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! :)

Riley the Rock Star

What's really nice about where we live is that there are two parks that are really close by, both of which have really nice playground equipment as well as nice fields to run around in. In particular Riley has loved to test her ability at climbing (and hanging from) all sorts of things. Here's a video in which you see Riley climbing the rock wall they have at one of the playgrounds. We were really impressed with how well she did, especially considering that she just had some cheapy-type sandals on (ie, not a lot of traction at all) and pants that were too big for her that they were falling down as she was climbing. :)

Skuut!

A few posts ago, we put up a video where Riley was "riding" her bicycle (aka her Skuut). In that video you could see how she (expectedly) struggled with her balance as she walked along. She also was scared to be on the bicycle without us and made us hold on to it. Even then, she only lasted about 10 seconds at the most.

Here are two videos that were taken this past weekend. What a huge difference a month makes! Riley is now extremely comfortable getting on the bicycle herself, and while at times she still wants us to hold on, as you can see she can walk along without us for good stretches at time. She can also regain her balance to stop herself from falling! Take a look.

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Our little girl is 2 years old today!!! She has gotten so big and is talking so much, it's insane!

The theme of Riley's birthday presents this year is transportation. First up we got her a "Skuut" which is a bicycle with no pedals or chains. It moves "Flinstone"-style, where Riley walks the bicycle. The purpose of it is to teach balance which of course is really the hardest part of riding a bike. It'll be some time before she can do it on her own, but the bicycle "grows" as she gets older.




Riley loves it, and looks super cute with her helmet on. She actually just loves to walk around with the helmet on. Here she is with her helmet, my gloves, and her tea set (courtesy of her cousins Kate and Aiden). I think she was on her way to go feed her rocking horse, "Bubba." (You can see it in the picture there with a blanket on. Riley thought that Bubba was tired and had to take a nap.)



Next up is a tricycle. It's still a little hard for Riley to pedal by herself but as you'll see, she doesn't let that stop her.




Of course she loves it best when we just push her!




Finally, we got her some books, one of which is the Dr. Seuss book, "Go, Dog, Go!" Here she is with Cam reading the story for a 2nd straight time. She already knows so much of the story although this was only her 2nd time hearing it!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Yay! We got snow! And not just any snow... good packing snow for snowmen! Woo-hoo! I haven't made a snowman in ages and ages (something to do with living in the desert for the past decade) so it was a lot of fun to make one. It was also a lot of fun to see Riley playing in the snow and trying to help us out with the construction (well at least for a little while).





Here are some cute pics of the event:

Our lil pumpkin!

Last weekend, Cam and I, along with our friends Greg and Erin, decided to take our little ones, Riley and Tygh, to go pick some pumpkins from a pumpkin patch.

The place was huge! On one side of the farm was the patch of pumpkins, which as soon as we got there and got out of the car, Riley found. Here's a video of Riley not moments after we arrived trying to pick up one of the pumpkins (a common theme throughout the day).




On the other side of the farm were all these attractions. There were zip lines, apple slings, apples shooters, a hay maze, a petting zoo, plus more. After spending a few minutes laughing at Riley's vain attempts to pick up pumpkins, we met up with Greg, Erin, and Tygh and decided to see the attractions. Now, technically you were supposed to pay $10 per adult to actually do any of the activities (kids were free), but you could walk around for free. So, we walked around, although admittedly we went in to the petting zoo (no one was monitoring anything really) so the kids could see the animals.

It was super cute because when Riley saw the cows she starting saying, "Moo!" She was also brave enough to have the goats eat from her hand. We got a picture of it, but when we tried to video it she had decided that she didn't like it.



After we toured around some more (and got some kettle corn, which both kids LOVED), we headed off to find our pumpkins. The great thing about going to a patch like this is that they give you a wheelbarrow to cart your pumpkins around in. Or small children. Whatever works.

Here's Riley and Tygh exploring our wheelbarrow.





Here's the picture I referenced in the video. I just love the look on Tygh's face.



Unfortunately we don't have any great videos of the two kids trying to pick up a pumpkin together. It was kind of hard to keep up with them as they just went every which way, enjoying the open space.

After spending a couple of hours running around, both kids were pretty wiped. Good thing we had that wheelbarrow. As Riley can attest, it sure seemed like the way to travel!





Hopefully when we move to Michigan they'll have pumpkin farms like this. I never went to one as a kid (not that I remember anyway), and I think that it would be super fun to go every year and make it a family tradition!

This and that

How independent is our little girl? She doesn't need any help from us at all! *sniff*



We have these beautiful roses out in the front of our house that Riley just loves to smell. We're working with her on saying "flower," which works only some of the time. :)

A-dorable photos!

To follow up the last the post that had a few videos for you, we thought we would share these adorable photos of Riley.

The first set showcases Riley's absolute love of helping us unload the dishwasher. While I'm not thrilled that she stands on the dishwasher itself (we most definitely do not encourage it), this one time made for a nice photo op.

The second set features Riley trying to imitate her Daddy playing the guitar on Rock Band. I especially love the first photo in the set as it seems like a classic "bad girl rocker" shot.

The third set shows up Riley's art work on our sliding glass doors. The other day I went out and bought crayons that are designed especially to be used on glass surfaces. [I got the idea from my friends Jenn's blog carterlogan.blogspot.com. Thanks for the idea Jenn!] In the photos, you'll see Riley drawing and doing her other favorite pastime of trying to put the lids back on the crayons.

The final photo has Riley sitting outside being pensive. We taught Riley how to put her finger up to her mouth and say "Hmmmmm...". It's absolutely adorable, and she uses this skill at the appropriate times. For example, we'll say, "Riley, what do you want to eat?" to which she responds, "Hmmmmm....". So precious.

