enough, there were extra seats on the plane, so we got a seat for Brylee and strapped her in her car seat by the window for takeoff and landing...and she played around in her daddy's and grandparents arms for the rest of the flight when she wasn't sleeping. So, in other words, her first flight was wonderful.

But mine wasn't. I feel foolish looking back on it, but it was really bumpy, but no one seemed to mind except for me. I was so happy to be on the ground again!





(Brylee waiting for her bags at the airport.)

We landed in Boston around 12:00, retrieved our bags, got our rental car, and then headed towards the country...and saw some beautiful mountains and trees that had the hints of changing colors. The weather was noticeably cooler, which was so relieving from the Texas heat and humidity!




We arrived in Vermont around 4:00 that afternoon, giving us time to stop by a store in Quechee and stretch our legs, check out the fudge, and then head on to Plymouth, where we had rented a house for the week.

Cary and I left not much later than that to go back to Woodstock (our favorite honeymoon spot) to buy groceries and then pick up a pizza from the Pizza Chef for dinner.

Writing this post makes it sound like we didn't do much on our first day on vacation, but I guess if you count the 3 hour flight and the 3-4 hour drive, it was pretty exhausting. So much in fact, I'll just have to leave the story here until I get some sleep.


Good night all!

Today, Brylee Had An Epiphony

"I have a family with multiple personalities."

In other words, she met Ashes and Petunia. They were 'in town visiting' for the Western Days parade in Lewisville, the annual fall festival.


Petunia she took to pretty quickly, mostly because the only real change in her is the red nose, which was put on after we arrived. Petunia was so thrilled to carry her around, introducing her to the Lewisville community and letting them melt over the newest clown member.

She was slightly wary of the man who looked and spoke kinda like her Boppy, but once he pulled out his necklace (a firefighter pennant), she was much more comfortable. You see, that necklace is one of her most favorite things. Along with her grandpas...

She fit in well with the clown group. With a nose and adorable rain hat her Aunt Amy bought her, she transformed very well into 'Peanut'. And of course, she was a big hit with everyone she met!


Happy Fall everyone!

10 Months!

This girl's desire for adventure leaves us on our toes constantly! From wall plugs to computers, to even cows, spiders, and frogs, her excitement for the everyday allows us to see things in a completely different perspective. She even met Ashes and Petunia this morning via Skype, and giggled about that.

There are so many adorable pictures that I had to choose from for this post, but no worries, there are several more posts coming up with more great pictures of her, and the tale of her latest journey.

I don't want to spoil any of the upcoming posts, so I will end here for now.

Happy 10 months!!!!!

Happy Grandparent's Day!

A Day Late

But not forgotten.

I hope everyone took a moment to remember yesterday how truly blessed we are to be American, and the tragic day we faced 9 years ago.

Thank you to all of our heroes.

Uncle Brad Has Competition!

I got this cute little ghost at Hallmark yesterday while enjoying an afternoon to myself. And Brylee thinks it's great, until the string is pulled and it starts spinning. Then she starts crying, huge crocodile tears spilling out. Once it stops again, she considers it as a toy she likes.

Until we pull the string again.

Family Trip To The Dallas World Aquarium

Last Saturday, our family joined more family to go to the Dallas World Aquarium to celebrate my grandfather's birthday. What a fun, chaotic day!










Here is everyone, fresh and eager to get into the Aquarium. I say everyone, but we are missing my cousin Ashton and his mom, Kim in this photo. Unfortunately, they were running behind in the day, so we went through half of the place without them.












I like the view in this photo!












Can these two ever take serious photos???






















3 monkeys sitting in the trees. The baby kept jumping from branch to branch, getting his 'air legs'. He was so much fun to watch!












Bill and Ivan, both whom fit in well with the monkeys... ;o)











Dad feeding the birds. The staff would hand you a blueberry, open up the door, and then you got to watch 3 of the birds fight over the blueberry. I fed them, too, and it was so much fun to watch the single blueberry become two with blue goo all over their beaks!










Poppy and I couldn't resist getting a stuffed animal to put into the carrier whenever Brylee insisted on getting out. It got funny looks from the other aquarium patrons, but the toy caught Brylee's attention and became her favorite thing in the aquarium. Whenever she still sees it, she loves to snuggle and wrestle with it!






















3 monkeys behind bars...











Brylee loved sitting in this concave dome watching the fish swim around. And Poppy would have sat there with her all day long letting her watch if we didn't have more to see!










I love animals. Penguins, dogs, lizards, cats, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, sea mammals. There has always been a special interest in seahorses and leafy dragons...aren't they fascinating?!












Blackmail picture of Bill with Brylee's penguin.



















We stopped at a cafe in the aquarium to recharge our bodies, and also met Kim and Ashton. Not bad food, and it got us the energy we needed to continue the rest of the show!










