My Day at the Zoo

For my birthday, we headed out the door for a day at the Ueno Zoo, which is right outside of Tokyo. We met the Benefield family at the gate at 8:00am, but Caleb had been sitting in the car ready to go at 7:30. He kept yelling at me, "come on mom, let's go ride on the train" all morning while we were getting ready.

The weather was PERFECT!

I tried to get Caleb to give the peace sign, but he got upset with me and said, "I'm not two mommy, I three!" Hence why he's holding up three fingers.....he's so smart.

Caleb took the map and became our navigator, he's so like his dad.

The first animal we met was an elephant.

And then some sea lions.

They were splashing and jumping and chasing each other. It was really fun to watch them.

And then there was this....what is this? It looks like an enormous rodent. Caleb kept saying, "Shh, he's sleeping", but it wasn't sleeping. Oh no, it was watching us. Kinda freaked me out....

And lastly, we came upon these crazy monkeys. The one of the left kinda looks a little like me.......CRAZY!!

Fun was had by all. It was a great day to go to the zoo and an awesome day for a birthday.

We didn't walk back into our house till almost 6:30pm. Every ounce of my body was exhausted.

FYI: (In case you're wondering why Shawn isn't in any of these pictures....he was gone)

Riley's Party

Oh where has the last year gone?? It's hard to believe that Riley is a year old already. I feel like I've lost several months somewhere...

We decided to just have a couple of our friends over and have a Sesame Street BBQ party. We had some AWESOME brats (thanks Shawn) and buffalo burgers. We had 30 helium balloons with extra long streamers so that Riley could tug and pull on them (which he loved) and a pool filled with balls and balloons (it was suppose to be a Sesame Street ball pit, but it didn't come in the mail soon enough...acutally it still hasn't made it). We also put out the bounce house in the backyard. It was such a nice party, very relaxing and fun!! The house was extremely crowded, but with those we consider our extended family away from family and that was the best part!

Hey, it's his party and he can cry if he wants to!

There was only one rule to coming to the party, you had to wear a party hat. I think it reminds people that you can be like a kid in any moment of your life and everyone enjoys a party more when they can feel young.

We had an AWESOME TIME! Happy Birthday Riley! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us, either in our backyard or far away. We love you all.

Good times

I can't seem to find time to blog as often as I'd like. By the time evening comes, the only time I really have to sit down at the computer, I'm so exhausted that I just want to veg out. Even blogging seems like too much work.

We've been doing a lot of things and I'm excited to share them with you all, but please be patient with my posts for they may be short and less consistent.

With the weather getting nice, we've been working in the yard. Our newest addition is a strawberry plant that has produced a few berries. Caleb loves picking them, but he loves eating them more.

Riley is now holding his own bottle. He's known how to for some time, but has refused to hold it until only recently.

He drives Caleb crazy getting into his juice cup. Caleb's cup is always empty and Riley always has a wet diaper...and poor Caleb is always thirsty...

Also, Riley has taken his first step(s). He stands independently all the time, but now he's taken two steps at once. I fear that walking is in his near future. I am so NOT READY for that development.

There are lots of other cool things happening around here, like Riley's birthday party and our FRG Baked Potato Bar experience, and more....I'll be getting those posts and pictures up as soon as possible. Right now, it's 11:20pm and I'm overly ready for bed.

He screams for Ice-Cream

We've discovered (Shawn discovered) that Riley really enjoys chocolate ice-cream.

And the really awesome part is, he's more than happy to serve it up himself. All he needs is the spoon and bowl of ice-cream and he's good to dip the spoon into the bowl himself. No help needed.

There is a need for help with clean-up though.

"More Please!"

"Oh, so yummy!"

More from homecoming

Okay, so everyone wanted more pictures of me and when the audience wants something, they get what they want, right? So, everyone thank Jen for taking some pictures of me at the homecoming.

This is my proof...when I say Caleb is up my butt, I literally mean that he's up my butt!! This is how he gets when he's nervous or scared.

Our first kiss

Me, trying to compose myself from the wind overtaking my hair....I was not crying...I am not a crier...

Look how excited Caleb was.

Daddy and Riley.

Riley really could have cared less about the whole ordeal.

Daddy's home

The ship pulled in yesterday and we were on the pier waiting for a glimpse of daddy. When Shawn did come off the ship, Caleb wouldn't go to him. Shawn had to pick him up and squeeze and hug him.

Shawn couldn't get over how big Riley has gotten. And the first thing Shawn wanted to see was if Riley was walking yet...

Nope daddy, not yet.

We had to leave the pier without daddy because he had to stay till working hours were over. Caleb had a hard time understanding this concept, as well as I did, but whatever!

As soon as daddy got home, it was time for some wrestling. Caleb really misses this kind of fun when Shawn is gone. This time, Riley was in on the fun too.

The house feels like home again, now that daddy is home.

A new slide for Caleb

The weather has finally started to get warm. We've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible.

The cutest boys on the block!

This is the new slide that Caleb got. It's not as big I thought it was, but he loves it. He hasn't gotten off of it in two days. We are so limited in our variety of shopping...you have to get what you can.