Little adventures...

Grammie and JoePa's trip was WAY too short and we had to take them to the aiport Sunday morning. We had debated on whether to stop to eat breakfast on the way home or just to head home and once we left the airport we started talking away and all of a sudden Jason had exited and we were on the Bay Bridge headed to San Francisco and NO turning back!

Neither of us had been paying attention to realize he had taken the wrong exit so we took it as a sign we needed to find a fun place to eat in the city and that we did!

We drove up and down the Embarcadero checking out the restaurants and comparing notes on Yelp and decided on this place called Perry's!

Riley just LOVES riding on her Daddy's shoulders!

After our wonderful breakfast...all the food was great!
We spent the rest of the Sunday afternoon relaxing and planning two fun little trips we wanted to take before Jason left.

Wednesday afternoon we picked Riley up from school and headed to Sacramento to meet up with the Habbestad's. We all grabbed dinner at PF Changs and then Riley headed home with the Habbestad's and we headed up to Lake Tahoe for a few nights to ourselves.

It was the latest we had ever driven up to Tahoe and it was by far the worst conditions...there were lots of low lying clouds and the roads were covered in ice but we just put it in 4 wheel drive, listened to some good music, and we made it just fine!

We stayed at the Montbleu, our first time staying at a casino in Tahoe, and stayed up way past our bedtimes playing roulette...it was lots of fun!

Thursday morning we woke up and Jason headed to the Starbucks in our hotel to get us some breakfast. We ate breakfast and drank coffee in bed and watched Saved By The Bell...it was so much fun!

After we were wide awake we headed to Heavenly to ski...the weather was great in the morning and got a little cloudy in the afternoon but it was a good day of skiing. Here's some video of Jason skiing...just in case you were missing the Olympics here's my gold medal man who obviously likes to try and spray me with snow all the time!



We headed down the mountain early afternoon, went to the hotel, and took a long nap. It was blissful!

After our nap we strolled the streets and decided to try this pizza place that someone had recommended to us and it did not fail...in fact it was awesome!

We stopped at a different casino on the way back to our hotel because I was convinced our luck was non-existent at our hotel. At first it seemed we were having the same bad luck but when we had nearly spent all of our "fun" money Jason put the last bit on one hand of three card poker and it paid off...that was a great time to call it a night and get some more good sleep!

Friday we skiied some more, grabbed some super greasy but delish hamburgers, and then headed to pick up Riley...we had a great time together but couldn't wait to get our arms around her!

We spent the evening relaxing, eating a home cooked meal, and packing for our next adventure!

Grammie and JoePa...

We had a great visit with Grammie and JoePa!

They flew into Oakland Thursday evening and Riley and I went to pick them up...Jason was working that night. In order to avoid the crazy traffic we grabbed dinner at a cute Italian place in Emoryville and had ice cream afterwards...this was just the beginning of an ice cream trend while they were here!

Friday we scrambled around in the morning not sure if the weather would cooperate for Wendy to take family pics...and it all worked out and we had a blast!

She is such a fun photographer and she got some great pics of all of us...we took these in Suisun Valley just a few minutes from our house!

You can see the video she put together here and the entire gallery of pics here!

Friday night we headed to Davis and took my parents to one of our favorite Thai restaurants...seriously I could eat their EVERY night...yummy! We also had our second treat of ice cream after dinner!

This was Riley all ready to go out for dinner!

Before we headed out for dinner Riley and Grammie had fun sharing a snack...a glass of wine for Grammie and some veggie straws for Riley!
Saturday we headed to the charming town of Petaluma to check it out. It's a great historic town that sits on a small river...such a cute place!

We started out with lunch at a great bistro...the food was great!

They made Riley a grilled cheese with all kinds of fancy cheese...she ate some but we didn't let any go to waste! She definitely didn't let us help her with yet another treat to ice cream!

This is such a great pic of my parents!

On the drive home we decided to take the "scenic" route and it was such a good decision...right now the vines are pretty bare but the vineyards are full of wild yellow mustard. We had a few of the family pics taken in front of a great field of mustard and we saw even more on this sunny day as we drove home!

This is by far the best picture of the hills that we live by...they are just so pretty!

The vineyards...

After we got home from Petaluma Jason got ready to grill out...tri-tip and a beer can chicken!

Riley had fallen asleep on the ride home from Petaluma and woke up when we got home but wanted to go back to sleep so she slept another hour or so in her bed and we all enjoyed the weather outside on the patio!

Me and mom

The boys!

JoePa teaching Riley the correct stance for football!

It wouldn't have been a proper visit if Grammie didn't get a taste of being put to sleep by Riley!

She even got a binky stuffed in her mouth...that definitely soothed her and put her right to sleep!

We miss you Grammie and JoePa...but we'll be down to visit in just a few weeks! Yay!

Whew...

Well life has been a bit crazy and blogging has had to take a back seat!

I have been super busy with work as we are launching a pilot project next week...more to come on that...but with that I am going to be taking two trips to the thriving metropolis of San Angelo, TX over the next few weeks to see this project through.

