10 months old, walking with support, new car seats

A couple of days ago, Mommy climbed up in the attic and got down some of bubba's toys for me to play with. At first I did what I usually do to check things out. I tasted it. Then she explained to me that I was supposed to stand up and walk behind it.

So I took my first "assisted" steps on my own. I have now decided that this was really cool.

I have lots of fun when my brother lets me walk on my own.

Another one of the cool toys that mommy got down from the attic!

After my full day of walking, Mommy & Daddy decided they wanted to clean out their closet. I kept poking my head in to see what all the "mess" was about. Then I found a way to try on clothes for myself. I didn't know they were daddy's underwear!

Check out the slave labor! Riley made me push him! Aren't I the little one?

For Riley's birthday, he got a gift card to Toys R Us. Mommy & Daddy decided he didn't need any new toys, but he needed a big boy booster seat. Since he got a new seat, I got his old one. That also meant that I got to turn around and face forward! We both like our new ways to ride in the car.

Relaxing in my new seat!

10 month old progress:

I can cruise around any piece of furniture.

I can stand on my own for about 5 seconds before I fall.

I am beginning to eat finger foods on my own.

I STILL do NOT have ANY teeth!

I protest quite loudly when Riley steals my toys!

I still have my blue eyes (Mommy & Daddy are really hoping that they stay this way)

I can say Dada, sometimes Mama, and occasionally Ry-Ry.

I have started drinking from sippy cups.

Busch Gardens

After spending one day recovering from Disney and one day at a family reunion (where I met a TON of people I had never met- and we have been married 5 years!), we took the whole crew to Busch Gardens in Tampa. Unfortunately this was another 2 hour drive. We got there later than the rest of the group because of a bad accident on the freeway. This actually worked out for the better because they(the young group) wanted to ride all the BIG roller coasters. Riley wasn't tall enough to ride any of these so we went the opposite direction to the animals. We today consisted of Grandad Tom & Grandma Sandy, Randy, April, Riley, and Alex. First stop was the Amheiser Busch Clydesdales. We were sad to learn that they no longer have the beer school at the park. The horse was actually getting his hair blow dryed!

Then we saw the hippos. This was the first time I had ever seen one truly swimming. Most of the time I see them from the top of the water. The really glide through the water pretty easily. But I wouldn't want to meet one while I was swimming!

Sweet kiddos!

Alex on the sky ride with daddy. We got a great view of all the fun things we didn't want to miss throughout the day.

Alex just wanted to stand up and eat the bar!

Riley rode with Grandma Sandy & Grandad Tom

On the train ride around the whole park

Up close picture of one of the rhinos

The really big turtle that we saw

Sharing Grandad's sun hat


Unfortunately our day turned into a rainy day. They even shut down all the rides at one point. After all the rain majority of the group left to go home. Alex went home with Grandma & Grandad to take a nap. Randy, Riley, & I stayed to ride some more rides. One of the best ones we did was the Rhino Rally. This is a ride where about 15 people packed into a land cruiser and go around and look at all the animals. As we were getting on, they asked if Riley wanted to be the navigator. So cool! This meant that throughout the ride the driver would ask Riley which way to go or have everyone respond to Riley. Here was our driver.

Here was the best picture that we could get of Riley as the navigator.

Then finally the roller coaster rides opened up and we got in line for a second time for Riley to ride a real roller coaster. Here he is in his rain gear outside the Scorpion. It went upside down! He rode this one in the very back car with the rain pelting us in our eyes. So far, Riley has ridden 2 roller coasters -one in the very front car and the other in the very back car- and absolutely LOVED both of them.

After that exciting adventure, we decided we had had enough rain and headed to Bradon to eat a fabulous prime rib dinner at the Bradon Ale House. The next day we started for home to end our vacation.

Disney World 2009

It took me forever, but I finally got Randy to go with us to Disney World. Well it wasn't the full week trip like I had planned, but I will take even a day. After spending the 4th with Richard & Karyn, we drove down to Sandy & Tom's in Arcadia, FL. The next morning, we left Alex with the grandparents and drove 2 hours to the Magic Kingdom. We met Travis & Jamie there for our day of adventures. Unfortunately to start off the morning, I got sunscreen in Riley's eyes. That is why he looks like he wants to cry in the early pictures, his poor eyes were burning! We started off seeing Pluto!

Then I insisted we take a family picture in front of the castle. Unfortunately, this is what the photographer took. So much for a group shot!

Randy planned our route of attack. We went to the right first, Tomorrowland! Immediately Travis wanted to ride, Stitch the Alien Experience. Last year Riley was afraid of just about anything dark, so I really didn't want this to be his first ride of the day. So Travis & Jamie rode Stitch and Randy, Riley, and I headed to Buzz Lightyear, a laser game ride. Riley loved it. I scored 622,000, but nobody believes me because no one else could see my score! This was actually the only ride that we rode twice. We came back and rode it with Uncle Travis & Aunt Jamie after we drove the cars.

Riley sporting the shirt that we stopped and bought him at Walmart on the way to Disney.

This is one of Riley's favorite characters!

This is still Riley's favorite rides. He loves that he gets to drive by himself (Mommy has to push the gas).

Randy rode in the lane next to us so that he could get the upclose pictures.

Our 2nd time to ride. This time Uncle Travis won with 175,000.

After we finished up Tomorrowland, we spent a good portion of the day in Fantasyland. I'm not sure when, if ever, we will outgrow much of that land. We rode just about every ride once. This year there were no fears. Last year Riley totally freaked on Mickey's Philharmonic 3-d movie. This year he LOVED it. He sat on Randy's lap and kept trying to reach out and touch all the objects. I was so proud of Riley. Not a single fit all day long! He just went with the flow, stood in line mostly good, and ate & drank when we did. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Mickey!

