Let's start with Mom. She apparently enjoyed a good sink bath as well.
And the freedom of not letting the man and his "dress code," keep you down.
Which inspired Dedo to send the above pictures after seeing Maddie with her monkey socks.
And yet somehow, the big Kender genes seem to take a back seat, when the Page gets involved.
Yeah, those 2 are of Dad. I think we know who won the dominant/recessive battle. Now to figure out where those blue eyes came from...
But first, breakfast at Toast with her BFF, Maya.
Then a refreshing walk through the San Fran hills.
And finally - after waiting half of her life to finally see them again, meeting Taisie and Grandpa Toby at the Oakland Airport.
Here, the eternal question of , "How do 4 adults, 1 baby, and 8 pieces of luggage fit in one hatchback?" was asked. It was then followed by, "Which is smarter - Google Maps or the Pruis' GPS?" Answer - Google Maps. Which begs the question - "Which did we use?" Well, the GPS seemed to have us on the windy 1 for so much less... Little did we realize, it had us on a wayyyyy more windy side road (think one lane in parts, no reflectors, white-knuckles and mountain drop-offs - we literally passed only one other car in an hour and 15 min - a UPS truck). We are sooo smart.
This morning, Maddie, Jess, and Sam headed out on the road at 4:30am because they love to be driving when the sun rises. Ok, actually, this being Maddie's first long car ride, her parents were freaked out by the prospect of 6 hours of crying baby. This way they were guaranteed at least 2 1/2 hours of quiet before... Maddie's First Rest Stop - The Apricot Tree in Firebaugh, complete with fine figurines, an original Pac-Man and jerky.
Some time (and not too bad a drive) later, Maddie finally got to her BFF, Maya, in San Fran. After reconnecting, they began their new favorite game - "I reach my hand to your mouth - You lick it - We both laugh."
Then Kears and Sam played the same thing, but since we were in the Castro, noone thought anything of it.
We all waited for Todd to come home from work, put the girls down, and remembered what it was like to have a dinner without having to clean off anyone's face, except one's own.
What could bring such joy to a 7-month-old?
Why, patting Dad's spiky hair, of course!
We all met up with Auntie Jamie for a noodle meal at the new Vietnamese joint in her neighborhood. There were long communal tables to eat at, and Maddie's presence seemed to scare off one man reading his paper. In actuality, though, it was Auntie Jamie who kept throwing toys across the table.
After meeting up with K-Dub, Shanna, Tim, and Eric at Auntie Em's, we all had a Sunday morning brunch, just blocks away from Shanna and Tim's new house.
After being disappointed by the deep-fried french toast, Edith (who is 26 weeks old on-the-inside) invited everyone back to her house, where Shanna and Tim had cooked a blueberry pie and a fig tart (made with figs off of their fig tree). Nothing like 2 pieces of pie to really end a brunch well.
It was a big day of firsts for Maddie. Her first Metro ride and her first protest.
People poured out of the Metro, heading to City Hall.
The lawn and streets around City Hall were packed with protesters of all sexual orientations, races and genders.
And there were a variety of protest signs, some funny, some serious.
This is Erin and John's sign (and by default ours). In fact, when we were marching, the Jim Lehrer Hour came over to interview us. Sadly, after realizing that Erin and Jess were not a couple, he told us that although we did have valid opinions, he would continue on his search. Oh well - Sam still wanted to find him and tell him what an excellent program they do.
We marched through the streets of downtown.
Although Maddie had a similar initial reaction to the protest as to that of the hockey game, ie lots of people and loud noises = scary, she quickly got into the swing of things. She began to enjoy looking at all of the people, became used to the shouting, even enjoying being bounced to the chanting, and perhaps realizing the importance of the event, stayed awake throughout the entire thing.
Although she did begin to nod off, just a little, at the end.
After marching in the 90 degree heat, we all decided a lunch break was in order. In a smart move, we all headed to Japantown to a local ramen shop. There Erin ordered the only vegetarian items on the menu, and had a delicious, filling lunch of ...edamame and rice, while John and Jess ordered raman soup and proceeded to sweat profusely through lunch. Sam ordered cold noodles, and finished his plate, happily.
On the Metro ride back, there was a man with this sign.
Lilly came over for a visit, and as of late, she has been noticing Maddie's headband. She is aware that it is a "microphone, that helps Maddie hear," but last night she realized that it was also so much more. After watching Maddie for awhile, Lilly requested her own headband, so that the two of them could rock the style together.
Her new favorite chew toy - a lemon off the tree in the backyard.
This lemon even displaced her favorite toy of the past 2 months, a bag of Utz Crab Chips, or more acurately now, Utz Crab Dust.
Eventhough it seems like we left the Madd Page at home, she is actually strapped to the front of Jess' chest. We just couldn't figure out how to get her in this pix. Just trust us - the burn in Jess' legs is proof enough.
The morning began very excitedly... as Maddie prepared for her first trip to the Zoo.
There we met up with her friend, Lilly, her soon-to-be friend, #2, and Lilly's mom, Marissa (who is 13 weeks pregnant). 
Although the LA Zoo is not as spectacular as the Bronx Zoo, Lilly did point out lions.
And watched kangaroos closely.
We also learned about ocelots. It seemed, at first, that we had found two cubs rough-housing with each other, but slowly we began to realize that ocelots are considerably smaller than the other big cats, and these two were playing some very adult games.
We also learned that the Children's Zoo, consists of a few goats and a donkey with blinders over it's head. Huh.
Maddie still managed to get excited over the elephant scratching it's butt against the fence, the meerkats, the bird habitat, and the "playing" ocelots.
And the minute we stood on line for lunch, in the slightly quieter cafeteria, she knocked out from all the excitement. Something which lasted until we went back outside to eat, where she became equally as excited over the souvenir cup of diet pepsi.
We all headed out for brunch at Jinky's in Sherman Oaks to meet up with Eric and K-Dub. It was a warm fall morning, and we reviewed the menu outdoors.
Maddie reviewed it orally.
Full on menu, or food off of the menu, we left feeling pleased with the company and with the little orange fish, newly named Heinz, who had kept Maddie content during brunch, even while getting dunked in ketchup and doused in water.
On election morning, Mom, Dad and Maddie went to vote at the local rec center. Maddie was excited at the chance to let her voice be heard, and "helped" Mom choose how to vote on Prop 5, through a hefty bump of hand. Sadly, she is not very familiar with many of the issues, and caused Mom to have to get another ballot.
Then it was over to the Findley household, for an election night dinner and poll-watching party.
To quell our churning stomachs, we watched the Daily Show on a slight delay, until a call from Sam's folks that Barack had won the election!
Champagne was uncorked, and we all celebrated the triumph of hope and change.
Even ELF got in on the action.
It was an amazing feeling as we watched Barack give his acceptance speech. Some of us cried - all of us smiled. It was a night to remember, and four years to look forward to.
