October 13-19, 2010

Last Wednesday for Young Women's we combined with the Young Men to do a "Where's Waldo" activity at the mall.  I was one of the lucky leaders that got to dress up.  Here is my "Where's Waldo" get-up . . .

 I got the dress and (never been worn) shoes from the Salvation Army store, and I couldn't find a grey old-lady wig, so I had to settle for this Napoleon Dynamite wig and glasses set instead.  So pretty!  It was a fun night and we had a lot of kids show up and participate.  Everyone loved my costume, I think I will wear it for Halloween too!

On Thursday Riley and I went to the Puppet Theater at Balboa Park to see "Witch's Brew". 

 It was horrible!!  Incredibly boring and it almost seemed like the puppeteer (I think it was only one lady) was just making in up as she went.  After it was over I thought to myself that I was never going to go there again, but then I talked to another mom when Riley was playing at the park and she said she comes all the time and that was the all time worst one she had seen.  She told me to try again before I decided to veto it all together.  There are some pretty fun sounding ones coming up for the Holiday's so we shall see . . .

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On Saturday we all drove up to Julian, which is a small old mining town up in the mountains, about an hour away.  There are a bunch of novelty shops and while we were there we purchased this pretty hummingbird feeder.  It has been quite a hit with the hummingbirds at our complex.  

 On Monday it was cloudy and rainy, so Riley and I went to the indoor playground at McDonalds.  He loves to make car noises, so this part of the playground was a big hit for him.  He even went down the big kid slide once.  He is so brave!

Yesterday he spend most of the morning wearing the body of his costume and his hat.  In case your couldn't tell from the picture, he is going to be a lion for Halloween.  His costume has three parts, a mane hood, a body with tail, and lion paw slippers.  He doesn't mind the body, and sometimes Gary can get him to wear the hood for a few minutes, but he has never worn the slippers for more than a couple of seconds.  I leave the costume out to try to entice him to try it on, but so far I have only been successful in getting him to wear this part for any length of time.  I definitely need to come up with a back-up-plan-costume.

Photo Overload . . .

We had a ton of pictures on our camera, so I thought I would share . . .

(In no particular order)

Gary got a full-body wetsuit for his birthday, here he is showing how awesome it is going to be!

Riley on his first camping trip to Tanner Flats.  He loves gathering rocks, so he had a great time!

Making a crazy mess in the bathroom, woohoo!

Trying out the tent before the big campout

Enjoying some animal crackers.  Everything tastes better when your camping

Riley is helping me sweep up

Miss Anya!  What a doll

Riley and Daddy at the campout

We stopped on our way home from Salt Lake for a bite to eat

The bumbo is stuck to his butt!  He looks like a purple turtle!

"Nothing bundt cake" for Gary's birthday.  These things taste amazing!

Petting farm animals at Poway Days

Checking out the bears at the San Diego Zoo

Gary gave Riley a sweet mohawk, yeah!

Making a mess of the cupboards

Watching the jets fly by at the Miramar air show

Eating breakfast at the Broken Yolk restaurant

More jets, so amazing!

Watching the fish (Riley calls them "fissss") at the Birch Aquarium

Beautiful tank full of fish at the aquarium

Beautiful vegis waiting to be roasted for dinner, yum!

Whale fountain at the Birch Aquarium

We keep the babies on the second shelf

Minnie Mouse dressed in her Halloween costume at Disneyland

Goofy dress up as a skeleton

Mickey Mouse dressed in his Halloween costume at Disneyland

Jack Skelington and Sally near the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland

He pulled the monitor off of the shelf above his crib and when he finally fell asleep this is how I found him

This is a fountain at Disneyland near Space Mountain.  Riley loved it!

I wore my apron to make dinner the night before and Riley wanted to wear it the next day.  I had to tie the sash around him about six times.

View from the back

Riley hanging 10 at Disney's California Adventure. 

We bought this giant teddy bear at Costco and he LOVES it. Every time he comes into the room he says, "Bear" and gives it a big hug, so cute!

Look at that face

These are glasses from Mr. Potato head, but he likes to have us put them on him, and he really likes having us put them on us.

Tidbits . . .

Twice yesterday Riley said two words together.  I was so cool!
As we walk the dog each day he always wants to touch trees and bushes and lampposts and he always points and says, "Touch."  I tell him what each thing is that he wants to touch, and sometimes he will repeat it.  So yesterday  he said "Touch" and pointed to a bush and I said, "You want to touch the bush?" and then he repeated, "Touch bush."  Obviously my mouth fell open, I was so surprised!
Later that afternoon we were in the kitchen and Riley was toddling around eating some goldfish and he was trying to share his snacks with the dog.  I said, "Don't let Jack bite your snacks." and he said "Jack bite", to which I replied, "No bites for Jack." and he stopped feeding him.  Jack was sad, but I was so excited!  It was so neat to feel like Riley and I just had a mini conversation.  Definitely looking forward to this being a regular occurrence.

On another note, Gary just read yesterday that Disneyland has put up their Halloween decorations!  Woo hoo!  We are so going!

Falling of the Planet . . .

I am amazed that it has been three months since I last posted! 

Looking at that last post it is funny to think that Riley grabbing what he wants out of a container was a new phenomenon, since that is what he does all the time now.  He is growing up so quickly and keeps amazing us everyday with all the fun new things he is doing.

He has been walking since right around his first birthday, July 4th.  He is working on talking too.  He says quite a few words and a handful of animal sounds too.  I am totally impressed with all of the things he understands though.  Even though he can't say it, he can point to quite a few body parts.  He can  also point out many animals and various other objects.  It is amazing!  Being a parent is so incredible!  Here is a random sampling of pictures from the last few months.

Riley and Gary playing in Riley's sandbox out on the deck

Eating some lunch

At the science museum at Balboa Park.  They have an exhibit with 50,000 Jenga-type planks of wood that you can create whatever you want with.  So fun!

Playing out in the ocean with Dad

Eating his bran muffin with his "Morning Face"

Our new car, woohoo!  

At the Children's Area at the science museum

Exploring the cupboards

After a good day of surfing

We bought this awesome "Bubble Gun" at the San Diego fair and it is so fun to use during Riley's bath

Gary's brother Bryan had some fun in the surf while he was here

Gary has recently taken up Geo-Caching.  This is a shot of his first Geo Cache.

Riley and Matson getting into the utensil drawer at Gary's parent's house

Playing in the caves at Salt Lake's Aquarium

Hanging out with Poppi at the Aquarium in Salt Lake

Different trip to the Aquarium, this time with the Tices.