Training Wheels, or the Lack Thereof

So yesterday I decided to go out on a limb and take off Riley's training wheels. If we're being honest, it was as much because they weren't functioning very well as it was that I wanted to challenge her. Here's her first trip out sans training wheels yesterday -- needless to say, we were pretty impressed.




Impressed...until today, when she blew us out of the water! Here's how she started the day:




And here's how she ended up. In total, she spent *maybe* 10 minutes on her bike yesterday, and another 10 minutes on her bike today, before she could do this.





I thought I'd mention that I credit her speedy learning to the Skuut we got her as a toddler. Here's a video of her on her Skuut

Old Skuutin' Video

and here she is on the same bike just hours before her first attempt on her bicycle with no training wheels.

Sprinkler fun!

It's hot here on our nation's celebration of independence. So what better way to cool off then to run through a sprinkler? This was our first hookup of our sprinkler this summer, and the videos below capture Riley's first passes through. After what's shown on the videos, I got in on the action, and all three of us had a blast running through the sprinkler as we made up dares for each (e.g. touch all three yellows, etc).

This wasn't Riley's first time through a sprinkler though. A few weeks ago, we went to a county park which has a "Splash Pad," a gated off area that has a lot of different and crazy sprinklers. For example, in one of the pictures, there is a series of rainbow sprinklers to run through. It was a little windy that day and the water was *very* cold (or so I heard). So, I couldn't get a really good video of Riley going through any of the sprinklers. But here are some pictures of Riley testing the water, so to speak.

She's got wheels

Recently we decided to get Riley a more traditional bike. (That in and of itself is a long story.) What we got her was a princess bike, complete with a bell, basket, streamers, and a seat for her "babies" to ride with her. She is enthralled with the bike. Every day we get home the first thing Riley asks about is riding her bike. Although that really means all of us have to ride our bikes. (Our bikes are new too.)

Here are some videos taken outside the house. We have found it much easier to just ride around and around our cul-de-sac then try to go anywhere. The one video I (obviously) took when I was riding my bike. (That was a challenge!) In that video you'll hear Riley tell her baby, Bailey, that they have come get me. The way she interacts with her babies is so cute... she's always stopping to make sure they are okay and that they know she's just up front riding and not to worry.

The other you'll see Riley keep telling me to start riding after her. That's her favorite game to play... come get me! :)

Easter Part 2

Here's an adorable video taken Easter afternoon. As becomes clear a few seconds into the video, Riley was singing "I'm a little teapot." This was an impromptu song and dance by her as she waited for me to come back from getting my shoes on to go check out the blooming flowers in our yard. I'm so glad that I got some of it on camera because she was so adorable!

Happy Easter!

Anyone in the know is aware that Easter holds a special place in my heart as it was on Easter day, 3 years ago, that my Riley came into the world. (Funny how it was March 23rd back then and now it is on April 24th.)

Here are some videos taken this morning of Riley going out on her Easter egg hunt. She was so excited to look for all of the eggs and very sympathetic to the poor Easter Bunny who had to hop to every boy's and girl's house to leave an easter basket and eggs for them to find.

Happy birth holiday my angel! :)

Movin and Groovin

Riley's been doing this cute thing recently, where if we play music she likes, she closes her eyes and moves in a deliberate way to the music. Kinda like she's really feeling the music, man. We have two clips that illustrate this. One is on her birthday where we were eating cake, and I was singing this made up song to her. The other is when Cam was playing a youtube clip, called "Funny Bear." An interesting back story about that youtube clip: Cam found it quite by accident one evening when he was super tired and was just trying to get Riley to settle down for a bit. It's an animated video about a bear and it is sung in French. Riley loved it and kept asking for it over and over again. If you have time, just search for "funny bear french" on youtube. It'll come up.

Riley's 3rd!

Riley just celebrated her 3rd birthday. She is getting so big now! Here's a short clip of us singing happy birthday to her and her telling us what she got for her birthday.

So cute!