Colorful Colorado!

For all of you loyal Watch Riley Grow fans, sorry for the hiatus...I forgot to let you know I probably wouldn't be posting anything for about 10 days or so. Lots has happened over the past week and a half so here goes...first, I went on a business trip Monday through Wednesday last week to Dallas, TX. It was the first time I spent the night away from my little man since he was born. He was in good hands with Daddy but all of you FTM's (First Time Mom's) know what it's like being away from your little one for the first time. I survived, Riley didn't seem to really notice, and I even got to see Johnnie for a few hours after her very first day of teaching third grade in Dallas. So I got back from TX late Wednesday night and we left Thursday afternoon for a long holiday weekend trip to Colorado.

Riley's first plane ride! He was an angel on the ride there and we even had several people tell us what a great baby he was after we got off the plane. We knew it was just lucky timing that Riley ended up sleeping half the flight and was in a good mood when he woke up but they don't need to know that!

Family photo in front of the beautiful Colorado mountains -- we stayed with our friends, Paul and Cyndi, and this is the view from their deck. I'm jealous!!!

We went to a wedding reception for our friends Amy and Mark on Saturday. Our friend, Melissa, had fun playing with Riley and vice versa!

Riley and his mega-drool...ewwww!
We took Riley to Garden of the Gods on Sunday....our friends Melissa and Shain went too. Here's Daddy and Riley chillin' in the cave.

And Riley chillin' on his own...once Shain told me what the squeaking noises were that we kept hearing, we were outta there! There were bats chillin' out in those caves too!

Mommy and Riley enjoying the beautiful scenery away from the bat caves!

Riley just hangin' with Melissa and Shain.

Riley has a better view from Daddy's shoulders!

Riley tried a little rock climbing on his own....he's a little monkey!

After Garden of the Gods, we took Riley over to the Broadmoor to see where Mommy and Daddy got married. Recognize this little church? Our friend, Tobey, asked if we ran into the priest who did our wedding and wanted to know if he's still drunk -- for those of you who attended our wedding, you know what he's talking about!

Who would have thought we'd have such a beautiful boy just 8 years later!

Here's the carriage that brought Mommy and Daddy from the church to the reception...okay, maybe it's not the exact carriage but it's kind of like it!

Riley with Melissa and Shain in front of the hotel where the reception was held.

And Riley and Melissa in the ballroom where we had our reception...

Family photo op by the lake in the middle of the hotel buildings...beautiful view!
After the Broadmoor, we drove up to Denver to meet Amy for dinner...Riley took quite a liking to Amy! He was such a little flirt :)


Riley got to play with crayons for the first time...he didn't get the whole coloring thing down but he certainly liked to bang them on the table!


The most exciting thing that happened this weekend -- Riley started crawling! I was hoping to get a month or two more of immobility but Riley had different plans. Although it's going to be a pain keeping up with the little guy, it's fun to watch him explore and figure things out. I will post a video tomorrow...
Monday morning we went to breakfast at Gunther Toody's with Melissa. Riley got his first balloon and loved it! We were just happy it didn't pop in his face because he kept squeezing it and putting it in his mouth.


After breakfast we headed over to the Air Force Academy to show Riley where Mommy and Daddy went to college. Here's Riley showing off his new Falcon digs.

Another family photo op from the chapel wall.

And Riley, Melissa and Mommy in front of the chapel.

And a view from inside the Protestant chapel.

We met Tobey and Cyndi for lunch afterwards at Wahoo's...here's a cute shot of Riley, Tobey and Cyndi!

That night we went over to Rich and Amy's house to meet Hayden for the first time...Cody and I graduated from the Academy with Rich and Amy (yes, Falcon love all the way around!) and their son, Hayden, is 10 days younger than Riley. The boys really took to each other...they had a lot in common. For instance, they both love to stick their fingers in their mouths!

And then Riley leaned over for a big sloppy wet kiss on Hayden's cheek -- so cute!

So overall, it was a very busy but fun trip! However, I need to vent about the plane ride back...United Airlines sucks. First of all, we spent a decent amount on these plane tickets being Labor Day weekend and all. Well, United decides to schedule a smaller plane than what was expected when the tickets were booked. So 16 of us were involuntarily bumped...not sure how they chose who got bumped but we were part of the unfortunate 16 people. So, we were put on the next flight which didn't leave for another three hours. Not only that, but now we had to endure a lay over in Chicago! We deliberately paid a little more for a non-stop flight so needless to say we were both pretty ticked. We did get two free round trip tickets out of it but I would have rather taken our original flight. Riley was great the first leg and a little whiney the second leg but overall pretty darn good for the long day we had. So now it's back to the grind again first thing in the morning. Check back later on this week for some video of our little mobile boy!