Where's Riley?

I went to pick Riley up from camp today and after he said goodbye to the staff, goodbye to his friends, goodbye to the random people driving away and goodbye to the trucks driving a block away, he hopped into a bush and used it as his hiding spot.  He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, so maybe this is part of his camp experience?  I'm going to have to dress him in neon shirts moving forward, though, cause he almost blended in to the point of disappearing.

As you can see, we now have to build in a few extra minutes on drop-off and pick-up for fun new games like "Sit in a Puddle", "Hide in a Bush", "Point out a Truck" and "Try to Steal a Bike" - and it's always a surprise!

Tot Graduation

Today was the last day of school before camp starts, which means that Riley has officially graduated out of the Tot room!  There was an end of school ceremony/celebration that we went to - even BiBi and Zee came!

After a school slide show, each of the classrooms came out to sing a song.  The problem was that as soon as Riley saw Chris, he didn't want to sing, didn't want to stand with his friends - he just wanted to go to his Daddy.  Good thing it was a short song anyways.

After all of the presentations came the fun part!  The gym was open with bounce houses and all kinds of sports and games.  Riley played with each and every piece of sports equipment he could find - basketballs, soccer balls, hula hoops, gymnastic shapes - and was loving every minute of it.  What a boy!  Riley even got a one-on-one basketball lesson with Daddy!

We had a fun time playing around and meeting a few of the other parents.  The main difference between day care and camp is that Riley will now get to swim every day at camp.  Stay tuned for camp updates throughout the summer.  

Congratulations Riley, on your first (of many) graduations!  We are very proud of all your accomplishments in the Tot room!

21 months

Today, Riley is closer to 2 than he is to 1 1/2.  We didn't have anything special planned, but we ended up going over to Golf Galaxy and Riley had so much fun playing around the store. He tested out the kids golf clubs in the simulator, tried out a few putters on the putting green and picked out a new ride.

I think it's good to start teaching him early - hopefully he gets his Daddy's swing, cause Mommy misses the ball more than she hits it!

Take me out to the ballgame

Per usual, we had a very full and exciting Sunday.  After a 10 mile family bike ride in the morning and a restful break in the afternoon, Riley and I headed to Washington, PA with a group of young families from the shul to watch a minor league baseball game!  Although Riley napped late enough to make us miss the first pitch, we made it with plenty of time to spare and had a great time at the ballpark!

As you can imagine, we didn't spend too much time in our seats - and therefore didn't have much time to talk to our new friends - but Riley was on the move and was having a great time dancing, making new friends, learning the game and trying to get his tiny hands on a baseball.

Today just so happened to be "Run the Bases Day" so after the game, we made our way onto the field and Riley took more than his fair share of time running all the way across the field.  He took a few breaks, of course, to touch the grass, turn around to run in the other direction, and throw his new baseball and probably could have been happy staying for another hour.  But had we not left when we did, we wouldn't have been able to get a dozen signatures on our game ball like we did!

This was such a fun activity and I am sure we will be going back soon and often.  Let us know if you want to join us on our next visit!

Family Golf

The hype and stress of Stacey and Brad's wedding has come and gone, but what's left is wonderful memories, the excitement to see pictures, and GeeGee - who is making the most of her two week visit.

With free time to spare, and all hands on deck, BiBi and GeeGee came over to spend time with Riley and I as Chris was out of town.  After a lovely dinner of grilled cheese and catching up on the day, Riley invited GeeGee up to see his room, and show off where he practices his golf swing.  Not ones to be left out of the fun, the ladies grabbed their clubs (or canes, as the case may be), and everyone got in a round before bedtime.

It's good to know that even though there may not always be enough clubs to go around, GeeGee is prepared for just about anything!

GeeGee's in town

With Stacey and Brad's wedding day approaching quickly, the guests have started to arrive in Pittsburgh and the preparations are being finalized.  And to begin the onslaught of family, GeeGee has started the parade by arriving over the weekend.  Now, we all know how much Riley loves spending time with family, and he had been waiting forever to see GeeGee.

And now that she's in town, we can do fun things like go shopping, read stories and show off all of the tricks that Riley can perform.  And if Riley's childhood and upbringing is anything like mine, he can soon start to expect potato chips for performing these tricks - especially when performing in the pool!

Mother's Day on the move

Happy Mother's Day!  We had an awesome time celebrating today and it was so much fun just to be able to spend the whole weekend together doing whatever we wanted.  It was pretty outside this morning so we packed up the car, strapped on our helmets and hit the trails.  Riley has a new bike seat that lets him co-pilot my bike and we had the best time wheeling along the rivers.  We would talk to each other, point out fun things and sing songs.  With this little assistant, there is no way to get bored on the bike!

We rode along the rivers, rode past The Point, rode through downtown and rode to lunch.  It was nice to go out before the huge crowds took over and we really just had the best time figuring out what to do without having a set schedule.  Riley was so much better this year about wearing his "bike hat' and I think we will be rolling through the city often this summer.  

My favorite part about this Mother's Day was that we got to spend a low-key day together as a family and that's the best gift I could have asked for!