california vacation

i haven't blogged in a while... but i took a bribe from my mom, so here you go!

between match day in march and graduation in may, luckily david was able to be at home a lot playing with the baby.  she learned how to roll over the day before david, laura and the girls got to milwaukee.  they arrived really late at night with just a little bit of airtran drama!

the next day was david's medical school graduation!  the day finally came, i feel like match day was a bigger deal, but we have more pics from graduation.

it's official-he's a doctor now!

in front of his school

#instagrammed

and another

the girlies waited at home with david 1 and laura came to graduation with us to help me with maddie during the ceremony.  it was a BIG help!

we spent the next day 2 days in milwaukee hanging out at our house and checkin out all the sites to be seen.

addi and kort being the best baby sitters

david 1 in allen edmond heaven (can't wait to see you in those boots this winter)

hanging out in downtown milwaukee by lake michigan

taking a nice little nature walk in wauwatosa (until david 1 thought that a tick landed on kort... long story, i'm pretty sure it was a lady bug)

just watching some TV

on monday we headed to chicago to check out the sears tower and some other sites

we went to the top and stood in those glass boxes over-looking the city.  the girls were a little scared, for good reason!

maddie loved it!  i was having a heart attack.

the whole gang!

then we went to Lou Malnati's for some real chicago slices

on the river in downtown chicago

maddie's first trip to chicago!

the bean

we spent the night next to the airport in chicago so we could get to the airport bright and early.  luckily maddie was up all night so i could check my emails while i was feeding her because airtran sent an email saying that laura's flight was cancelled and she had to take an earlier one or she'd be stuck in chicago for another day!  we immediately had to pack up and take off for the airport.  laura barely made her flight and so did we (even though we were 4 hrs EARLY!  Midway is literally the worst airport i have ever been to!

we all made it back to California and had a nice relaxing day before it was time for the next adventure!

Disneyland!!

i dressed madeleine up like Minnie Mouse, surprisingly some people still asked me if she was a boy!  

on our way!

first family pic at disneyland

maddie loved seeing all of the princesses at ariel's grotto

grandma, her girls and sleeping beauty

amber really wanted a pic with tiana

we got another day's rest before we were off to solvang and santa barbara for a weekend trip!

we spent the first day roaming around solvang, checking out the shops, eating ableskeivers and taking pics by statues

here we are with hans christian andersen

grandma and her girls

the boys being dorks

tyler in a shoe

so much cuter with maddie in the pic

all the kids by the windmill

ableskeivers and sausage platters

maddie and i were not impressed by the pretzels

tyler on the other hand ate a whole 1/2 pound of fudge and didn't barf (for once!)

tyler and gnome puppet

when we were all danished out we headed down to santa barbara for a photo op and a delish dinner

the girls in their matching dresses and pearls looking like angels

3 men and 3 babies #instagrammed #downtownsb

the next day we had some pool and beach time with ambie and tyler

baby's first dip!

this girl loves vacation!

2nd bathing suit of the day!  loved hanging poolside with grandma

hanging out at the beach!

matching grandma!

we headed home and were stuck in crazy traffic for hours!  rough!

the next week the brassfields were in town for chris' wedding so maddie got to meet her little cousin cousin Nixon!  he was such a chunk next to her.  2 weeks apart and about 5 lbs.

happy baby!

sunday family pic

after church we headed over to david's sister nicki's beach house for the afternoon.  all of those pics are missing from my camera :( except for this one:

nixon and maddie! bffs

the next day we were off to Arizona to visit Great Grandma Lorraine and the Lotts

good old long beach airport

on our short 1 hr flight--so much better than a 4.5 hour flight!

feeling very relaxed in the 100 degree weather.  this baby loves a heat wave!

hanging with alauna

so happy in the scottsdale Nordstrom mothers' lounge

taking a nap with dad

the week went by so fast!  it was already time for us to head back to california.

maddie is the best travel companion (most of the time!)

as soon as we got home from arizona we had a quick lunch and headed over to disneyland for the last day our passes worked for the season!

bibbidi bobbidi boutique

it's a small world with add and kort

first successful ride pic

next up it was father's day!  we were so excited that andie and brenty could be in town for the weekend and celebrate david's 1st father's day.

happy father's day!

of course the girls wore matching dresses!

and grandma matched too!

pretty soon there will be 3 princesses in this pic

david and his girls

sweet baby!

we spent another saturday in san diego, we went to slaters 50/50, extraordinary desserts, penzeys and a mall, duh!

tyler really wanted to try on the ergo... he was a pro!

i think this was our 5th annual extraordinary desserts trip!  just missing brenty and david

yum-o

maddie's shirt matched the treats!

we had a lot of pool time at grandmas

pool nap

maddie with brenty and andie

bath-time baby!

more lounging by the pool

just looking pretty in an anne gedes photo shoot

hanging out in her little travel crib

pool time with auntie andie

swimming with kort

#100likes

looking cute in their matching stripes

then we went to Knott's

not tall enough for any rides :)

tyler and ambie (proud season pass holders)

loving the rides

made david pose by the totem pole

add let me put her hair in rollers--- she loved it!

#kisses

maddie also celebrated her 4 month (birthday-not sure what you call it)

pretty in pink

grandma always dressing to match

the next day was david's birthday.  we celebrated by going to church and then heading to the airport to go back to wisconsin :(

so cute!

and then we were off to start our next adventure: residency!  #4moreyears

on the plane!

1am landing in milwaukee.

woof!  it was a great vacation and we miss having a full house everyday.  come visit!  we're lonely.  can't wait to see everyone again.