Riley and Avery

A couple things about Riley:

Riley got in her 6yo molars on the bottom. That was a surprise. I was not on the lookout for new teeth at all. Geez, she's growing so fast!

Yesterday Riley said "Mom, you do you get a boy to marry you?" That was also a surprise. I didn't expect that from Riley. Avery, yes, Riley, not so much.

Lastly, and most importantly, Riley was attacked by an 8yo girl today. This is the same girl that told her the other day that she was going to hide a knife in her pocket and when Riley gets a dog, she's going to slice it. And then she'll hide a gun in her pocket and shoot Riley's dog. After that, I forbade Riley from playing with her. Especially since her father is in the army and I know they have service weapons in that house. Not cool at all.

Anyway, today Riley was outside around the side of the house and I hear her yell "I'm not allowed to play with you!" Apparently, Paige didn't take to kindly to that. I hear Riley screaming in a way that I've never heard before, so I run outside. Now, the lady across the street had a baby about a week ago, so they apparently had a lot of family visiting. They were all sitting outside most of the day, enjoying the weather and watching their little kids play. I assume it was the lady's father or father-in-law, saw the whole thing and was running across the street when I was running out. He was yelling "that girl beat up your daughter! That big girl had her on the ground and was punching her!" I collected Riley and ran over to Paige's house to speak to her mother, while Rudi was shouting after me not to kill anyone. Paige's mother was on the phone when she answered the door, and obviously didn't think the situation important enough to end her phone call :( She said she'd keep Paige in for a while. Whatever. After hyperventilating and having a panic attack, Riley went back outside after being assured that Paige would not be out there. I comforted her, telling her that she did not deserve to be treated that way, etc.

Later, the man who saw the fight asked how Riley was, and said that that girl was way too big to be jumping on Riley like that. He said that it would be different if it were a fair fight, etc. He said that Riley held her own against Paige. I said, Riley fought back? And he was like "Oh, yeah, and she did really well!" In retrospect, I saw some blood and scratch marks on Paige's face and just didn't make the connection that Riley caused them. Riley may only be 5, but she can hold her own against an 8 year old! I don't WANT Riley to get in fights, but I also want her to respect herself enough to stand up to bullies.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to the property manager. I don't really want anything to be done with that family, because I know how things get when bad blood begins in a neighborhood. But she needs to be aware that a very violent little girl is running around the complex, and that if that little turd touches my child again, they'll be looking or a body.

And a special shot out to James, so willing to stand up for his little cousin! So brave!

Riley absolutely adores her camp! Good thing, because it sure is a long haul! Of course, when it turned summer, Colorado took it seriously. It is quite hot this week. Riley is outside all day long, exploring and learning. She comes home DEAD TIRED and with sore feet. It IS a mountain zoo, so uphill all the way. She just is really enjoying it. She took a video of the grizzly bear that I have to upload and post. But the drive! Oh my goodness! It's not so bad when you're going to the zoo for a day of fun, but going, coming home, going and coming home again is really a lot of work, a lot of gas, and a lot of stress. We just need to get out of the house 10 minutes earlier. Just 10 minutes. I feel asleep on the couch with Avery at noon today, only to wake up at 2:30 in a panic. I need to get Riley at 3 and had a 35-40 minute drive. Thank goodness the cops weren't out today, but I got there in time. GO, speed racer, go!

Sunday was Rudi's choice, so we went to the Nature and Science museum in Denver. We didn't get a real early start, and got there at about a little after 2 and they closed at 5. We get in free all the time since we have military IDs. Rudi is surprised by that every time, even though I tell him that we can get in free whenever we want. We saw all the high points for the girls first.
Their stuffed animal displays were phenomenal, the best I've ever seen. So realistic and interesting for the children. I learned a lot about Rocky Mountain wildlife. Who knew there were so many mountain sheep and mountain goats? I thought there were mountain goats and bighorn sheep, but there are a lot more, and I realize that I've been calling them the wrong name all this time. This muskoxen one was funny because Riley said "Are those kayaks?" and I say, "Do you mean yaks?" Riley was like "Yeah, I mean yaks." They are muskoxen, dear.







So much interesting stuff to look at!

Riley and Daddy's favorite part was the space exhibit.



Avery tried SO HARD to use those grabber things! She was so patient, and eventually got it!