Enjoy!

Hodgepodge

Oops! It's been a while since our last post, so we'll make up for it in the next couple of days as I finally go through the videos from August and September. This post will be mostly August.

We'll start with two new hobbies of the month. First is an increased interest in drawing (asking "Do you want to go draw?" sends her running for something to write with). Here's her excited after one of her first masterpieces:



A second new game is to play with the $8 croquet set we picked up at Goodwill a few weeks ago. While she occasionally looks like a homicidal maniac when wielding one of them, she seems to have down the general rule that they're supposed to be used for hitting balls on the ground (or occasionally other things, as you'll see in the video). Also note the painstaking care she takes in choosing the right mallet for each job.




And finally, some good ol'-fashioned goofiness on her play structure.

Ballplayer

Here's Riley throwing and catching. We've been trying for so long to capture it on camera. However, every time we tried, she became more interested in the camera or other toys lying around. So, this is not her *absolute* best performance, but one of the better ones (her best was actually during a Skype call with Babcia and Grandpa Kondek, so we have witnesses!). Note how she fingertip catches some of the balls! What's especially neat about her being able catch and throw a ball like this is that apparently it is a 2-year-old milestone. She's just over 17 months and has been doing this for a while!

Blackberries

Recently, it's been a bit of a pain that Riley has found the blackberry bushes. Each time she remembers where they are, she takes off after them and throws quite the tantrum when we pull her away (attempting to save her from prickles). Today, however, she was remarkable. She approached the bushes with a cautious confidence and started picking her own berries. Two things in particular are worth mentioning (and viewing!): 1) She was definitely more interested in berries she picked than in ones I picked and offered to her, and 2) Though she occasionally tried to pull off the under-ripe red and green berries, she gave up on them quickly. For contrast, she was very persistent in pulling off the ripe black ones, suggesting she knows the difference.

Out in Left Field

Riley's first trip to the ballpark brought us to Volcano Stadium to watch a Single-A short season league game. Here, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes ummm...erupted the Everett Aquasox (I know, right?) 7-3, giving the Volcanoes a 4-game lead in the Western division of the Northwest League.

We met up with Riley's best friend Tygh at the game. As you can see, they had a pretty good time. The first picture wasn't at the game, but cracks me up.

Here's Riley with her new second best friend, the foul pole:



And what ball-game would be complete without snacks?

She's a smart one

Even though this video is short, I'm sure your reaction will be as mine was the first time I saw it... "Wow!" I am constantly amazed about how quick she is learning things. What a sweet and adorable little girl we have.

BBQ!

Yesterday we went up to the grandparents to take part in a BBQ. Riley had a blast, as did everybody. She got to play with a bunch of kids, some of which were a little older (about 5 years old) and some more her age (the little boy sharing the drink with her in a few pics is only a month older). The highlight of the evening for the kids was our toy sink that we filled with water (the faucet actually runs!)... ALL of the kids LOVED it! We tried to get them to stop drinking the water, but it was futile. By the end of the evening, Riley got absolutely drenched.

You'll also see pictures of Riley with her ear of corn. She carried that thing all around until long last she dropped the corn in the toy sink. I think I should have gotten a picture of that. :)

No fear

Our little girl has become somewhat of an adventurer these days. One of her most favorite pasttimes is to climb onto things, especially chairs. When she sees one of us sitting on the couch, she wants to be there. If she sees one of sitting at the dining room table, she wants to be there. I've included some photos of her of her sitting at the dining room table, after she's climbed on to the chair by herself.




The only problem with letting her do this is that she then proceeds to climb on to the table. Not good.



Here's a video showing how quickly she can get up on the chair in the living room.



Riley apparently also has no fear when it comes to playing at the park. As you'll see, she goes down the big kids slides by herself, albeit a bit awkwardly. However, no matter how convoluted she gets down, she gets right back up and goes again. It's been a lot of fun taking her to the park recently. She absolutely loves being out doors.

Lounging in the Pool

An empty pool, but a pool nonetheless. No seriously, she's one crazy baby huh? :) Although admittedly, for the first little while, that was some of the calmest moments we've ever seen from her. That girl is non-stop action. It's no wonder she wanted to relax and stare up at the trees.

A night in pictures

Here's how Riley spent part of this evening:

1). After having some fun painting, she proceeded to come in and out of the house via the sliding glass door.

2). Getting impatient waiting for dinner, she found a hard-boiled egg in the refrigerator and proceeded to suck on it until dinner was ready.

3). After eating a good amount of hamburger, she figured out how to eat corn on the cob, both with hands AND without.

But why read about it? The pictures tell the story so much better.

A day at the park

Just thought you'd be interested to see how much fun Riley had the park the other day. We have got to find one this big and with this much stuff closer to our house (this one was up in Vancouver, WA... Cam took Riley up there for the day so I could get work done... was a great husband, huh? :-) )

I can't get over how much traction Riley's shoes have!


I saw one of these swings for sale at Target... man I think Riley would love to have one!


Apparently the kid at the end of the video was following Riley around all day... I don't blame him. Riley looks like a lot of fun to hang out with!

In honor

Riley wanted to thank all those that serve(d) in the military by taking part in her very own baby "boot" camp. She struggled a bit with the slide portion of the exam, but rocked the stair climbing. The concept of running water also seemed to be a bit out of her grasp... ha! :-) However, to be fair, Riley is only 14 months old and the recommended age for the treehouse is 18 months and 24 months for the sink. So, in our book, she gets an A+!



In all seriousness, many thanks to Jo, Brian, Pop, and everyone else who have honored this great nation of ours.