A Rocky Mountain Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we were with my Mom's family and got to make the 11-hour drive to beautiful South Fork, Colorado (we also were there for Spring Break).    We carpooled with Mom & Kevin, which made for a more fun car ride.  However if it wasn't for Kevin's iPad and access to 3G and Yo Gabba Gabba, we probably all would have pulled our hair out on the drive back.

Chad's folks were able to come with us(!!!) and met us in Syracuse on the way over.  Riley was thankful to also have her Nana in the car with us.

Our first deer sighting on our drive through the Bear Creek edition.

We were sooo happy to have arrived!

 

 

Riley finally had her Beej & Marshie back and they all had a lot of fun together.

 

 

 

Besides for going on walks, playing games, and just hanging out, we didn't really do much.  Again, thanks to 3G we were able to have atleast some internet access (God forbid we go without!).

 

 

 

Not to sound all cliche, but I'm sooo thankful for my wonderful family!!!

 

 

The girl hates hoods/hats on her head, but liked the ear muffs?  Go figure.

 

 

 

Oh yes, Riley go to go on her first 4-wheeler ride!  Even though it appears we made a Riley sandwich, she loved it.

 

 

 

More deer sighting.  It's what you do in the evenings.

 

 

 

What else do you do in the evenings you might ask?  Well it's when the crazies come out.  Especially when you roll out the Christmas music.
 

 

 

We were able to do a little Black Friday shopping in nearby Creede.  Not your typical "day after Thanksgiving" Target experience, but small mountain town shops are pretty special.

 

We had a blast, it was great seeing the family, but were happy to get home to our Christmas decorations that were just itching to be put up. :)

 

Road tripin' ABCs

I particularly like the part at the end where she looks at me with my camera in my hands and shakes her head.

"Mama's girl" is an understatement

The understatement of the year, actually.  Our little jewel is now 19 months old and ever more the whiner.  But strangely enough, it's mostly when she's around Mom & Dad, whodathunkit? :)

I hear I'm reaping what I sow, because I use to always hide behind my mom's legs and wanted her to hold me ALL THE TIME.  The sad thing is I actually remember doing that, so I had to have atleast been 4-years-old or so.  If this is any sign that she will be entirely like me, I think I will be hiding under a rock when she turns 14 and will stay there until she's 18.  Good luck, Chad!

Nevertheless, we enjoy her more than words can say.  She learns something new every single day and we love experiencing that phenomenon with her.  Her words get more and more clearer all the time, even though most of the time it's still as if she's reciting the scientific recipe for glue.  I have no clue what she's saying/wants!!!!  (Romy & Michelle fans, like what I did there?) ;)

We LOVE our Tupperware shape toy.  In the beginning, it was exciting for us when she actually got the piece in, now it's exciting when she finds the correct shape AND puts it in!  She still sometimes get frustrated and throws the entire shape toy when it doesn't work like she thinks it should.  Hmmm..wonder who she got that trait from?!

My favorite most recent Chad quote is this, said very matter-of-factedly, "Why would they use a hexagon AND a pentagon?  They look too much the same."  Well said, Chadder.  Maybe you should write a letter to Tupperware.

Sticking with the problem-solving toys, she loves this Mr. Potato Head I got at a garage sale for 50 cents.  We love the space alien she always seems to create.

She LOVES to dip.  I remember when my niece, Emerson, was at this stage, so it's very much deja vu.  If she sees any sort of liquid concotion on your plate, better believe she's going to tell you she wants to dip her macaroni in it.  She doesn't care even if it is spicy BBQ sauce.

Here she was sneaking bites of bread and Jenny's onion dip at our OSU tailgate.

 

Until next time, partner.

 

 

Riley with the Riley's

Last weekend Papa (Dad) and Grandma (Billie) came up for a visit.  For the past few years, we've been making it a habit of them coming this same weekend and going to the annual Button's n' Bows craft fair put on by Seven Dolors Catholic church.  This year was no different.  We started it off with pancakes made by the good ol' boy scouts and off we went for a day of shopping.

Of course, we were home in time to watch our NUMBER ONE Wildcats beat TCU.  A football season can't get more exciting than this....!!!!

Here are a few photos I managed to capture of the weekend.  This "100 First Words" book is by far her favorite right now.

A little 'pony girl' with Papa; I remember when this was me!

 

There's that book again...

 

And of course they did not arrive empty handed! R is now the proud owner of her very own rhyme-reciting Mother Goose.

 

All in all, one terrific weekend with some of the ones we love!

This little piggie went to market

What a blast we had last night!  We started the evening out with putting on our digs at daycare so Miss Sarah and Riley's friends could see her costume, then we went to visit the ladies I use to work with at K-State.  They were dressed as witches, so R was pretty skeptical about them.  She absolutely positively would NOT leave the hat on, so we got one, maybe two good photos of the complete ensemble.  This one is complements of Lindsay who snapped it at the perfect time on her phone.

Instead of going to the trick-or-treat at the mall or Westloop Shopping Center (which were very popular destinations for the Manhattan kids) we decided we wanted to do it the old-fashioned way:  door to door.  We met the neighbor kids outside at 6pm and off we went.  She again, was a little skeptical of the costumes.

She LOVED it once we got going.  She wanted to walk and carry her bucket all by herself, regardless of how heavy it got and if she needed two hands to carry it.

For some reason Mrs. Rickels mask didn't even phase her?

 

She was right in the thick of it.  The other kids were so good about waiting for her to walk up to the doors.

 

 

A house nearby went ALL out and was pretty darn cool.  Riley got animal crackers at this house.

 

 

What a gorgeous evening it was, too.  There was an amazing sunset.

 

 

We had been practicing on our pig noise for the past couple of weeks.  She cracks me up when she tries to snort, it sounds like she's hyperventilating (which in itself, isn't funny, but you know what I mean).  When it was all said and done (albeit, preoccupied by the books), we got her input on how the night went and one last pig snort.  Not her best performance ever, but books take top priority these days.