Happy Birthday, Madie!

I took a day off work to spend it with Madie and take her on a camping trip. It was a lot of fun! Madie was pretty clear on what she wanted to do: rock climbing, and swimming. So I did my best to make this happen. We started out by treating her to lunch at 2 Cats, which was basically breakfast or brunch. It was good food. Mal, Finn, and Petya were about to come with us, but Madie wouldn't have it. She just wanted it to be me and her. So that's what we did. We went there, and Madie went with French toast. After lunch, we went climbing at South Bubble. It took 15 minutes to hike to lower slab, 10 minutes to set up. After getting everything all set, Madie had some fears kick in. She feels a lot more comfortable in a gym, but she did pretty well. We need to work on helping her feel comfortable with the equipment, but she climbed up about 10 feet or so. It lasted about 5 to 10 minutes, then she said she was done. So I took it all down, and we hiked out. Very short climbing session, but it was a good start. We headed to Echo Lake to swim, then ended up at the Seawall Campground to set up camp. I loved playing Yahtzee with her. Once the sun went down, we walked down to the seawall to watch the moon, and look at the night sky. She was really interested in identifying planets and talking about space in general. She wanted to see a shooting star really bad, but the moon was way too bright for that! In the morning, we packed up camp and headed home for homemade donuts. Success!

Picking Madie's brain at 7 years old:

• Favorite color: pink and black
• Favorite breakfast: german pancakes
• Favorite lunch: pasta with pesto
• Favorite dinner: see breakfast
• Favorite season: summer
• Favorite month: August
• Favorite holiday: Christmas; because of presents, food, fun family activities
• Best friend: Cora
• Favorite cousins: Kylie, Lexi, and Sadie in one
• Favorite vegetable: corn
• Favorite fruit: strawberries
• Favorite book: "I can't decide! Just write down all of them!"
• Favorite movie: Sword and the Stone, because "...the squirrel kisses the boy and she is really funny. It's funny when she cries."
• Favorite game: No Way (or B.S.)
• Favorite sport: Hockey 
• Favorite restaurant: Rosalies is best for dinner. 2 Cats for breakfast
• Favorite meat: hot dogs
• Favorite place to visit: "California. Not sure why, but it just looks good. I remember the missionaries coming over when we lived there."
• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?: "Here! Because I can't leave Conners Emerson School!"
• When you grow up, what do you want to be?: Scientist because it sounds like fun.  
• What do you like about primary?: Not as boring as Sacrament Meeting. 
• Best friend at church?: Jillian
• Favorite ice cream: mint oreo
• Favorite donut: powdered sugar, glazed.
• Favorite pizza: cheese from Rosalies
• Favorite cereal: cinnamon squares 
• Favorite thing about Mumma: "She does nice things for us, like watch movies and gives us food."
• Favorite thing about Finn: "He is silly because sometimes he puts his shirt over his legs and says he is an old lady. And sometimes he drinks water and says 'yup...thank you' really sternly. he makes me laugh a lot!" She was cracking up as she explained this. 
• Favorite thing about Petya: "That she's cuuuuute, and sweet. Sometimes when I'm crying she taps me and says sweet baby words. Her feet smell good. Her hands are soft, and when other adults tell her what to do she gets sad. She lets me hold her, and pick her up from nursery. I love it when she grabs my hand and takes me places."
• Favorite thing about Grammy and Grampy: "Do nice things for me and let me do anything!"
• Favorite thing about Nana and Papa: "Same as Grammy and Grampy."
• Favorite thing about camping: S'mores, hot dogs, and sleeping in a tent. 
• Favorite thing about sleeping in a tent: I'm not sure. 
• Favorite thing about Elvis: "He's cute. And he rests his head on my lap."
• Favorite thing about Dad: "Does fun things with us. That's probably it, that's all you really do. Like camping, take us bike riding."
• Favorite animal: cats, because they are so soft and sweet
• If you had a farm, what animals would be on it: Horses, chickens, alpacas, sheep, goats, piglets, cows. 
• If you had a super power, what would it be?: shoot sparks from hand. 
• Favorite fish: salmon
• Favorite Sunday activity: Church
• Favorite Dessert: ice cream 
• Favorite Flower: Roses, because they are pretty and pedals are soft
• If you were a wild animal, what would you be?: Fox, because I think they are pretty, but I can't choose between a red and grey fox.
• If you lived in the ocean, what would you be?: Penguin, because they are pretty and cute in the way they act.