Isn't this little shrimp so cool?! I shall call him Pokey, and he shall be mine...











Little Brylee started getting super sleepy after lunch. She didn't even care that she snuggled with her Uncle Bill!






















Unfortunately because the small one was so tired, she missed seeing my favorite parts of the aquarium: the penguins and manatees. But Ashton really did enjoy them, and was awe-struck watching the manatees swimming around. I have a couple of pictures of Ashton here and there, but unfortunately because of the light, they were a touch on the blurry side. But I hope he had fun, even with his short visit. He'll have plenty of opportunity to experience it again soon!










Happy birthday to my grandpa. It is always so great to see you, even though I did not get the chance to talk with you much. Always know that i love you!

Working On A Post...

Now if I could only stop being so lazy and finish it!

A Parents' Worst Nightmare

Image found here

I just got finished skimming over the story of the Sullengers. I say skim because I could only see a few words here and there behind the blur of tears. The part of their story I caught was about their beautiful little girl, Preslee. They went through a tragic ordeal, and I warn you, don't read or even listen to the music if you are not prepared for a good cry.

This is truly a fear of mine, losing our child. And now I have read at least 4 blogs where this has happened. As much as the blogging world helps find new family and friends, I am torn on whether or not to continue reading stories such as this. And I mean that only because I tend to see things from the family's point of view now, and all I want to do now is wake Brylee up from her nap to give her the largest hug in the world.

Say a prayer for the Sullengers, who are heading into their second month since the tragedy. Say a prayer for all of those families who have lost a child, baby, toddler, or adult. From accidents to addictions, military, or beyond our imaginations. There is a saying out there that God does not give someone more than they can handle. These families must be incredibly strong to undertake what they have. But God also shows His presence very strongly in them as well.

God, please continue to work Your amazing miracles in these families, helping to get the word out and showing their strength through you. As heartbreaking as their ordeal, we can see Your grace through it, and help us remember how blessed we truly are.

Amen

Happy September!

Not much going on in the McFadden household until this weekend (be prepared for lots of pictures!), so I will start September off with some ramblings:

Brylee, Chester, and I get to spend a lot of time at my parents house this week while estimates go on for repairing their foundation. Its a nice change of pace for us, especially Chester, who can't just go out to a store to get out of the apartment.

The weather is starting to really cool off now. This weekend it will barely reach 90, which is such a joy for Cary and I, who don't like or do well with the heat. We've gotten out and walked a couple of times now, and afterwards I can just feel how out of shape I have gotten because of the heat. I guess that's not the only reason I'm out of shape, but the heat does make a difference in how much exercise I get!

The McFaddens are going to Vermont! Mid-September, Cary, Brylee and I are joining Brenda and Gary to fly up north to explore the beautiful state of Vermont (second time for me, uncountable number of times for the others...and 1st for Brylee!). Looking at the weather for this weekend in that state = mid to high 60's...ahhhh...that's what I'm talking about!

Which leads me to next: I have said it before, I'll say it again. I'm a nervous flyer, so please say a prayer for safe travel. I am telling myself to not let my overactive imagination go crazy, and to continue my own prayer. I think the biggest thing I have about it now is that I don't want to affect Brylee with this. I want her to enjoy the big bird like her daddy!

Speaking of Brylee, what kind of post would this be without mentioning her? A couple of weeks ago, we tried her on Stage 3 Spaghetti, Tomato Sauce, and bits of meat. She's not ready for that. But she did enjoy the Broccoli, Cheese, and Carrots. Yay! I also don't think she is enjoying cinnamon as much as I was hoping she would. Doesn't mean she won't like it in the future, but her face is classic when I feed her something with cinnamon!

She is also saying 'dadadadada' a lot. And when I tell her to say 'momma', she gives me a wrinkled up face that says, 'yeah right, in your dreams'. And when I hold her and act like I'm bumping into walls, she gets a deep down belly laugh. So she thinks momma getting hurt is funny, huh???

I'm learning my lesson when it comes to shoes. The last 2 pair have formed holes in the cloth top, which looks pretty silly. Cary and Brylee took me shopping for another pair on Monday evening, and I found a pair I really like. However, when I tried them on last night (for the first time...I know, mom...), I found that they were too tight. I have wide feet, probably because of their flatness.

Depressing.

Now we have to take the time to go back to Academy and see if I can find a wider pair in the same shoe, or try to find something else I like. Which might not be possible, because the decent-priced pair come in solid white with no personality. And my dad raised me to have shoe personality!

I think that is all I have for now, so until next time, Happy Fall-Is-Around-The-Corner!

**I completely forgot: at Brylee's doctors appointment last Friday, she weighed 15 lbs and 4 oz! She is still in the 3rd percentile for weight, but shot from 10th to 15th percentile for height!