Trip to Washington early June

A few days after Uncle Nick and Aunt Stephanie left, we headed out to Washington. We only had four full days there, but we enjoyed every minute.

Scott's Grandma, Aunt Vicki and second cousin Tristan came over to play the first day. When Riley's Great Grandma arrived and got out of the van, Riley walked right up to her. They both were smiling the biggest smiles for each other. He was taken right away with his sweet Great Grandma Sadie! Tristan is around a year older than Riley. He was so patient with Riley and didn't push him away when Riley wanted to get right up to look in his face and smile. Tristan is an amazingly sweet little boy!! We sat outside in the wonderful Washington weather. It was 90 degrees but was a very welcome relief for Scott and me, since we had been having record high heat in Florida (think 110 heat index). Riley loved running around the yard and looking at the big bear carved out of a tree in Gramps and Grandma's yard. After Tristan left, we went down to Lake Ki and let Riley splash around in the very cold water. Actually, when we got there, Scott let him walk into the water while he held both of his hands. Riley ran into the water up to his chest. Gramps blew up a car float which Riley really enjoyed.

The next day, Riley woke up with swollen eyes. We thought it was maybe because of allergies. They seemed to get better as the day went on. We went back to the lake that night for a cookout with some of our dearest friends.

The next morning Riley's eyes were worse and very goopy. We were supposed to meet up with Scott's brother Troy's family at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, but we had to take Riley to the doctor first. We tried to get Riley in to see our old family practicioner, but he was booked. Instead, we saw another male physician in his practice. I should mention that at this stage of development, Riley was going through some separation anxiety and definitely prefers females. The doctor we saw was the nervous type, and unlike I've seen before or since, Riley really didn't seem to like him at all. Riley didn't want him to examine him at all. That's very strange for Riley who ALWAYS goes into a very relaxed state when he's checked out by doctors (male or female). He's usually so relaxed that the doctors comment about how easy he is to examine. When the doctor tried to check Riley's throat, Riley clamped down on the tongue depressor so hard and just stared the doctor down. I was kind of embarrassed but kind of glad that he's aware of other people and cautious. When we found out that he had bacterial conjunctivitis, our plans pretty much got scrapped. We'd all been so excited about getting Riley together with his cousin Kaylee (who turned 3 this July). Riley has loved looking at her pictures for months and knows who she is. BUT, of course, we didn't want to pass on his contagious treasure. We did meet Troy, Lisa and Kaylee for lunch but had to keep the two kids apart. Riley was sure glad to see Kaylee though. He sat on the end between his Uncle Troy and me. He was totally comfortable with Uncle Troy and knew who he was. On Saturday, we had a family gathering to celebrate Grandma Sadie's birthday (Riley's Great Grandma). Both sides of the family were there. It was so nice catching up with everyone and letting them see how much Riley has grown. Troy, Lisa and Kaylee came. Riley went right up to Aunt Lisa for her to pick him up. It was pretty sweet. We missed family that couldn't make it, but we were so glad to see the family that was there. Scott's cousin Sally was in the hospital with a new baby and his cousin Susan (who lives in south Florida) had just had a baby too and was in and out of the hospital because her baby was a little premature and hadn't been released yet. We got to talk to Susan and her mom, Aunt Tanya, who was visiting her, on Skype. Skype is pretty awesome, by the way. Saturday night, we went to our old church and got to visit with some of our friends. That was great! Our trip was just too short. Riley spent a lot of time with his Grandma. He liked to be with Grandma and point at Gramps while he's with her like "that's my Gramps!" He threw his first kiss ever at his Grandma, and he's been throwing them ever since. He's quite proud that he can do this too. On Sunday, we flew back to Fort Walton. We can't wait to see Riley's Gramps and Grandma when they come out in October.

A couple of weeks before we went on our trip, I pasted some pictures of family and friends on scrapbooking paper and laminated those sheets. Riley loves those sheets and knows all of his family on them. He doesn't always point them out when you want him to, but one morning on our trip, he went through the sheets with his Grandma and pointed out every single person correctly.

Also, while we were in Washington, Gramps and Grandma watched Riley so Scott and I could go on the very rare date. It was so nice. We went for coffee and then walked around Twin Ponds. We geocached there once, so it brought back fun memories of those days. It was also so nice walking around in the wonderful weather and seeing all the plants and trees that used to be so familiar to us. While we walked, we ran into a garter snake and saw some tadpoles in the pond the size of golf balls. SERIOUSLY! They were huge!!