Happy Birthday Miss Madeleine!

 Madie is now officially five years old. This morning I told her "Happy birthday to my big five year old!" She replied, "Dad, I won't turn five until I blow out the candles on my cake." That's a Madie response, straight from the book. Factual, informative, and firm. She and Finn woke up at about 5:45 am this morning, ready to seize the day. Mal and I were both very tired, especially Mal who basically stayed up all night finishing up Madie's birthday present. I woke up a few times just due to noises or lights on during the night, but I at least got more sleep than Mal. 

For her birthday, Madie had some very specific requests that we tried our best to honor. For breakfast, I made German pancakes with bacon (number one request, fulfilled). For dinner, I made French toast (number two request, fulfilled). For cake and ice cream, Mal made a blackberry cake with purple frosting and homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream (number three request, fulfilled). She likes her berries black, and has been growing chocolate mint in her garden all summer long for this very moment. She also asked to play miniature golf at Pirates Cove, which we have on schedule for tomorrow (number four request, almost fulfilled). 

I decided to take the day off. Two to three times per week on my way out the door to work, Madie will ask "Dad, why do you have to go to work?". Well today, I decided not to go. And she has been wanting to go on a boat ride for quite some time, so we got tickets to a whale watch tour. One cool thing about working and living on Mount Desert Island is we get free standby tickets to all harbor cruises and tours. Finn and I thought it was really cool, but Madie was pretty disappointed that the whales didn't jump out of the water. Therefore, it wasn't cool. I think she would go again though. We saw four whales breach, and the weather was absolutely perfect! We could see miles away. It was a 3.5 hour tour, so the kids fell asleep the last 45 minutes, heading back to the harbor. 

When we docked, we met up with Mal for lunch at Geddy's, walked around town a bit, and headed home for much needed nap/quiet time. Glad we could video chat with our parents today as well. Even though we live literally thousands of miles away from immediate family, we still feel close with Facetime.

Madie's facial expressions are priceless. Getting ready to leave the harbor.

Found some comfortable chairs, next to this man that made me feel uncomfortable (kept looking my way, but had sunglasses on). Luckily he left a few minutes after we sat.

We kept moving around the boat to get a taste of the different views.

Obviously, looking at the wake.

Best photo I managed to take.

Mount Desert Rock. This is ran for research purposes, and is surrounded by Grey Seals and Harbor Seals.

The white sweater that Mal made for Madie. She was so excited to wear it.

Look at that face!

Card from Nana & Papa.

Clothes from Nana and Papa. Madie wasn't took keen on the camo, but she was excited for the new clothes.

A big tiger from Grammy & Grampy. Mal's sister Kaitlyn had a tiger that Madie loved. She loves big cats, and was glad to have a soft thing to cling to in bed.

Check out that blackberry cake! Mal did a wonderful job. The frosting was colored purple with blueberries. Flowers, from the garden.

Happy Birthday, Madie! So happy to have you in our family.