Riley and Rudi totally enthralled in some space movie they were watching. Finally somewhere where they can share their mutual love for something I don't give a flying turd about! Hopefully when we move to Denver, the two of them can go there by themselves and talk outerspace all day.

Looking through telescopes together!

Riley really loved the real mummy. So interesting to her. She likes morbid things like that.

...and the famous fossilized dinosaur turd! Again, Riley smelled it. At least she didn't lick it this time!

...and the best part! Astronaut ice cream!

Surprisingly, Avery loved it too. Rudi loved it as well, which surprised him. Which means that he wanted some of mine since he didn't buy his own. Poo. If it weren't Father's Day...

While in Denver, we also took another look at Congress Park. It's beyond perfect for me in every way. However....Riley's number one most important thing in her life is riding her bike. Unfortunately, that is the ONLY thing that is less than perfect about Congress Park. The streets are really narrow and a lot of traffic. She'd have to stick to the sidewalks and not go out of my sight (it's too close to Colfax Ave.). So now I'm conflicted. I am wondering if I'm doing what's best for me, and not the kids. Is the lack of bike ridability made up for by the close proximity of several parks, the zoo, and the science museum? Sure, we could take the bikes to the park and ride, but I'm not sure....we are still moving to Denver, but now we're expanding our search. We want something VERY walkable, close to parks and playgrounds, AND with a place that Riley can ride her bike. We may look in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Or look more into Cheesman Park, which was a close second after Congress Park, but for some reason, we never actually looked it at when we were in Denver. Ugh...why must I always second-guess myself?

Oh, I have one more thing to add about our trip to American the Beautiful Park. I suppose that every other time we've been, we've never had to use their bathrooms, but this time Riley really had to pee. So we go to the bathroom and there are no doors. NO DOORS, people! As in, not doors were put into the design. And to make matters worse, the dividers between stalls were concrete to the floor, so there's no hope of ducking down to look for feet. The only way to tell if a stall is occupied was to walk down and LOOK IN on people doing their business. How weird is that? I'm not picky about places I pee, but that bathroom in on my short list of places that I WILL NOT pee. Luckily, Riley doesn't care.

Oh, and they had no soap. Not out of soap, no soap dispensers at all. How strange.

We harvested our radishes today. Apparently they are a very small variety of radish. We left them in the ground thinking that they would get bigger, but they didn't get bigger, only spicier. Those bad boys are SPICY!! Avery had fun pulling them all out. I mean, that IS the best part of gardening, right?

She had to thoroughly wipe her hands after every one, though. She's so dainty.

Here's part of the harvest. While taking the picture, I noticed there was a ladybug in the greens, so...

Avery "played" with this lady bug quite a bit until it got sick of her and flew away.



The guinea pigs benefited the most from this harvest. They got a TON of greens, and they gobbled it up. At least nothing went to waste.

We went to a farmers market this evening, followed by live music at America the Beautiful Park (geez, I still hate that name and we've lived here 3 years and it still grates on my ears!) I had a dream last night that we went and ate kabobs, but alas, no kabobs were being peddled there. I did have two tamales (my first tamales!) followed by a fresh, made to order, cinnamon peach crepe (my first crepe!). A double bonus is that while in line for the crepe, Caoimhe's mom walks up. She said that she saw our car in the parking lot (identified by the bumper stickers :)) and tried calling my phone. I had left it at home, which I never do! So it was super awesome that Riley got to play with Caoimhe while we were there! They splashed in the fountain, but we didn't bring bathing suits. Riley was a bit peeved by her parents' stupidity, but got over it quickly. Two peas in a pod, those girls are!

Then we went over to the playground.

This "spiny thing" is the highlight of Riley's day. She's been asking to go to the playground with the spiny thing for a long time. It's not the closest park to us, but I'm glad that she finally got to go!





That boy in the corner of the picture was getting WAY too close to Avery's ice cream. He was trying to ask her where she got it, but Avery wanted NONE of it! This is when she was trying to turn away from him for the second time. It's not even the worst of her stink-eye! Baby girl's got attitude!

There's the boy walking away in the background, and all's well in Avery's world! Look at those eyes!

We got home and the girls ate even more, and fell asleep almost immediately. Ah, nice afternoon and evening!

For Mom:

Look at the professional-level of powdered sugar licking! What a pro!

This is the North Pole. It's actually frozen. I don't know how they keep it from melting. Riley had to lick it. Whatever.



