The two-year-old

Since we are a week late- I thought I'd show you the birthday girl. 

 We celebrated her birthday ALL WEEK LONG! I think she is wondering where her birthday went... and where all the cake went... Anytime she sees cupcakes presents she starts singing "Haaaaapppppyyyy..." That's all she remembers of the song.

 And this is when we had a meltdown because she couldn't stop opening presents to play with one toy. Such a rough life!

 The ONLY car she will ever be allowed to drive.

We had a great birthday. Actually on her real birthday, we were really horrible parents and went away together- just Aaron and me- and left Madeline with my sister and her cousins. She had a great time, but I felt so guilty.

Aaron and I went to Monterey to run the Big Sur relay marathon. This is kind of our one "romantic" getaway all year long. It's lasts about 30 hours and we have to get up at 4am on Sunday morning to take a bus to separate locations and run a lot of hills. Then we meet up with 9 miles left and run in together. Doesn't that sound romantic? I know, we must be crazy. We did have a great time. We got to eat dinner- like a real date- at a restaurant without a child. That was a different experience! We got to stay out PAST Madeline's bed time! AND... my favorite part, we got to watch TV and read at the hotel. In fact I couldn't decide which one to do so I tried doing both at the same time. And the really best part.. I got to NAP on the way home! I LOVE road trip naps and haven't had one since Madeline's been born. It was weird to not have a child to take care of on the car ride. By the time we finished running on Sunday, I couldn't wait to see my little girl.

After our long run!                                                                                 

This is the BEST marathon ever! Besides the beauty all around, it is so unique. Here is a guy playing the grand piano on HWY 1! This was right after a 2 mile climb. You can hear the music echoing off the mountains about .25 mile away. So inspiring!

Cannery row- one of the great places in Monterrey!

She was ready to see us too. This was her first time sleeping away from us at someone else's house! She had a slumber party on her cousin's room. She loved following them around all weekend, and they were so good to her! Right before we got home, my sister took Madeline to her in-laws. It was a new place with new people and she got scared. When we got there she said, "Momma!" and gave me the biggest hug! Melted my heart! Then every time I asked her if she had fun with her cousins all she would say is, "I cry" and sign cry. I finally stopped asking so I didn't start crying! That did it! We are officially never going away from her again!