Pinata

My mom and I made the pinata for Rya's birthday. While a bit time consuming, it was kind of fun! Now that I know the basics, I can fancy it up a bit next time! Here is the finished product and some pictures of the assembly. There are no pictures of me cutting all that freaking tissue paper for good reason! That's definitely the worst part of the process.

Thank Goodness for Grandparents

I understand that biologically we wouldn't be here if not for our parents. However, I'm not sure we'd survive our day-to-day life without them either! We are so lucky to have not one, not two, but three (!) different families of grandparents helping us raise Rya.

Grandpa (or Papa as she has been saying of late) takes pictures when he visits which is a huge blessing for us because we're terrible with taking photos. We have so much going on, we just forget to take the camera out and snap shots of memories. We also don't have a fancy camera like Grandpa. Kathy may not take pictures, but we know she's the one who makes sure Rya has fun things to play with. Many of Rya's favorite toys came from Kathy and Grandpa. Here are some pictures from Grandpa and Kathy's last visit:


Good jumping!
Who doesn't love a ball pit? Thanks Etnyre family for the idea!

Jumping high with Daddy!

Watch me, Daddy!

Where's Daddy?

Berries?

Outside!

Daddy, hold!

We are so thankful that Rya gets to spend quality time with both grandmas multiple days each week. In January she will start preschool three days a week, but still hopefully have one day a week with each grandma. Both grandmas are so patient with Rya and do all sorts of fun things with her including taking her to Gymboree, trips to the park, rides in the wagon, painting, drawing, playing on the trampoline and in the house, and making "cake" and "snakes" out of play dough (homemade by Grandma Linda). Rya even has necklaces made especially for her by Grandma Barbara. Not only is it wonderful for Rya to spend so much time with her grandmas, it makes going to work so much easier for us!

Out of Retirement

A triathlete should actually do triathlons- that seems logical, right? My last tri was in June of 2007 so I think I'm a bit overdue. In my defense, the last tri I did was an IRONMAN (aren't you impressed? I am!) and I did birth the cutest baby on earth two years ago so it's not like I haven't been busy. Luckily, I still train like a triathlete (swim, bike, and run workouts), but just not with the same intensity. If you haven't heard via Facebook, I have been working with a knee injury for almost a year. It was a setback for sure with some of my racing goals for this year, but that's okay.

All that said, I have a friend named Dagny Bruce. In fact, she's one of the few people that actually reads this blog! Anyhow, Dagny is doing a sprint triathlon in October and I gave her my two cents as far as training goes. You know what that lead to... the desire to do it myself! So I made a checklist for myself:
-Dust off aerobars and beg sweet husband to put them back on my bike
-Find tri suit and make sure it fits (it's a bit tight- I'll be honest!)
-Make a training plan to be in the top five places in my age group
This week started off with a swim workout with Dagny and a short, fast bike ride. So far, so good. More swim workouts, running, and riding have taken place since and will continue for the next four weeks.

Call me Lance Armstrong, Brett Favre, or even Michael Jordan. I'm out of retirement and ready to race! Bring it on.

Father's Day

Father's Day was far more fun this year with Rya being older and actually able to do more. We spent the day at home with a nice breakfast and family time. That evening we had a delicious dinner with Grandpa and Kathy. We stole the rib recipe from the Matulich family and it was so yummy! We had a great time eating and playing. I love this picture of the three generations! Can't you see the family resemblance? So cute!

Jump Trampoline

After playing on giant trampolines at a few different houses this summer, we decided Rya should have her very own. She loves to jump! We found a nice trampoline on Craigslist and set it up in the backyard. These pictures were taken before the net was assembled, so don't worry, we have a fully enclosed space for her to jump safely.

We took her to get her two year old pictures taken since we needed some photos for her birthday invitations. It was disastrous. We couldn't get even one good photo. She was being clingy and whiney. Ugh. Jason was kind enough to get some photos of her jumping for her invitations instead of professional portraits.

We hear the following request many times during the day: "Jump trampoline?" Rya is so happy when she's jumping, it's worth the monstrosity in the backyard. Come on over and jump with us!

Camping

I grew up camping every summer and I love it. Jason didn't have the same experience growing up, but he was game to give camping a try. There was, of course, one more person we had to think about when asked to go on a group camping trip this summer... Rya. Would she sleep? Get dirty? We decided that she was old enough for us to give it a try.

The first evening went pretty well. We had dinner, s'mores, and then put Rya down for a good night's sleep. We were in a group campsite and apparently the group next to us thought it was a good idea to party all night long. They were so loud- music, generators, etc. Poor Rya couldn't sleep and neither could we. When she got up in the morning she went straight to the car and asked for home. It was really sad. We wanted to make her happy, but we also didn't want to give up on our trip.

That day was a big World Cup game- US v. Ghana. Jason did not want to miss the game, so we drove into Truckee and found a place to watch the game. Though the US lost, it was still an exciting game. After that, we headed back to camp and went to the lake. Rya loved splashing around in the water. She also spent some time with the other little kids coloring and playing.

We had our fingers crossed that the second night would bring some relief to our tired bodies. Once again we put Rya down and thought we were free and clear from the partying neighbors... until just after midnight. We had to endure another night of noise and in the middle of the night I announced that we would be leaving the next morning. Our entire group decided to leave the next morning- we weren't the only ones suffering from sleep deprivation.

Overall, we had a good time with friends. Next year we'll bring ear plugs!

Here's Rya in the tent with Gymbo!
Mmm... snacks!
We couldn't get all the girls to sit still and smile at the same time. Oh, well, they are still super cute!

Fourth of July 2010 with the BFF

We started this year's Fourth of July with play time at the park and ended with a lovely barbecue at the Matulich's house.

Rya loves Addison. They're BFFs! It's funny that Rya has latched onto one friend so much more than others. They are only a month apart and have known each other since they were about six months old. We're happy they are friends because it means we get to hang out with Mark and Kristine. We're even happier that we found out they aren't moving! We were so upset at the possibility of Rya not being able to grow up with Addison. Here are some pictures from the day: