Riley's First Artwork

This video was taken over a month ago, but thought I'd post it as my first video test. I've never uploaded videos to my blog, so we'll see how this goes.

Riley loves her new easel! She also loves to say & spell her name, and also sing the ABC's. It's so cute to hear her sing! You can't quite make out all the words but she has the tune down for a few songs.

Strawberry Picking

Riley and I went strawberry picking for the first time at Bellingham Country Gardens. I can't believe I had never been. The strawberries were amazing and so sweet. Riley was obsessed with eating them. I finally had to keep the basket away from her and run to the car to grab some snacks for her.

We met up with my friend Molly and her daughter Charlotte, who is 1 week older than Riley. They had fun walking around, eating strawberries, and even shared a few together.

I think this will be a yearly tradition, but next time I'm wearing long sleeves. I broke out with a rash on my arms afterwards. Turns out I'm allergic to the strawberry plants, but luckily not strawberries.

At the end of the day I made an amazing strawberry rhubarb crisp. Yummmmmmy!!!!

Trip to Port Townsend

I'm a little behind on updating this blog. Sorry! At the end of June, we took a week vacation to Port Townsend with my family. Brian was able to stay the weekend and then Riley and I stayed the rest of the week, while Brian worked. We had such a great time!

Although the weather was rainy and cold most of the week, we took advantage of the better weather with trips to the beach, went swimming once, walked around town, went to the Marine Science center, out for lunch, played at the park, and the best part...Riley got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa. Oh and the best part for me was sleeping in while my parents watched Riley in the mornings.

One fun fact: on the ferry ride home, Riley and I were the first passengers on the new Salish ferry.

Fun at the Marine Science Center. Riley loved running around looking at the fish and touching starfish in the touch tanks.

Lots of reading with Grandpa and Grandma...

Oahu Trip -- May 2011

We took our first family vacation to Oahu for a week in May. We had a great time! Most of our days were spent watching the sunrise in the mornings while Riley took her first nap (since Riley woke up at 3-3:30am every morning), a morning sightseeing outing, an afternoon nap for all of us or Riley would nap in the car, relaxing on the beach in the afternoon, then watching the sun set on our lanai after Riley went to bed.

Riley loved playing in the sand on the beach and wading in the water. She didn't swim in the ocean though since the waves were a bit strong for our comfort level and she didn't have a life vest. She had a very hard time with the time change. No matter how late we put her to bed, she still woke every morning at 3-3:30am. She napped well for the first part of the trip, but by the end of the trip she didn't nap easily which led to a cranky baby.

For this trip, we decided to go with the flow and spend more time at the beach than doing sightseeing. We stayed on the Northshore and took outings to:

• The Dole Plantation, where we went on a train ride. Thought Riley would like the train, but didn't seem that interested and instead wanted to move around rather than sit on the train. It was an interesting ride!




• Waikiki where we took a quick walk down the strip to see the beach, then ate lunch outside at Duke's restaurant. On the car ride home, we drove around the southern part of the island while Riley napped in the car.





• Valley of the Temples, which was this amazing Japanese temple. We ate lunch at a beach park, then drove along the east coast of the island while Riley napped in the car.





• Drove along the northshore and stopped for a quick swim at Turtle Bay Resort.




• Pearl Harbor. We just walked around the visitors center and did a quick walk through the museum. Since Riley is walking now, she will only sit in the stroller for short periods of time, so we didn't take any of the tours to the Pearl Harbor sites. Afterwards we went to the swap meet that was huge! It wrapped around their stadium and was filled with vendors selling Hawaiian souvenirs. We picked a cute dress for Riley (the red and white dress below).

Valley of the Temples...

Napping in the car...

Getting tired of me taking pictures of her...

Waikiki...

Playing at the beach...

Looking at a little gecko...

The beach outside our condo...

Our condo was right on the beach so we watched amazing sunsets from our lanai...

Spring Fun

Riley had a busy spring! Here are a few highlights:

• Walking!!! She started taking her first steps awhile back but officially started walking on Easter. Since she's been walking everywhere.

Went to the Seattle Aquarium...

• Learned how to sit in her rocking chair, which is her new favorite thing to do...
  
  Went to the Woodland Park Zoo...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Her first pigtails...
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Went to the tulip fields...