Just when we thought we had the timing of all of my trips worked out Jason's deployment got moved up a week and threw us for a loop. Thankfully everything has fallen into place but it has made for a busy time in our life!

We had a great visit from Grammie and JoePa last weekend...more to come on that!

With Jason's deployment moving up we decided to take a few days this week to make some last trips. John and Amanda were nice enough to watch Riley for two nights while Jason and I went to Tahoe to ski! We just got home this afternoon and couldn't wait to snatch up Riley!

We are heading out in the morning to Monterey and Carmel for a quick family trip and we are really looking forward to it! Gotta love California and the ability to go from snowtop mountains to the ocean in just hours!

In the midst of the craziness we have had lots of fun with Riley!

DiDi bought her a huge play dough set for Valentine's Day and we have had lots of fun playing with it!

Jason made a snowman or "snowmee" as Riley calls it and she couldn't wait to put his hat on!

Now time for fun...this girl is so lucky to have such a fun daddy!

Here's all the funny faces the two of them made!

Smile!

Buck teeth!

and a mustache!

I also got Riley some sidewalk chalk and we spent one afternoon out drawing...well I did most of the drawing and she ended up throwing them and breaking them into pieces...oh well!

She had to keep her phone close by...she was expecting an important call!

Not quite sure what to do!

She did a little drawing!

I'll have more updates soon!

Our Little Baby now a Big Girl

One night last week Riley was playing one of her favorite games...putting Mommy and Daddy to sleep. I'm not sure where her fascination in this comes from but nevertheless she could play this game for hours.

Here's how you play:

Riley: "Mommy...go night night"

I lay on the floor and if I'm not laying precisely to her standards then

Riley: "Rooooolll over"

So I roll over and then

Riley: "Close eyes Mommy"

So I close my eyes and she precedes to take her blanket of choice and sweetly cover me up including putting the blanket over my head.

She then "pats" my back which is a term I use loosely because really she is slapping my back!

However, if I speak up and ask her to be gentle then

Riley: "Shhhhhh Mommy"

So I go back to sleep!

Well a friend of mine called in the middle of this game and if I wanted any chance to chat with her I had to come up with something for Riley to do...so I took Riley in her room and for whatever reason let her play in the blanket drawer in her dresser and by the time I got off the phone her room was COVERED in blankets!

Jason came in and we were folding them all up and putting them away when we spotted the hospital blankets that we brought her home from the hospital in...tear tear!

We were reminiscing on our former swaddling skills when Riley was this size...

I still remember how important the swaddle was...it determined the fate of our sleep!

Once she had fallen asleep after I fed her we would ever so carefully lay out the blanket, swaddle her up, and plop her in bed! We used to call her our Riley burrito!

So with all the blankets out we decided to show Riley how we used to swaddle her up!

And here's the big girl Riley burrito!

She quickly realized that she couldn't move and she wasn't to thrilled with that!

Milk makes everything better though!

It's amazing how fast they grow!

The last few weeks we have really noticed Riley's communication go to an entirely new level! She is talking back and forth with us, still repeating a lot of what we say, but also saying things like "Daddy make food" after seeing Jason cooking at the stove.

It's very cool to be able to communicate and reason with her!

She used to refer to Grammie and JoePa as "Geee" and "PaPa" and their names have turned into "Gammie" and "JoePa"...they are coming to visit this weekend and we can't wait!

I kept joking that Riley's New Year's Resolutions were to get rid of the "dinky" (pacifier) and to potty train...she's making great progress!

Potty training has gotten SOOOOOO much better and she is truly getting it. I wanted to throw in the hat those first few weeks because I wasn't convinced she really knew what was going on but other moms kept encouraging me to stick it out and I'm so glad we did. She is able to tell me when she needs to go and I am constantly hearing her say "No help" as she wants to do it all by herself!

Going #2 is always tricky because every little gas bubble she feels results in a trip to the potty which is great, but can be tricky as well. The other night she ran into the potty saying "Doodoo balls" about 5 times before the actual event occurred...it was so cute!

She only had a few accidents over the entire last week and I'm so proud of her!

If you want to know how smart this girl is let me tell you a funny story related to potty training! We have been way behind on watching American Idol so a couple nights this past week we would let her watch American Idol with us while we all ate dinner...she would be in her highchair and she was tougher than Simon as we would ask her if someone should go on to Hollywood and she always yelled "No"...frankly and to the point! One of these nights she was wanting out of her high chair and we were telling her she needed to eat some more food first. In the midst of this battle she yells "PooPoo PooPoo" and of course I jump up and go to get her out of the highchair so we can make it to the potty. As soon as I unsnapped the tray from the highchair she said "No poopoo No poopoo"...WHAT? She cried wolf just to get out of the highchair! We were shocked and realized how much we are going to have to watch that little stinker!

