Happy Birthday Madison!!

Happy Birthday Madison!!! Today July 27, 2011 is Madison's 7th birthday! I can't believe that she is that old!

Madison Paige McDowell was born July 27, 2004 at 9:41am on a Tuesday morning!
She weighed 8lb 1/2 oz and was 20 inches long.

Madison has been such a joy to have around. She is fun, energetic, loving and silly! She has an unreal obsession with horses. She also love all the Disney Princesses. Right now Rapunzel is her favorite. She has excelled in school. She is off the charts in testing for each grade level. Her favorite book series right now is The Magic Tree House. She can't wait to be a 2nd grader and for school to start! We love Madison and grateful that she is part of our family and our first child!!


The day she was born!


Madison at about 8 months.

Madison loved her monkey named Norman (after Grandpa McDowell!)

We taught her the "O" face while she was young!! GO DUCKS!!

And now she is all grown up!

Medora, North Dakota

For one day of the reunion we went to Medora, North Dakota. It was about an hour drive away. We did some sight seeing and window shopping. It was in the mid 90's that day so we cooled off by going in and out of all the little shops.

Brynley getting ready to go!

Madison found a horse to ride!

We also found a taffy puller to watch! Madison thought it was pretty cool!

Brynley was such a trooper!


There was a train that ran right through the town. It was pretty loud but fun to watch.

Madison and Zachary each chose something that would remind them of their trip to North Dakota. Madison chose a wolf named Dakota (which never made it home because she lost it at Grandmas. We are waiting for a call if they find it!) And Zach chose an American Bison named Bluff.

It was a fun day. More pictures to come.

Our trip to Montana!

We left bright and early Friday morning for our 2 day trip to Eastern Montana. The first day we stopped in Idaho Falls to eat a picnic lunch at a park right across the road from the Idaho Falls Temple. After the kids ate they got to play on the playground for a while, while I fed Brynley.

She was so happy to be out of her car seat.

Our final destination for the day was Bozeman, MT. We pulled into town at about 6pm. So we went to dinner first then checked into our hotel. This was Madison's 2nd time in a hotel and Zachary and Brynn's first!

Relaxing after a long day in the car!

The next day we had about 5 hours in the car. We stopped in Billings and Miles City for little breaks before heading into Glendive, Montana, the sight for this years McDowell Reunion 2011.

The reunion was up at Makoshika State Park in a lodge. It was really hot but really fun. We played lots of games, and caught up on everyone's lives.

Most of the day it was so hot, it was torture to hold Brynley. We were sweating just sitting there. So when she fell asleep we put her in the travel bed!

Brynley and her cousin Bailey had matching beds! Most of the time it was slightly cooler outside so this is where the girls slept!

Madison and Ashlyn became good friends by the end of the week. She is actually 1 month and one day older that Zach, she preferred to play princesses over cars!!

Just hanging out on the deck in the early evening!




It's a tradition at the reunions to take a family picture! The only one not there was our brother in law Rick. Isn't the view amazing?

I just love this picture of Ryleigh! Her hair was so wild because of the humidity!

Well that ends the first few days of Montana. More to come including Bison!

Zachary turns 5!!

I can't believe that Zachary is 5! His birthday this year was during swim lessons and the day before we left for Montana for the family reunion.

Zachary Ray McDowell was born at 7:27pm on July 14, 2006. He weighed 7lb 6oz and was 22 inches long. It was fun to have a boy, and was a big change from Having Madison who was 2 at the time and just getting into Princesses!

Zach is an absolute joy to have around. He often provides us with comic relief. He loves CARS (as in the movies.) anything with wheels and the occasional stuffed animal.
He will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks and he is very excited to meet his teacher and ride the bus!

Ready for the last day of swim lessons!

He loves diving board day!

Right after his jump!

Madison's turn on the board. Earlier that day she told me and I quote, "Mom, my nervous cup is getting full. You know that spot right here (pointing to her chest) that's my nervous cup and it's almost full." I asked her why and she said she was nervous about going off the diving board! After she went off 2 times she said that her nervous cup was empty!!! What a nut!

After her first jump!

Later that same day!

For his birthday dinner he chose pizza. Which was fine by me because that were no dishes and very little mess!
We had Shannon, Devin and the girls over for dinner and then we had cupcakes and homemade ice cream! Zachary also invited our neighbors Amy and Eli.

Before he opened his presents!

After!! He got a lot of the CARS 2 cars!! And Lego Batman for the DS!

Madison also got to open an early present. Aunt Nicole sent each of them a DS game. It was nice having them for the 2 day trip to Montana!

After dinner we had cupcakes and ice cream!

The end! It was a fun day and I think Zachary is glad to be 5!!!

Wahooz!

This past weekend we went as a family to Wahooz Family Fun Zone. Travis's older sister Nicole and her family got us a gift card for Christmas. We finally had a free weekend and nice weather. So we loaded up and spent a good part of the day playing mini golf, go carts and arcade games!

It was only 85 that day. So we started off with mini golf. Zachary is pretty good and even got a hole in one! We have decided that Madison does not have an athletic bone in her body. You wouldn't think that you needed much for mini golf but you do. We all had a good laugh, and cheered her when she got it in the hole.


We didn't know if the course was stroller accessible so Travis strapped on Brynley while we played. There was lots of shade to keep Brynn cool, we played 18 holes and it was pretty fun. After golf we went and cooled down inside and played some arcade games.
(yes that it I-84 that runs right by Wahooz!)


There were a ton of games to play. We tried to play the ones that gave you the most tickets.


After we cooled off we went back outside to ride go carts. Madison and Zachary were just a few inches short of driving by themselves. So we each got to drive with them.

Travis and Zachary getting ready to ride!

Travis is strapping Zachary into his seat.


Here they come around the corner!


Me and Madison getting ready for our turn. She was so nervous that we were going to go too fast! She called me a crazy driver!

And here we come! It may look like we were in first. And we were for a little while then we came in last. A couple of guys bumped us and pushed us out of the way which is strictly against the rules. We saw the guys get pulled over and given a warning by the track workers!

After the go carts we went back inside for more games and too cool off with every ones favorite! Dip N Dots!!!!

Thanks Aunt Nicole, Uncle Rick, Blake and Ashlyn for a great Christmas in July!!