I have a new hero

Words fail me.

--Maddie

p.s. Do not click on that link if you are over 40, or if you generally find Will Ferrell unwatchable.

Up on the airplane, nearer my God to thee

My parents risked our lives this past weekend by taking me on my first airplane flight. No, the risk wasn't from air travel, which is safer than car travel, especially when the driver is cooing at a toddler in the rearview mirror. No, the risk was from our fellow travelers, who mom and dad sincerely feared might lynch us if things didn't go well. Thankfully, I was OK once I got on the plane. The gate, not so good. But it's all a memory now...

Naturally I wanted to take as much of this experience as possible on my own two feet...


Why did we fly on Memorial Day weekend, you ask? For my uncle Dave's fabulous wedding in Pittsburgh, where Franco Harris was in attendance. Yes, that Franco Harris. Though, depending on which of the women in the family you asked, he was Frankie Harris or Frank O'Hara... We Hays women have to master college basketball -- surely that's enough.

I'm getting sidetracked. It was a super-fabu weekend. I got acclimated to hotel life...


...Mom and I made ourselves beautiful...


... and I admired the fruits of our labor.


Then I watched pretty ladies strut on a catwalk...


...and worshiped Aunt Jane's fabulous sparkly shoes.


Finally, we tore up the dance floor at the reception:


Bedtime? What bedtime?

--Maddie

Yellow River Park

Dear Reader,

It seems somewhat perverse to give the name "The Yellow River" to any river in which small children wade. Nevertheless, I had a nice time.


I hear that an 18-year-old girl and her father summited Mt. Everest together this week. That's nice and all, don't get me wrong... but did he carry her?



I wanted to go straight, but mom and dad made me turn left:


Happy trails to you!

--Maddie

Eat... more! Eat... more! Eat... more!

Mom rented this video for me and I learned a couple of useful words. The first was "more" and the second was "eat."

Yes, I learned the signs, too.

-- Maddie

I am delicious

It came to my attention this morning when Dad returned from Starbucks (no, it's not every morning he does that; we're not that fabulous; we were just out of coffee grounds) that I have not only shoes named after me (see below), but also cookies.

Well -- "petite French cakes," if you prefer Starbucks' marketing pablum:


I find the thought inescapable that all of you were out there, waiting, just wondering when I was going to find this out... these little cookies are delightful, after all. (Unlike my namesake shoes, I have firsthand experience with these.) Cat's out of the bag now, but you could have said something, you know! What will I find out next?

Au revoir,

Maddie

No pressure, but I'm dying here

I don't want either of my grandmothers to feel that they aren't working hard enough for me, but .... a fabulous life doesn't just happen, you know. Like a Hollywood movie, it requires a cast of "little people" to make the magic work*... it requires, in my humble opinion, a flying granny nanny or two.

In other news, I am sick. (If you work for Georgia DFCS, please stop reading. Now. Thank you.) I had a 102 degree temperature last night, but Mom thought she had just cranked up the heater too high, so she tried blowing on my back to cool me down. Best idea she's had since she put Vaseline and cornstarch in my hair. Good times, good times!

I am going to pull through thanks to a miracle drug called Tylenol, but I may need a granny nanny to save me from my parents...

--Maddie

* -- No, not little like me. I am large in spirit.

Maddie-ness in the world of fashion

Michael Jordan and I have shoes named after us... do you?

The J. Crew Maddie espadrille:


I can't pronounce "espadrille" yet, but I'm sure they're fabulous.

--Maddie

The ants go marching three by three...

I went on my first hike today, and I walked the whole way:


...thanks to emergency raisin rations, I had plenty of energy.


Well, maybe I didn't quite walk the whole way...


...but I did make myself useful by carrying the water bottle:


--Maddie

Caption contest #2

Enter your caption in the comments field!

Flowers, fountains and frogs

This weekend I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, where I saw many fabulous and amazing things.


I am very fearless:


Mostly I tried to go everywhere as fast as possible. Why are you grownups so slow all the time?


I am only a thistle now, but I am going to be a sunflower...


Still, the highlight of the day was taming the fountain. You can see from this video that I had to not only deal with the fountain, but also with certain interlopers...



Hope your spring is going fabulously, too!

--Maddie