As for the dinky, we have completely limited it to naps and bedtime and while she sometimes will ask for it we do not give in and we don't take it anywhere with us...it was just as hard to break us from giving it to her as it was for her to not have it! I'm not sure when we will remove it for good but I'm fine with it just being used while she's sleeping! Having it fall out of her crib during the middle of the night is the only thing that will cause her to wake up so I think that will be a rough transition..one thing at a time!

She grows so fast but our love for her grows even faster!

Sunshine...

When we first arrived in Cali ALMOST a year ago (still can't believe that) we saw a few rain drops and then the rain stayed completely away for months on end. Everyone kept telling us about the "rainy season" and made it sound like three months straight of rain! We have had a few weeks of LOTS of rain and flooding, but it honestly has not been quite like I ancitipated...not bad at all actually!

Last week we had GREAT weather...highs in the 60's and lots of sunshine! I welcomed it by wearing capris and flip flops at least one day!

Riley and I spent one afternoon outside riding her bike and going on a walk!

She decided to wear my hat and bring her naked baby along for the ride!

I love this face...I was pointing out the fact that an airplane was flying over us and this is her staring into the sunlight to see the "eeeerplane"!
Being a good mommy and buckling her baby in for a walk...nevermind the baby's head is almost completely turned around!

Off we go...

Awww...the baby needed some love!

Cutie patootie!

After she had walked her baby she decided it was time for me to take her and her baby on a walk and that we did!

Yay for sunshine...bring on Spring!

Hitting the slopes...

Last weekend was our long planned trip to Tahoe with several friends...8 adults and 2 kiddos to be exact! We all took Friday off and sent the boys up early to ski all day and get the craziness out of their system!

Us girls left around 10 in hopes that Riley and Maddie would sleep on the trip...hahahaha!

They were ready to see snow and had fun dancing most of the way!

Wouldn't you know these two stinkers fell asleep 20 minutes before we arrived!
We decided to take the girls to Soda Springs which is a super family friendly place with an area just for little ones 6 months and up!

Here's me and my snow loving girl!

The kids area at Soda Springs was AWESOME! It's hard to find areas targeted to Riley and Maddie's age and I wish every ski resort had an area like this!

They had this awesome tube carousel that pulled them around and they could go faster and go over bumps by moving to the outside tubes.

Riley had a blast and just laid back in her shades for the ride...here's a cute video of us all cheering her on!


They also had a separate area with a tubing hill and a magic carpet to ride back up to the top...her first trip down she toppled into a man totally standing in the way and that was a bit of a shock for her but she got up and was ready to go again!

They also had this ginormous hill for Riley to climb up and slide down...I don't know how those kids made it to the top...even we couldn't because it was so slippery!

I taught Riley how to roll down the hill and she loved it...she would just keep rolling and rolling!

What a fun place!

After Soda Springs we headed towards our cabin to meet up with the boys!

We had a cute quaint and tiny cabin for our whole gang and unfortunately the heat wasn't working when we arrived...boo!

They gave us another cabin so we took advantage of the extra space and slept with the kids in the other cabin while the kid-less folks built a fire and kept warm in the heat-less cabin!

It was quite a horrible night getting Riley and Maddie to sleep...OMG...however we all got enough sleep to be ready to ski the next day!

Since the boys had filled the previous day with skiing us girls hit the slopes first thing!

Katie, Amanda, Me, and Ashley

Here we are riding up the lift!

After our morning of skiing the boys met us with the kiddos and we played in the snow...check out this huge snowball!

We all grabbed lunch and then Jason and I switched off playing with Riley and skiing for the afternoon! She never napped but did great!

Amanda and I were the LAST ones down the mountain that day!

We went and grabbed some Mexican food and headed to the cabin. I have to admit I was dreading what I thought would be another catastrophe trying to get the girls to sleep but Saturday night was MUCH better...thank goodness!

Sunday we packed up all our stuff and headed to NorthStar at Tahoe to ski for the day!

We hadn't been here before but they have a great childcare program and it looked like a great place so we wanted to check it out!

Riley played with new friends all day in this awesome center and did a lot of playing in the snow as well while Jason and I hit the slopes all day!

First the girls grabbed some much needed Starbucks and then we were ready to go!

We LOVED this place...there were so many runs that we never skiied the same ones twice and it was so nice and wide open...it was just great! They also had a great village at the base with all kinds of shops, restaurants, and an ice skating rink!

Me and the hubs before we caught a lift!

Ashley and I decided to grab a bite at the top of the mountain so we could maximize our time on the slopes...check out our huge turkey leg which we split...good decision!

After lunch we met up with the boys and skied the backside of the mountain where I am proud to report I skied down a black diamond and didn't have any trouble...there were no moguls but it was quite steep...it was so fun though!

We all rode the lift back up and then skied down the whole mountain and called it a day!

This was the first trip where I ended up being sore the next day...I guess that made it a good trip of skiing!

We picked Riley up from playing and headed home...luckily we didn't really hit much traffic on the way home either which was fantastic!

We had a great weekend!