Avery wasn't so sure about this when Riley figured out how to get the airplane to go up. But she handled it well.

This was the first ride that Avery attempted sans Mommy. I think it helped that she sat behind Riley.


So, we took the girls to the North Pole amusement park today. Seriously. We had fun, the girls had fun (so much, in fact, that they were asleep by the time their butts hit the carseats!) I however, had a head cold and the pressure behind my face is killing me. Combine that with the altitude (7200 feet, I believe) and too many spinning rides, I was not feeling too hot. Dizzy and nauseous. Lots of fun. I tried to beg out of riding on any go-around rides, but an adult needed to go with Avery and Rudi WILL NOT get on rides. Ever. Good thing his old self got in free, otherwise I'd consider it a great waste of admission!

Luckily we had coupons and got in fairly cheaply. Riley and Avery both spent some of their allowance. Avery of course bought a necklace, two bracelets, and a princess crown. Geez, she's so foreign to me! Oh, and there were those funny mirrors, and people were standing in front of them and gawking at themselves. Avery squeezed right up to the front and admired herself at length. In each one. So funny!

Riley wanted to go on all the rides, and although Avery sat on on a few (the ones that were too fast or too high) she went on most of them too. Some were true kiddie rides and adults weren't allowed. Avery was fine with that after initial hesitation. The only thing she didn't like was if a male ride operator unbuckled her, or heaven forbid, lifted her out of the ride. That kid.

Oh, Riley said something funny while on a ride that nearly made me vomit. I don't recall what we were talking about, but it lead us to the subject of James. Riley said "James is a crazy kid, but he's handsome! Like a prince!" I wish I could remember what we were talking about...

Of course, we ate like fat people at the park. Funnel cake and ice cream. Oh yeah, I win mom-of-the-year award for this. And home too late to have a decent dinner. Oh well, you only live once and tomorrow's a new day! We did have a rockin' breakfast courtesy of Rudi. I don't know what got into him. Not a healthy breakfast, by any means, but a full one. Bacon, eggs, and skillet potatoes. Wow.

Impulsivity. This. Rudi doesn't get it, or doesn't let go if it, as it were. Last night, near midnight, he was talking about what we could do today. I was thinking going to the library, going to the park, doing something in town, nearby. He was talking a mini-roadtrip. I told him that we can't make plans so last-minute like that. I told him that I have to plan. He didn't get it and poked fun at me, saying that it wasn't last minute and what could I possibly need to plan or prepare for. I mean, I need to get food ready to bring with us, I need to warn the kids (Riley does so much better when she has a heads-up on major plans), I need to plan dinner accordingly so I have enough time to make what I planned, or to change what I am planning to cook (nothing like coming home at 6:30 and waiting 2 hours for a chicken to roast!), I need to wash their jackets (have been meaning to do that for a while), I need to get cash and gas up the car, I need to charge up the camera batteries, I need to get to bed BEFORE midnight in order to drive (I always drive) I need...I need...I need...He so did not understand. So we settled on the North Pole since we had just gotten coupons in the mail. It wasn't exactly in town (20-some miles away) but not too far. Nice compromise. Still a bit more than I'd like to take on "last-minute" and being sick to boot, but dealing with it is so much better than listening to Rudi complain about how we never do anything!

Speaking of Rudi and doing stuff, I went to Hobby Lobby to get him a hobby for Father's Day. He keeps saying that he wants to do model airplanes, and then of course never makes a move to actually do it. I went and got him a model and a set of paints and glue and all the stuff that you need to go with it. I had to ask another customer wandering the model isle for what I needed to get this plane together. He was nice, and happy to talk about model airplanes. He even found the identical plane I was holding that was marked much cheaper than the one I had ($29 vs. $18, can't beat that, then add a 40% off coupon!) He said that his wife doesn't have a hobby, so she's always getting on him about model airplanes. I have the same story, in reverse. I have hobbies and Rudi doesn't, and he gets on me about "wasting" time on these things. So, this gift if for both of our sakes. Rudi will have something to fill his time and I'll be free to practice my hobbies without interference. If he ever actually builds this plane. THAT remains to be seen! But I made the effort.

For Rudi's birthday, I'm thinking of trying to get his car detailed before our road trip. He's always griping about how the kids have ruined his car. I thought it would be nice to start off our trip that way. I'm sure it'll be a wreck again by the time we get to MD, but hey, I will have tried.