Riley Turns ONE!!!

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I cannot believe that a whole year has already passed! It went much faster then I could have ever imagined. Riley is now officially a toddler. We had a great time back in MN for Riley's birthday celebration and Steve & Marnie's wedding in Duluth. I must admit that a night away hanging out with other adults was also a treat! We were also fortunate to spend a full 2 weeks with the Sweany's who have been living the past year in Australia. They left on their adventure the day after Riley was born so we had a lot of catching up to do!

Riley is doing Awesome! He is now 22 pounds and 31 inches tall. He is walking everywhere and loves to play with his basketball and football. Every once in awhile he can even throw it forward. Brendan is trying to teach him to catch, but its more likely to just bounces off his belly! He has adjusted well to his new nanny, and as far as we can tell still loves spending his days with Wilson. They are sure to be best of friends.

As you can see Riley had a blast at his birthday party. Grandma K made him a tasty chocolate bear cake that he enjoyed destroying and stuffing in his face! The man was on a sugar high for a couple hours!

Enjoy!

Riley On the Move........

Here's a little peak at Riley walking! Sorry about the camera quality. A new camera is being purchased this weekend, so we should have better video in the days to come.

Flynn's First Family Vacation!!!!!

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We spent an amazing 5 days in the San Juan Islands for our first real family vacation. We renteda cute little cabin, "the petite amour" on San Juan Island for 3 days. The cabin was cozy and surrounded by three tiers of deck. The middle one hosted a hot tub and sauna the bottom deck had a salt water pool, complete with a big yellow slide. From there you could walk down to the dock/overhang to get a better view of the adorable harbor seal that I befriended. It was pure relaxation (well once Riley went to bed!). Friday we spent most the day exploring the Island. The highlight was our stop at Lime Kiln Park (aka whale watch park). We walked down to the lighthouse and watched Orcas swimming back and forth for two hours! It was so much better then seeing Shamu at Disney. There were numerous shouts of excitement. Saturday we just vegged out at the cabin taking turns walking around with Riley. Sunday before we took off a Bald Eagle dive bombed us, amazing. The forth night we took the ferry over to Orcas Island and camped at Moran State Park. We had a great walk in sight close to the lake. A deer even came by for a visit! It was very hard for us to leave such a beautiful place.

Riley is changing daily now. During the trip he perfected his dead leg crawl, waved to a lot of strangers, and enjoyed his nightly ritual of crib Olympics. I think he will earn a gold medal for best imitation of a Monkey (jumping on the bed that is).

He is now officially walking!!!! I promise to have video this week, and gates (I hope).

Hope this finds everyone well and relaxed.......

First Camping Trip

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Our first camping trip went off without a hitch! Shana and I stayed with the little ones Friday night while our husbands went to Rockaway Beach for a bachelor party. The boys were so good, and really loved being outside playing in the dirt and walking (with assistance) everywhere my back would allow. Saturday we spent the afternoon by the River. Riley was in heaven watching all the other kids jumping in and running around. He went marching right in the water, splashing and loving every minute of it. His favorite activity besides splashing was trying to eat the rocks. I think only a couple little ones slipped by! Saturday our husbands joined us once again, just in time for the mamas to take a well deserved break!

Riley took his first couple steps on Sunday once we returned home. We were sitting in the basement and he was walking back and forth between me and Brendan! He gets so excited and pleased with himself, as he should!

10 Months

Greetings all, whew! We've been really busy since out last post. Where to begin, well my parents and youngest sister, Brittagh, visited in early June. We spent a weekend on the coast in Manzanita, which was a lot of fun. Riley really enjoyed his time with his Grandparents, Mike and Casey (or T-Bone) and Aunts (all three of them). He went to the Oregon Zoo and he loved looking at all the fish tanks and interesting animals. Riley also enjoyed his time at Fernhill Park getting pushed on the swings by Britt and Kenna. He was also able to hang out with his great grandma's cousin, Bobby and Diana, when they came over for a wonderful dinner for Bobby's birthday. Megan's good friend Susie and her husband, Brian, came to visit from Singapore on their summer break before heading to Tokyo on their next teaching adventure. At 10 months, Riley now has about 6 teeth (1 is just coming in) and enjoys all the food he tries. His main focus is on walking, it is pretty much all he cares to do. So we now spend most of our time hunched over walking with him, our backs are hurting. Hopefully his Aunt/Nanny, Kenna, does not file a workers comp injury for a bad back. Riley's newest face is sticking his tongue out, especially before eating. He is going camping for the first time next weekend and we're very excited for our trip to the San Juan Islands later in July. That is about it, here are some photos over the past month:

9 Months

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He had his 9 month check up and is doing great. He now weighs 18 pounds 10 ounces (25%) and is 29 inches long (80%). The doctor said we can start giving him samples of our food to get him used to our cooking and tastes. Hopefully he doesn't mind a little spice.
We had a wonderful week with my parents in town. We spent last weekend in Manzanita strolling the beach, hiking the Cape Falcon trail and just relaxing.
My parents also stayed busy doing tasks when Riley was sleeping. Our newly stained windows look beautiful. Our garden has been weeded, planted and is ready to enjoy. Such a tremendous help, we cannot thank them enough!

Riley now has 4 teeth, two top/two bottom. He is starting to think about crawling. I guess that means we should start baby proofing. I love seeing him move onto new stages, but there is just something about sitting him on the floor and knowing that he won't move that is so much easier. The things Riley loves to do now include clapping, playing peek-a-boo, jumping in his jumper-roo, pull himself up and babbling away, oh and of course putting everything in his mouth. He is at a very fun age.

Two month Recap

My how time flies! Riley is now 8 1/2 months, I can't believe two months have past since our last post. Riley is doing wonderfully and getting bigger every day. Here's a little recap of our past two months. I promise (christy) I will get better about updating this site more often.

March:

we rented a cabin in the woods for St.Patricks Day weekend. The cabin was fantastic, and it was great to be back in the woods for awhile!

Coley was able to join us for his annual Spring Break trip. It was great having him here and being able to spend quality time with Riley.

April: We went home to finally meet Riley's Cousin Emma and Claire. The girls are just adorable. Emma looks more like Jeff and Claire looks just like Michelle. Besides some stomach/digestive issues the girls are doing perfect! Jeff and Michelle really have a great system going. My goodness they are one busy family! I can't even imagine Riley times two.

Riley now has his two bottom teeth and his top two teeth are just starting to peak through. He isn't crawling yet, but loves to try and pull himself up. For not being mobile he moves around a lot. The kid cannot sit still. He babbles, but no clear words at this point. He loves to clap for just about any reason and his new favorite game is peak-a-boo. He has mastered putting his blanket over his head and then pulling it down and giggling. Its too cute. except he never wants to stop playing it!

we are honored to be Claires' Spiritual Advisors!

My parents are coming to town on Thursday. We are heading to the coast to spend the weekend at the beach! It looks like it might even hit 90 degrees on Portland on Friday, so hopefully it will be nice on the coast as well. It will be great to get away and relax with the fam for awhile.