More action...

Again, another quick update with this week's exploits...

Daredevil sliding down our playset...

Christmas craft making with Daddy...

Playing in a bucket of cornmeal in the kitchen...

And today's big accomplishment...figuring out how to get that whistle thing to work!!!

Busy, busy, busy!

Lots going on here in Chi-town. Nearing the end of the semester [and yes, we are counting down the lectures!]. Riley is keeping us on our toes and busier every day. This post's purpose is only to show some of his recent exploits and misadventures. More to follow over the weekend...

Goose-viewing from the safety of our nifty wagon...

Our daredevil prefers to go down the slide head-first, with no hesitation!

Baking lessons! We're making mini muffins, which are handy to have on hand for snacks! He's helping to stir the batter.

The fruit of our labors... tasty!

Our first trip to the library here in DG. It has a pretty nice kids area!

Making Halloween cards for his Grandmas. Note paint around mouth...

"Helping" unpack the shopping.

Happy Halloween!!!

Not Riley's first Halloween, but clearly last year he wasn't really into it ;)
We had a fun day today. We went to what can only be described as a Halloween amusement park. Our goal was to find a pumpkin patch or apple picking place. To give you a flavor of the place we went to...it had pig races, kangaroos, and dancing/singing animatronic chickens. Not quite Eckerts [for all you STL people], but still a good time. We went to about 4 houses on our Trick or Treat run. Unbeknownst to us, Trick-or-treating goes from 12-dusk here. So we missed most of it and now have a HUGE bowl of candy left over. Pix below.
At the pumpkin place. Riley liked to beat on the pumpkin. He also liked petting the goats and was very interested in the kangaroos [there were other animals too]. BTW, I'm jealous of CC's very warm-looking festivities. It was VERY cold here today!!! Luckily, our pumpkins were about 5$ each, unlike the one my brother Dane found in Taiwan [follow link to his post at the side].

Here's Riley's costume Friday morning before going to school. He was a turtle!

A shot of his very first Halloween loot! MMMMm peanut butter cups for Daddy!

This is actually from Thurs, but since our leaves were all blown off that night in a storm, this was our last playing-in-the-leaves fun for this fall!

Hawai'i !!!

Hi all- quick update here. We spent last week on Hawai'i. I was at a workshop slaving away and the boys went swimming and napped. Sounds nice. We actually went out a few days early and had a great time relaxing together. Pix...

Exploring the visitor's station at the Mauna Kea Observatory...

This little guy hitched a ride on our car [maybe it was the Geico Gecko?]. It was hilarious that when you touched him he went running off.

This trip was the final voyage for Riley's infant car seat. We'll miss it! Now we have to wake him up to take him out of the car!

Stretching our legs at the Hawai'i Volcanoes NP visitor's center. Boy howdy was he hyper after spending most the day in the car!

My boys in a lava tube [how often do you say that??].

Walking through the rainforest after a nice morning nap.

ditto.

This is the only family shot we have of the trip. A friend of ours took it at the resort where my workshop was, on our anniversary! Pretty nice place, with fun stuff to do nearby.

Che mascalzone!

Chapter 3, Riley's One!!!!

This past weekend was Riley's birthday. Yay One! We're in a state of shock here. We had 6 Grandparents total for the event [mine, and both sets of our parents]. Riley seemed a little confused by all the people, but eventually realized he could bask in the glory of their attention. Saturday, we had a pretty chill day at home. We went out to lunch and opened gifts and did the whole smash cake thing. Riley mostly enjoyed the decorations in the dining room. Sunday, we had a big birthday party with 3 other babies that turn one at about the same time as Riley that we met in our playgroup. We had it at the Cosley Zoo near here, which is really a farm zoo. The party was above their barn, and we had a great time! Riley enjoyed the "pony rides" and the water table the best I think. Now that all the hubbub is over, we're just trying to enjoy a little time here and there with our new toddler. He's learning things so fast it jsut amazes me constantly.
I like my new push bike. It plays all kinds of cool sounds and I can walk behind it and push it backwards!
I have a new wagon too! It came with a big red bow. Check out the killer offroad wheels!

And behold, there was cake.
Riley enjoying the pony "ride" at his big birthday party. The ears and tail wriggle.
All four babies, eating their birthday cupcakes that I made and Grandmas iced. From right to left, we have Abi, Evan, Abby, and Riley, all born within 10 days of each other. So cute.

Chapter 2, Goin to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

Last weekend, we were able to take a brief break from the madness that has been this semester, and had a quick trip to the Brookfield Zoo. This is the first time Riley's been where he was clearly cognizant of the larger animals. We've been working on our animals at home, and I'm pretty sure he recognized some of them. He certainly got excited about them! So far, his favs are goats and bears. He also seemed a little concerned about the bizarre noises that the cows and sheep were making. I think they were a lot louder than he was expecting.

Alaskan Brown Bear

giggling at the bear!

llamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallamallama

and the favorite - goats!

The astronomical task of updating...

...when you've been out of touch for over a month. Oy!
Ok, so here are the 3 posts I wanted to post over the last month but didn't have the time to...

Chapter 1, Riley gets into stuff
Riley's new found mobility has really begun to pay off for him. It's been about a month since he began crawling, and he is now pulling up easily and cruising around furniture well. We even caught him standing with "look Ma, no hands" the other morning, if only very briefly. This of course has meant that our nicely decorated house is now a sty. Permanently. All fun decor has been removed and replaced with baby books, toys, and stuff we have failed to put away. Oh well. It amazes me how quickly he finds the ONE thing in any room that has not been baby-proofed. Here are some shots of the silly guy getting into trouble in the kitchen and around the house.
Poor kitty. Her days as queen of the roost are over I fear. The two of them are not getting along very well at this time, due to the aforementioned mobility.

He's helping, really.