Rosh Hashana Wrap Up

Last week, we had such a great time visiting Chicago!  We had been looking forward to the trip for a while and the best part was the down time that we got to spend with family.  After the requirements at shul were over and we were able to catch up with many of our old friends, we were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend casual family time.

Riley enjoyed spending time in some of his old stomping grounds and even got to stay in his old room for a few nights.  It looked a little different but once he unpacked, he felt right at home.  We celebrated our birthdays complete with cake and gifts and Riley's garage got a new slew of additions.

Riley had a great time exploring the house and checking out each and every corner - even the one with the sticky mouse trap in it.  Once he figured out what it was and tried to get it off his foot, it turned into a family activity that everyone helped to participate in.  Once all his toes were set free and cleared of sticky, he was off to do more exploring.

The visit was wonderful and Riley was great on the plane rides both ways.  Thank goodness for entertainment devices and movies!

Let's get packing!

Seeing as how we're moving in 2 1/2 weeks, I guess now is as good a time as ever to start packing.  I think packing is the worst thing in the world and I put it off as long as possible, but lucky for me, Chris is an expert packing and has taken on the challenge head-on.  I guess Riley has seen us putting things in boxes and wants to make sure that his valuables make it to the new house too!

And now that I' done procrastinating, I guess I have to go pack up my summer clothes...

Old McRiley Visits A Farm

E - I - E - I - O!  This weekend, Chris had a great idea to go apple picking!  We went to the same farm where we went last year and decided to space out our farming activities - apple picking in September and pumpkin picking in October.  

The visit started with a stop at the petting zoo where Riley said hi to the goats, ran away from the chickens and tried to wake up the pig.  He was a little nervous the whole time and didn't love the idea of getting too close to the animals.  He did, however, like to hear all the noises they made!

Once we made it to the orchard, it was time to fill up our bag.  The Gala apples were in season, but we started in the wrong lane and filled up half of the bag with another variety - but those are the ones we all like anyways.  So once we covered up our mistake with the correct apples, we took a walk through the field and of course, found some diggers to watch for a while.

We were real professionals and took time picking the best apples and tasting a few here and there to make sure they were really the ones we wanted.  Hal way through one apple, Riley saw another one on the ground that looked better, so he put his down and picked up the new one.  Luckily that was not one of the apples that had been living not he ground for a week, stomped on and feeding a family of ants...

When the picking frenzy was complete, we headed back to the store to check out the rest of the crop.  Riley wanted to inspect the quality of the mini pumpkins and in order to do a thorough job, he had to get in and really take a look at the product.  In the end, he approved of the pumpkins and had to be dragged away.  We came home with a half bushel of tomatoes that has thus far been turned into pasta sauce, chili and gifts to neighbors and family.  Anyone have any suggestions of what to do with the remaining 14 tomatoes?

Look who's 2 (and 30)!

Today marks another fun birthday that Riley and I got to celebrate together - we are 32!  Well... I'm 30 and he's 2!  I think this is the last birthday we will get away with where he doesn't quite know what a birthday means and that we can celebrate together without him thinking that I am stealing the day from him... we'll see next year!

We've already had fun for a few days with a birthday cookout on Saturday, a celebration at school and toys throughout the week.  This kid is obsessed with everything on wheels, so we put trucks on his cake, trains in his toy chest and tractors in the back yard to ride on (or at least take advantage of the fact that the neighbors are doing construction and pretend that they are for Riley).

By the time 8pm rolled around on his actual birthday, Riley was zonked from the days of celebration and ready to sleep.  He was pretty feisty and stubborn on the first evening of his 2's so lets hope that this year comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate from near and far and we are looking forward to a very exciting year of new opportunities, exciting activities and learning from each other along the way!

Bring on Birmingham

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to visit the family in Birmingham and had such a great time!  It's never easy to travel, especially when it involves a 2 year old who is always on the move, but Riley did such a fantastic job on the flights and did so much better than I thought.

It was nice to just hang out without a specific plan and just spend time with family.  We went to the park, went to the pool, went to the museum and had some quality time at Grammy and Grandy's house.  I think they were surprised at how much Riley is on the move and how fast he is.  We reminded them quickly that he is a handful but with his cute smile, it was easy to also see how much fun he is.

Grammy and Grandy tried to convince us to move to Birmingham but between the heat and the bug bites, we are happy just to visit and hope to do so again soon!

Fun at the grocery store

This evening's exciting activity was a trip to the grocery store to do a minor stock up.  We hopped out of the car, picked out our cart with a race car on it and made a bee-line straight for the bakery so Riley could pick out his free cookie.  After licking the frosting and sprinkles off the top, he tossed it in the cart and was ready to help.

I don't know if any of you have ever tried to drive one of these extension shopping cart monstrosities but they are just about impossible to maneuver.  I almost knocked over a carton of canned tomatoes, had to wait my turn to walk down an aisle alone and at one point realized that a bagel display on wheels was attached to us and coming along for the ride!

After about 15 minutes in the cart, Riley decided enough was enough and it was time to explore - and by explore, I mean run up and down the aisles, hopping, jumping, making friends and at one point running through the pharmacy automatic doors and making a run for daylight.   Needless to say, I will be wearing my sneakers next time we take on this activity.

So we left Chris to do the shopping and took laps, exploring all of the options.  Riley was particularly fascinated by the ricotta cheese and sour cream display and took it upon himself to reorganize.  They clearly looked much better out of color order and in a tall stack!  This picture was taken just before the last one was placed on top, just slightly off balance, and I had to catch the Leaning Tower of Ricotta Cheese-a!

Lesson learned - do not expect to take a 2 year old to the grocery store alone to get shopping done.  Either go with back-up or go alone!

Wet weekend

With our weekend starting out sunny and dry, we set up Riley's new sandbox and picked out the perfect toys that should live in there.  We have a nice flat spot in the shade where the turtle now lives and Riley has a really great time playing in there - when the weather allows it.

The whole weekend wasn't that pretty, though.  With Sunday morning's concert in the park being cancelled, we had to find new indoor activities to keep us busy.  So first we went to Lowe's to get a handful of things that we needed around the house, and then spent some time playing around Wal-Mart.

Do you see Riley?  Can you tell what we are testing out?  Can you see how happy he is to be part of the display?