Day at the beach

Anyone that has been to Virginia Beach knows there aren't many big waves here. We still think it's funny they actually have the East Coast surfing championships here. But....Hurricane Francis was off shore and brought us some awesome waves! Only a few hours of being at the beach though, we were told we had to get out....the rip currents were just too strong and the lifeguards were having to make too many rescues.

Dennis taking the body board out to catch some waves.

testing the waters

Madi and I

Dad!! Where are you? Watching him on the body board

more waves...

playing in the water

sea lion?? NO...just Madi waiting for the waves to come and push her up the beach!!

rip currents taking her back out....lol

ridin all the way in....

you're going to be waiting awhile Madi!!

Finding shells after we all had to get out. At least theres always something to do at the beach. And getting the sand off her was.....um...."fun"

Because you can.....

seems to be the emphasis of our lives right now. We recently found out that my father-in-law has esophageal cancer. Makes me remember once again just how precious life is. Madi doesn't have too many people that have been consistant in her life, but Nana and Papa are 2 such people. So far we've just told her that Papa is very sick. And Papa being sick is just one new obstacle that is facing us right now.
We have had to stop all communication between Madison and her mother. It just triggered too many nightmares, bedwetting, regression, etc.. Her mother is pregnant again. My brother in law and his fiancee have plans to adopt the baby. I know life can be unfair, and I am not taking away from the fact that this is a new life we're talking about, but it angers me to know that someday...Dennis and I will have to find a way to explain to Madison that she has another sibling. And I thought it was going to be tough enough to have to explain one day why Morgan doesn't live with us. This will be even tougher.
Madison has begun counseling again here in Virginia Beach. Her counselor recommends that for the time being, the new baby should be her "cousin" since it is my brother-in-law that will be adopting it. Madi is also scheduled to have a full neurological work-up. The counselor is very perplexed as to "Madi's condition." Madison shows signs of many things.....ADHD, PTSD, and then possibly just the fact that she had a rough childhood with neglect, making her behave the way she does now. It will be nice to finally get the answers we need to help her adjust to life the way a 5 year should!
Madison is also starting to get adjusted to Daddy's new work schedule. We had him all to ourselves in Key West...but now he has already had to leave for 3 weeks to go for Navy deployment work-ups...next he'll be gone almost the entire month of Oct and then leave again mid Nov for a few weeks. We haven't even begun to tell her what is coming up next year, when he leaves on the boat for a 6 month deployment.
She is now finishing her first week of kindergarten and seems to be loving it. And so far she's gotten happy faces everyday. Pre-k was a bit more of a challenge for us, because it was just about every other day she was getting a sad face. We're crossing our fingers that the happy faces continue!!
So far, (knock on wood) Dennis and I are strong, healthy people. I know we'll be able to face the challenges we have in front of us, and will be able to find the words needed to help make Madison understand her life when the time comes. Right now I just keep reminding myself not to get caught up in the monotony of each day, and to make each day new and exciting for Madi.
And why do I do that? Because I can!

We're here!! And Nana's here!!

After many miles of driving we finally made it here! It was a bit hectic when the movers arrived, but Boudreaux sure seemed to feel much better when he was able to lay on the couch...I know we heard him say "Ahhh....home!!" Although my pictures are out of order...Nana was able to come too....with the intentions of being able to play with Madi while we unpacked and put the house together. It was a blessing she was here, when at 1:00am I awake to excruciating ear pain. I've had ear infections before, but nothing that has left me in tears. So after an all night trip to the ER, and finding out I had a double ear infection, I can only thank "Nana" for being here to take care of us. I was pretty much "down and out" for a couple of days. The unpacking would have to wait.

Although it looks like the lifeguards are throwing Dennis out .....they were just blowing the whistles for everyone to get out at the waterpark. We had only been there a little over an hour when a storm blew in, forcing us out. Of course, I still had an ear infection, so I only got to be there to take pictures!!

Waving to get Madi to come down the slide.

The BIGGEST slide at the park and Madi begs, begs, begs to go down it. Here she is almost at the chute.

Good view of the slide. The water shoots you out at the end...pretty awesome slide. She said she had fun.....but told Daddy she didn't want to go down it again!! And Dennis said her eyes were as big as silver dollars as she was coming down the slide.




Not sure if Dennis was trying to get water out of his ears, or if Madison's "outside voice" was getting to him....lol

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee

First pool we bought in our GIGANTIC (ha-ha)backyard. The pool turned green so fast that when we went to empty it to clean it, it smelled up the backyard so much and the plastic from the pool smelled so bad, we had to throw it away.

Movin and groovin with Nana!!

Awwww......

The BIG BIG day!

The Magic Kingdom.....the places wishes and dreams are made of.....June 17th...2010...we became an "official" family with Madison. Since we had to wait in the hotel until 11 am to speak to the judge, we decided to go later to Disneyworld and do the Electric Parade and fireworks. As our luck would have it, there were thunderstorms all day so we had to wait it out and see if the rains would stop. Luckily, around 4pm, it was just drizzling, so we headed over. We knew we wanted to celebrate the day, "come hell, or high water."

Finally.....at least we got to walk through the hallway of the castle. Not go up in it....but it was "the castle"!!!!!

Yesterday we waited in line for the princesses, today we waited to see the fairies. This really was my favorite. You wait in "Pixie Hollow" and they explain to you that since the fairies are small, as you walk down the hallway ...you shrink....and the return to your original size when you leave. This story INTRIGUED Madison. She was once again....in awe!!

