New Booster

Ryan has been legally allowed to sit in a booster for almost a year now, but since his old car seat still fit him and it's safer than a booster, we have just kept him in it. However, Abby has been needing a new car seat for various reasons, so instead of buying her a new car seat, we gave Ryan's old one to her and bought him a new booster seat. We had one that we keep in our other car, but now we have another so they both can have one if needed. He loves that it has lights on the side so he can read at night! I like that we can now move him to another vehicle without the fuss of strapping in a car seat correctly.

Home Again

Ryan was so ready to go home! He was really missing his Daddy by the second week, and he was starting to act out and behave really poorly. Consequently, our trip home wasn't as peaceful or enjoyable as our trip down, but Gramie was with us and that helped a lot.


Once we got home, Ryan went running through the house hugging furniture and saying, "I love our home! I love our home!" Now, that's what I call a homebody! He hasn't wanted to leave the house even to go outside and play (though it's mostly been raining, so that hasn't been a big deal). We weren't home five minutes before he had his toys out on the floor playing, and Abby had Gramie on Ryan's bed doctoring her! Ah, it's good to be home.

Odds and Ends

Ryan sitting on Granpa's motorcycle. We couldn't convince him to

go for a ride even around the driveway, but he enjoyed sitting on it.


Playing "golf" with rocks at the shop with Gramie.


Feeding the ducks at Fairmont Park in Riverside and huddling

close to Aunt Darcy to be safe from the dreaded geese!

Looking at a tank the American Legion has on display at the same park.

Playing with cousins one last day before we have to go home.


Darth Ryan!

Trip to Hollywood

Gramie had a special day planned for us on Saturday. She got tickets to see The Jungle Book at El Capitan Theatre for it's rerelease on DVD. We picked up some friends of hers then headed to my brother's house where we picked up his family and did a caravan over to Wienerschnitzel for lunch. I have missed the chili cheese dogs from there, so I really enjoyed our lunch!


We drove to Hollywood after lunch, taking a detour due to a traffic accident. It's been years since I've driven through the area, and I saw things I hadn't seen before. Who knew L.A. had a Little Ethiopia?


As we passed over many stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Winnie the Pooh's star. This part of Hollywood has really been cleaned up since I lived in Los Angeles 20 years ago, but it was still an interesting display of humanity!



I had to laugh at Ryan because he kept inquiring why we were going to see a movie that had already been released on DVD! I informed him it was so we could see it on a BIG screen as it was intended to be viewed. I could tell he was skeptical, but once the movie got going, he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Places to Go and People to See

We were on the go most every day we were in California, which is hard on Ryan. He's a homebody! However, he really enjoyed going on the route with Granpa (twice!) and learning how to file a bandsaw.


This is the third time Ryan has met his great-grandmother, and though it was a long visit for him, he entertained himself well and was polite to her.


He really enjoyed going to his cousins' house and playing with them, their toys, and in their backyard. He was a bit out of sorts trying to learn his place among all the girls and having been knocked out of his "rightful" place on the top of the age totem pole, but he eventually adjusted and had a great time.


Geocaching isn't as much fun in the dirt and the wind, but both Gramie and Granpa were up for finding a few, so we took them out and had a good time hunting despite the blowing sand.

More Fun With Cousins

After breakfast we went to the Hesperia Zoo only to find we had to wait about 50 minutes until the next tour. So we decided to do a quick hunt for a geocache a mile away. It was the first time Gramie, Hannah, or Rachel had ever done one, and I was surprised how much they enjoyed it, despite the baking heat!


The hunt took just long enough for us find it and make it back for a personal tour of the zoo. Hannah and Rachel have been several times before, but it was the first time for us. It is a charming little zoo, and we had great upclose views of all the animals. We aren't used to over 90-degree heat, and we were ready to get cooled off after the zoo.


Gramie and I took the kids home and got them into their swimsuits so they could play in the Slip & Slide for a while! They didn't want to get out of the water and ended up playing for several hours.


Aunt Darcy took a couple of organized photos, and this one Uncle Steven dubbed the "rock star" shot because it looks like a photo of a rock band.


After drying off and changing clothes, we went out to dinner with Gramie and Granpa at our favorite Mexican restaurant!

Day Two

Our second day of driving to California went really well too, not perfectly like the first day, but still a very pleasant trip! We got up, had some breakfast and headed to a park in the small town we spent the night in. The kids played for a little bit, and then we hunted several geocaches. Ryan found the first two all on his own!


After our long drive, we arrived at Gramie's house where cousins Hannah and Rachel were spending the weekend and waiting for us to arrive! We only had about 30 minutes before we headed to the park for a movie. It was a new experience for all of us to watch a movie outside in a park, and though it got a little chilly, it was fun overall.

Going to California!

Well, after a long day of driving, we have arrived at our hotel. Both kids were well behaved, but Ryan was just exceptional!! We chatted and played car games. I made Ryan a map, and he charted our progress on it with a highlighter (geography credit!). They watched a couple movies, and they colored and played some games we brought. It was one of the easiest drives I've ever done!


We arrived at the hotel more than an hour earlier than I expected, so we checked in, grabbed a bite to eat at Taco Bell, then got into our swimsuits and played in the pool for a while before it was bedtime for the kids. I hope tomorrow's drive goes as well...or even half as well as today!

New Shoes For Ryan Too

I was taking a picture of Abby's shoes for a post I did on her blog, so Ryan wanted me to take a picture of his shoes because he thinks everyone will want to see them too. So here they are...

By the way, they will probably look new for months while Abby's will be thrashed in just a few weeks' time!

Getting the Hang of It

Beach Fun

Grampa discovered a beach that is within walking distance from our house. It is a nice sandy stretch along the Columbia River, and ever since he took the kids there back in April, they have been dying to go back.


I finally appeased them last week, and we went for several hours. We watched them suck sand from the bottom of the river and shoot it onto a barge to take elsewhere, and we watched large ships and barges float by. Mostly though the kids splashed in the water and dug in the sand while I snapped photos and read a book.