Fun with Friends

Two months ago Andrea and I made plans to get together on June 18.  The plan was to meet at a "halfway point" - the lakehouse at Chip.  As this weekend approached, it appeared that it would rain on June 18.  We made our way up to Chip anyway - and thankfully the weather worked for us!  It was so great to spend the day with the Bailey family.  We really don't get to spend enough time with our friends.  The girls - Claire, Olivia and Riley play so well together!  The girls really liked the pontoon boat ride and playing at the playground.  We had a yummy lunch of brats and hotdogs -- good grilling by the dads.

A visit from Seattle

Dani and Cordi made their way across the country to finally land in Columbus.  We had the opportunity to spend some quality time with the girls over the weekend and it was so great to see them! Riley and  Cordi had a great time visiting the zoo and then riding the wagon around the neighborhood.  Both girls were so excited and tired out that both girls slept great on Sunday night.  Of course, we were very sad that Ben couldn't make it, but maybe next time.  The highlight of the zoo trip was Riley's first ride on the merry go round.  She was a little nervous at first, but after the first ride she was ready to go again ("more, again mommy!").  We will be visiting the zoo again in a couple of weeks, so I'm sure that the merry go round will be a top priority.  I didn't get any pictures of this because I was too busy hanging on tight to Riley on the ride!

Summer Vacation

Riley in the fowl house at Middleton Plantation.

Sitting near the deers at the Charles Towne Landing.

We discovered a new park on our trip....

Pool Day!!

Andrew and I decided to take the family vacation a little earlier this year, so we headed down to Charleston this week to "beat the heat". Little did we know it would be 90 everyday. At any rate, we found many ways to entertain ourselves and nothing could be better than spending the week with our newly minted 2 year old. I can't explain how awesome it was to spend the week with Riley 24/7. Yes, she is a big ball of energy but it is amazing to see how smart she is! Since we don't get to spend as much time as we would like to with her during our regular life, this week was just what we needed. She is becoming so independent and wants to try to do everything by herself. She is also a very big helper, wanting to open doors, push the stroller and empty the dishwasher. Everything is "Riley do it!". We went to the pool every day and also did the slides and swings at the park. There really isn't a zoo nearby so we saw animals at the Middleton Plantation and Charles Towne Landing. Riley really liked to watch the otters. We took plenty of walks to tire our little girl, Riley prefers to run.  On Thursday we went to the Children's Museum and had brunch at "Toast" -- mommy's favorite breakfast spot.  Today we headed back to Columbus and Riley did a wonderful job traveling -- we are so lucky that she is pretty easy going on the plane....I think this was her fourth plane trip!  Overall, we had a great vacation but we are happy to be home.