"Vacation"

I took two days off of work this week because Mimi (Wilder's mom) had jury duty and couldn't watch Riley. Today we decided to go to Como Zoo becuase zoos are fun and Como is free. This was Riley's third trip to a zoo but the first since she really started to notice and be entertained by things. It was really fun to watch her notice animals as they moved around. She first noticed the sea lions and thought they were fun as the emerged from underwater. She also really enjoyed watch the giraffe's spots and long neck, the mountain lion pacing, and many fish. Her favorite by far were the spider monkeys. They were very entertaining and Riley loved watching them. They were swinging by their tales and walking upright on their legs and swinging from branch to branch. She was smiling and giggling and might have even squealed when she was watching them.

Sleeping as we walk back to our car at the end of the afternoon.

Three Ellies

Riley was given a yellow elephant name P'nut made by the Ty company from Pam, a friend of Robin. Using all of our creativity we decided to rename P'nut as Ellie (short for elephant). We had not intention of this becoming Riley's "lovey" but over time that is what has happened. She has Ellie with her every time she goes to sleep. The only problem is that Riley's favorite thing to do with Ellie is to chew on her trunk. After months of this Ellie is starting to look worn and grey. We finally decided that it was time to add more Ellies to our lives before Riley would notice such a twist. I ordered two more online after deciding that we would need that many for Riley to chew on. Luckily she had did not notice the switch to a new Ellie, or if she did she didn't care.

Wilder's First Father's Day

What a fantastic holiday!  I always used to look at Father's Day as an excuse for a family picnic.  And, maybe it is, but when I woke up on my first official father's day, and went to check on Riley, I was touched by the love my little family had for me.  And also impressed by Riley's grammatic and spelling abilities.

The day consisted of waffles, relaxing, and making Riley laugh.

Later we went to watch my brother's baseball game (tournament

 champs, way to go D!) and had him and my parents over to fire up the grill.

It's funny; today is a day for thanking Dads, but when I see the love my wife and daughter have for me, I feel like saying, "No, the pleasure is all mine."

Of course, it is nice to know your family thinks you're awesome.

Death of a Car

I suppose if you don't have a good story, you fade quietly into the night and no one remembers you.  Well, our Honda accord must have had this in mind over the last few weeks, because it decided to go out in a blaze of fury. So if you realize one day that you want to go out with a bang (and you're a car) just follow these simple steps:

Step 1:  Quietly, before anyone notices, grind down your brakes so far that you dig groves into your rotors, accompanied by a sickening grinding noise anytime someone tries to stop.  Normally, they could just replace the rotors, but because of your model year, they need a special press, and so you get a temporary set of brake pads wearing unev

enly on old, scratched up rotors.

Step 2:  Wait a while, under the radar, and then, during a road trip to Chicago, start leaking coolant from the Radiator.  When the coolant is gone, overheat, and blow your head gasket.  That'll show'em.

Step 3:  So now, you've got inconsistent compression, so you

 don't accelerate very well off the line, but don't worry, they'll figure out that the trick is to throw you into neutral every time you come to a stop, and then rev you up to about 3,000 rpms and kick it into drive, just to get you going.   And then, just when they think you might last a few more weeks...

Step 4:  The Alternator.  Just don't charge the battery anymore.  

Why bother? Who needs a radio, speedometer, or blinkers?  If you time it just right, everything will kill while you're driving home on 94 in the left lane at about 65-70 mph.  As you cruise blindly through a sea of speeding angry drivers (best if in the pouring rain) with no lights or blinkers, you'll know that you'll never be forgotten.

If you follow these steps and you're lucky, you'll sputter to a stop about a half mile from your exit, and your owners will be forced to tow you home behind their other (nice) car.  That's what our 

car did.  And then, we had quite the experience towing it behind our other car back to our driveway.  There's nothing quite like watching for slack between the car you're in and the car in front of you, knowing that if the rope touches the ground you might get the chance to total your good car using your bad car as the blunt object.

And so now the search for a new car begins.

Mr. and Mrs. Jerod Johnson

Saturday we were blessed to be at Jerod and Lindsay's wedding. They are Riley's Godparents and it was a joy to celebrate with them. Wilder even got to stand up front with Jerod and support him in that way. We are excited to continue to grow our friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and to spend time with them throughout the years to come.

The guys got to spend time before the wedding playing video games.
The beautiful ladiesThe guys showing off their matching watches.Riley and us celebrating with her Godparents.

Tractor Ride

Riley got to go for her first tractor ride this last weekend with Grandpa.  (I say tractor but it was really a riding lawn mower.  Those of us who grew up on a farm know that there is a big difference.)  

She loved riding on it and as you can see even driving it a little bit.  We're going to have to keep an eye on her I think. 

Memorial Weekend in Iowa

Riley and I (April) spent Memorial weekend in Iowa with my parents while Wilder was in Chicago for handball (what else would it be). We had a great weekend with my parents. We spend Friday in Okoboji going to a couple of flee markets. Sunday was spent at home enjoying each other; that means that my parents were enjoying Riley. And Monday we went to the Memorial Day service at the cemetery before heading home. We also got to see Grandma Esther a few times. She was very excited to see us and it was great to see her as well. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Riley was facinated by the baby chickens

Visiting Great Grandma Wenell

Checking out Lake Okoboji with Grandma and Grandpa

After the Memorial Day Service

Generations

On our way home from the handball tournament we were able to stop in Madison to visit Wilder's grandma "Mimi". Here are pictures of us will all of our grandmothers.