After standing in line for about 40 minutes, we got to meet the Mouse himself and Minnie! Family picture minus Alex!

Still a favorite, Dumbo! This time we only rode it once!

We stood in line while everyone else, got fast pass tickets.
Watching the afternoon parade from the best seat in the house, Uncle Travis' shoulder!

Afternoon at Disney World 2009

Our afternoon at Disney World was filled with excitement. Riley rode his first rollar coaster. We got on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. But he absolutely loved it. As luck would have it, we ended up in the very front car. Riley decided at the last minute that he wanted to ride with his Uncle Travis in the front car with Daddy & Aunt Jamie behind them, and Mommy in the back of the front car. He held on tightly, but LOVED it. He got off the ride expressing, "That was way Awesome, way cool, and way fast!" Looks like we will be riding many more rollar coasters in the future. Too bad Space Mountain was closed, he probably would have loved it.
After that excitement, we headed over to Adventureland to continue our fun. First up was the Pirates of the Carribean ride. As we were getting in line, we noticed Captain Hook. Every good pirate family needs a picture with Captain Hook. So Riley waited somewhat patiently until his turn and then smiled. Walking away after the picture, the photographer handed him a card that said he could get a free pirate's makeover.
So we headed over to the brand new Pirate's League to check it out. We really didn't know what we had in store. First off was getting his pirate name. They put two wooden dice inside this trunk and Riley spun the captain's wheel. He rolled a one and a five. Put that together with a June birthday and his name was "Benjamin Sharkstench". Next up was choosing the face paint for the kind of pirate he wanted to be. At first he chose the solid white face. Mommy & Daddy quickly nixed that idea because we knew from past experience that that only equals an itchy face, especially on a hot day. Next he chose the one with the scar. Following the tough decision, it was time to let the transformation happen. He sat down in the big seat, and his pirate transformation began with a story.

First he painted his eyes. Riley wasn't too sure about that.

Finally the transformation was complete, and Benjamin Sharkstench was smiling at me. Afterward they went to take a picture in a "secret room". It was all too cool! We found out that had we actually paid for this activity we could have chose different levels of costumes. We could have added the pirate bandana or hat, eye patch, and earring. Or if we were really rich, we could have added the whole costume.

Randy & I decided that Riley looked silly without the accessories, so Randy quickly ran to the Pirate's gift shop to purchase the accessories. We decided against the $65 pirate costume. So here is his final transformation. Arrggh!

After this fun, we took our little pirate on The Pirates Of the Carribean ride. Loved it! Then we finished up Adventureland, which also marked the end of riding all the rides. We decided to take the train from Frontierland all the way back to the front gate to do a little shopping. We got Riley a new t-shirt and bought ourselves a Disney picture frame. We also attempted to take one more family picture in front of the castle. Then it was time to watch the parade.

For the parade, we split up with Travis & Jamie and went to the spot that my family had watched it from last year. Same fantasmic parade. I just love everything Disney does!

After the parade, we met back up with Travis & Jamie to watch the fireworks. Shortly before it all started, Riley decided he needed to go potty and was hungry. Gee kid, it was only 9:30 and you hadn't had dinner? Anyway, so we found the restroom and then went and ordered mini corn dogs and a coke for all of us to share. Unfortunately our process took too long, and the fireworks had already begun. We tried deperately to get back to the group, but it just wasn't meant to be. So we sat down and enjoyed the grand fireworks show. Nobody does fireworks like Disney! Its amazing that they do these EVERY night! After the show, we found the group and shared the food and we herded out the gate to the ferry boat that would take us to our car. This was the longest line that we waited in all day. Poor Riley was exhausted. He had been going hard since 5:30 that morning, with only a short 10 minute nap during the Hall of the Presidents. We finally made it to our car about 11:00 and started our 2 hour drive back to Tom & Sandy's. By the time we made it home, we had been going for 20 hours straight!

4th of July

4th of July usually equals two things, Randy's birthday and spending time on the water in Pensacola, FL. Randy turned 31 this year. Since it is his birthday, Randy thinks it is important that he spend it with his family. Since Richard & Karyn live in Pensacola, right on the water, I have no complaints about that! (Not that I would complain anyway, I enjoy spending time with them) This year was no different. We left on Thursday before his birthday and headed to Pensacola to spend time with family and pick up Riley & Alex. Riley & Alex went back to FL with Grandma Karyn & Aunt Kalee the previous Sunday.

Proof positive that Randy knows how to do dishes, even on his birthday! After breakfast, we left Alex with Richard & Karyn and all the kids headed out in the boat. All the kids include Uncle Ryan and his girlfriend Christa, Aunt Kalee & her friend Leeah, Randy, April, & Riley. This year we decided to take the boat to the beach rather than fight the traffic and drive. Riley started in the front of the boat, but as we hit the open water he decided it was too rough. So he made himself comfortable sitting between Kalee and Leeah. Amazingly, he even fell asleep in Kalee's lap on the way there.
Looking adorable in their 4th of July clothing.

Toward the end of the night, Alex discovered how to climb the stairs. Oh no, visits will be more work from now on.
After the beach, we enjoyed a yummy dinner of Steaks & Shrimp. I love getting eating all that fresh meat & fish. So good! Then we had birthday cake and opened presents. This year we also celebrated Richard & Ryan's birthday at the same time. Their birthday is July 15, so we won't all be together again. Randy & Ryan scored a super sharp knives for skinning deer. After we were stuffed silly, we headed outside to start shooting off all the fireworks we bought the day before. We shoot off a little of everything, from the pretty mortars to the bottle rockets, and mini tanks that fire.At first, Riley was scared of the noise. He kept hiding in the house. But then the girls worked their magic. They pulled out the snaps. Riley had a blast and was good to go the rest of the evening.