Getting to see the first fairy......the fairy asked Madison where she lived.....Madison quickly responded....." In a hotel!!"

Learning the Tinkerbell pose!!

Madison calls this her princess smile......

Ya gotta have ears!!

I'll pump your gas, but you can clean your own windshield!!

Faster Dad....faster!!! Mom's catching up with us!!

Getting ready for the parade....you have to have $5.50 cups of ice cream....lol.

Waiting for the parade and watching the castle turn colors.....











Totally an awesome sight.......

Ta-daaaaa...the parade begins....some pictures came out, some were wayyyyy too dark to post

: (

Tinkerbell.....yeah I know.....pretty dark!

Chooo-choooooo

Cinderella
















Cinderella ...the fairy godmother

This was one of my favorite parts of the parade....the dancers for Cinderella's ball.....

Peter Pan So the parade ends....we're excited to stay to watch the fireworks because we had gotten firsthand information where to be on the parade route so that Tinkerbell would come flying over our heads on a zipline from the castle. ( thank-you Jennifer!) But before the fireworks started Madison informs us that NOOOOO....she doesn't want to stay because the fireworks scare her. *SIGH* So much for seeing Tinkerbell......so we head out of the park. We take the ferry back and get to see the fireworks from the water, which actually, wasn't a bad thing after all. The funny part was when Madison says....hey, they DON"T scare me....can we go back and watch them??? *SIGH AGAIN* And so ends our 2 days at Disneyworld. About 4 hours the first day....about 5 the second....not quite the time we were hoping for, but hey...we can say we were there....and what a great place to tell of when we tell of the day Madison became our daughter.

Then it was on to a whole lot of driving to get to Virginia and start a whole new chapter in our lives.

Yea!! Disney World!!

June 16th...first time ever for all of us at Disney World. All Madison could talk about was going up in the castle. What a disappointment to find out....you can't. You can walk through a hallway....but Madi wanted to see the princesses bedrooms. C'mon Disney......what little girl wouldn't want up in the castle??
We also soon learned that sometimes the only way you were going to get a picture with a character was to strategically place yourself in front of them......sometimes the line to see them were over an hour long. Um....nope, not going to do that wait.

Getting closer to the castle....Madi was still stoked and one happy little girl because we were thinking we could go up in it.......say CHEESE!!

Daddy's turn near the castle. Oh Madi was soooooo happy!! The castle The castle!!!

Watching the show in front of THE CASTLE> you know, the castle Madi wanted to go up in.

Sitting on Minnie's couch. Happy...but you should have seen the look on her face when she found out she was NOT going up in the castle.



Minnie's sewing machine....I think Madi was making a ladder to get up into the castle....lol.

Is it done yet??

Ok.....starting to forget about the castle thing....real Princesses!! She was in awe!

Money can't buy smiles like this....

Still in awe.....

Mickey!!! What else is there to say?? it's Mickey!!

Minnie's house...Madi informed us she wanted to live in a pink house too.....imagine that!

Up in the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house.....last thing we did for the day. By this time the heat index was 115....no joke. Madi was ready to drop and we were worried about heat stroke. After only 4 hours being there the first day....we knew we had to get her out of the heat. No amount of water was taking the edge off the heat that day. Lot of walking and waiting in lines and extreme heat makes for 3 grumpy tired people....lol Ok Disney...we'll be back tomorrow!!

We're on our way...

Three years can go by in a blink of an eye if you're not careful. We had a joke about trying to do the "bucket list" of Key West before the move. There were many things not crossed off....left undone. Over a year of our time was spent dealing with Louisiana, trying to get Madison to us. I spent many days at home, waiting patiently for the phone to ring, from all the social service people that said, " We'll call you tomorrow." Tomorrow turned into days, weeks, months, etc. Dennis had to hear my frustrations while he went off to work. But it finally paid off.At least we were able to share Key West when Madison finally arrived. Thank goodness we took so many pictures. She'll probably lose the memories as she grows older of the place we became a family. As we came down to the last few days in Key West....thinking there was nooooo way we were going to be able to pull off getting Madison adopted and would have to continue the nightmare of dealing with social services in Virginia......a judge stepped up to the plate and said we could do the adoption proceedings by phone, but not until we were already in Orlando. But as everyone likes to say.....we were in the most magical place of all when Madison became "officially" our daughter.
On June 17th...at 11:00am we sat in our hotel room waiting on the phone call that made us cry. A judge talked with us and even with Madi to make sure this is exactly what we wanted. Dennis and I had tears streaming down our faces....and Madison soon came to understand that sometimes people can cry because they are so happy. Maybe because she heard it so many times from us, or maybe because in some small way she actually understood it...Madison said, "You're crying because I'm officially your daughter??"
Yes Madi we are!
The sign in Key West that says thanks for visiting...come back soon! Maybe someday we can take Madi back to what we will always call our first home.

The last playdate in Key West

What a hard thing. Knowing this day would be the last day Madi would play with her Key West friends. And of course it was about a gazillion degrees out .

Maybe playing under the slide would help with the heat.

But the ladies in pink had their faces turning too pink too! Wow it was hot!


Time to go get in some air conditioning at Miss J's house. And of course, goofballs that they are....they get blankets and towels to cover up with!! Three peas in a pod!!

We won't say goodbye...we'll say..........Until we meet again!! And thank you for the memories.....To everyone that was a part of our Key West HOME!!