Life With Riley

We had a great Christmas holiday and hope that all of you did too. Some of the highlights included getting to spend time with family and friends in WV and MI, getting to see some snow on the ground and snow coming down, watching Riley have more fun tapping on boxes and playing with paper rather than paying attention to the actual gifts, and making it through WV without serious injury with a Michigan sticker on the car and Riley wearing a Michigan hat!
Riley had a great time playing with her cousins and getting spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. She still needs a good bit of help with the gift opening (she likes the sound the wrapped boxes and crumpled up paper make, and is easily distracted by things other than what’s in the boxes), but did her best to keep up the pace opening up presents.
This year we tried to stick to a ‘buy local’ program for gift shopping, we weren’t 100% successful but many locally produced gifts were given and received. We got some nice hand-made wooden toys and a beautiful cutting board, lots of good food products made in MI, and a sweet 1-year membership to the NC Zoo!!! (thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Trina!) We’re really looking forward to taking Riley to see all of the animals and promise lots of pictures to show her having fun with the critters.
One of the better gifts that Mom and Dad received was the ability to catch up on some sleep! Thanks to both sets of grandparents and cousins (especially cousin Meghan who took excellent care of Riley and gave 2 other great presents with coupons for diaper changes and baby sitting services so Mom and Dad could go on a date and enjoy dinner and a movie), we got to sleep in and not worry about getting up early with Ms. Riley. And Baby Boo was a trooper – she did great with the long car drives, charmed everyone that she got to spend time with, and adjusted very well to ‘non-standard’ nap times, feeding times and bed times. We are very fortunate to have such a smart, happy and well-behaved baby 🙂
We’re working on getting some new pictures up on the site, so keep checking back for updates. Thanks for all of the beautiful Christmas cards and holiday greetings. Here’s to a great 2008 –
Dad aka Mark

It’s kind of amusing that we get time off from work for Labor Day – not that I’m complaining, but it’s still amusing. The weather in NC still thinks that it’s summer for some reason – August had all sorts of record high temperatures and not nearly enough rain. So far September is off to a good start – mornings have been nice and mild with temperatures in the 70s and highs in the 80s instead of the 90s or 100s. Hopefully things stay comfortable and the worst of the heat is behind us.
Beth and Riley got back from their beach vacation yesterday, so I’m guessing that there will be a post from Mom in the near future. I’ve seen all of the pictures too – so those should be online soon as well (there are some really good shots of Riley with Beth’s family and some nice, scenic shots of the NC coast). Apparently Riley picked up a new hobby at the beach – feeding the birds. She has always liked watching the birds at our bird feeder, but she got to get up close and person and feed her avian buddies (with adult help) during her vacation. Baby Boo is also getting better at petting the dog and cats at home – she seems to be getting the ‘gentle touches’ idea, although she does get excited and a bit ‘grabby’ at times.
We hope that our friends and family had a good summer, keep checking back for more updates soon. Don’t forget to leave your comments to let us know what’s going on with all of you too!
UPDATE 9/3 – Beth has started uploading pictures from the beach, you can check them out here and here, and even here – enjoy!!

OK, I know it’s not officially Riley news, but I thought that I’d share some pictures and news from the 2007 fishing trip on the Ivanhoe River in Chapleau, Ontario. Mark, Uncle Tim, Grandpa George, Uncle Rich, and Chuck spent a fun week of fun, fishing, and fellowship. Here are some of the highlights:

• The crew made great time on the drive up (we left early – around 11:30 PM or so) and we actually got flown in to the river on Friday instead of Saturday; we did a bit of grocery shopping and made a dent in The Beer Store’s inventory before we flew out;
• The weather was interesting this year – it was in the 70s/80s when we first arrived at camp, the mosquitoes and black flies were our welcoming committee; from there – we experienced high winds, rain, cold temperatures (in the 30s – there was even a weather warning for ice pellets and wet snow in the area where we fish!); but we were able to fish every day, and caught enough walleyes to eat them most days and bring back a full limit for every person;
• Speaking of fish – Mark was the repeat winner of the Big Fish contest this year – so I got to award myself this year’s prize (a new rod/reel combo and a collapsible LCD lantern) and agree to furnish the prize for next year as well (still working out those details, but luckily I have some time);
• We saw plenty of wildlife on the drive up (a few moose, a black bear), and at camp (eagles/ospreys, beavers, loons, ducks, the rare Canadian water squirrel, and best of all – no bear were spotted near camp this year!;

That’s all for now – I’m sure that there are some details that I have missed, as I recall them I’ll be sure to update the post. If you’d like to check out some of the pictures from the trip – look right here. (Warning – there may be an image or two that aren’t suitable for kids, so adults may want to preview things ahead of time)