Ryan's birthday party in Springfield

Last weekend we celebrated Ryan's birthday with the folks 'south of 80.' Jason had to get back for work, so he took the train home Monday. Ryan was so impressed with the big Amtrak that he didn't seem to notice that Dad didn't go home with us. But later he asked, "Dad, on tain?"
Ryan and I stayed for several days and spent time with Gram and Poppy....oh, and Molly, Polly and Jake.

"Nana, I need that napkin, pweese"

I like the cookie thing, but no more singing, please!

Yea!...a basketball hoop! And it's just my size.

How many people does it take to assemble a toddler basketball hoop?

Wow!...a firetruck.

And a picture of a firetruck that lights up!

We went to the zoo in Springfield.

See Dad, geese aren't so bad.


Ryan had more fun pulling wagon than riding in it.

Born on the 4th of July

Welcome to the world, Liam Aaron Riley, born on July 4th at 5:43 p.m.
8 lbs 14 oz and 21 1/2 inches.
Ryan and I went to meet Mr. Liam tonight...he's a cutie! Congratulations Aaron and Robin!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Cousin Alex's birthday is the day after Ryan's. We went to his party at Airtastic tonight. What a cool place!

The birthday boy goes down the BIG slide!

Bounce! BOUNCE!

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Here are some other fun pictures after Ryan's party and on his actual birthday.

"I got this package from Nikki and Annika in Arizona. It had peanuts in it, but Mom wouldn't let me eat them!"


The Ritchie-Murr-Koshinskis


What's in this big box?

Ryan's excited that it's a wagon! Dad's excited that there's a cooler compartment!

The first cruise in the new wagon - we're ridin' in style now!


Ryan loves Eh-Os!! (OREOS)

Party at the Park

We're off to the park to swing, skip and play...
It's time to celebrate Ryan's birthday!

It's hard to believe that our little guy is 2 years old. Ryan had a fun birthday party at Austin Park on Sunday. The weather was absolutely beautiful! The kids had lots of fun playing at the playground.

After Ryan opened a couple of presents, he started to understand that there are exciting things in there!


"Mom says I have to open the card first."


Ryan seemed concerned that there were soo many people standing around, staring at him and singing. He didn't want any part of that!

Ryan's not a fan of cake or ice cream (are you sure he's my kid?!), so Grandma made some giant cookies instead. We also had OREOS for dessert, which Ryan loves!

Elmo balloons from Gram & Poppy!

Eating lunch....notice the cute frog plate.

Dad...the grill master, again!

Going through the tunnel at the playground.

Riding on Poppy's scooter is just as fun as playing on the playground!

7.4.09

It rained on our parade....literally. We were hoping to go to the Sugar Grove bike parade on the 4th, but it rained all day. So instead we went to lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradice with Chris and Tonya, who were here for a visit. Jason was the grill master for dinner...BBQ ribs. And the rain and clouds went away in time for the fireworks in Naperville.

On the 3rd, we went to the sprayground in Geneva and were able to see most of the Aurora fireworks from our house.

Cubs vs. Tigers

Jason, Ryan, John and Cathy traveled to Detroit to see the Cubs play the Tigers. Unfortunately they saw two loses, but seemed to enjoy themselves anyway.

Detroit was hosting 4th of July festivities and the Bud Clydesdales where there!


Ryan had a great time playing in this fountain, downtown Detroit 'riverwalk' near the GM headquarters. Their hotel was part of GM headquarters. Apparently the place was huge!


A busy day at Comerica Park!


Grrrrrr....Grrrandma and RRRRyan with the Detroit Tiger


This carousel was inside Comerica Park. All the animals were Tigers.


And this baseball ferris wheel was inside the park too!


Ryan, Jason and Grandma went for a ride.


Ryan and Dad at Comerica Park

"Grandma, this is great! Can we come again?"

Happy Birthday, Abby!

Ryan had a great time at Abby's birthday party. Note the water table (which actually looks like a sink). It was quite the hit!

Here's Abby's piece of the cake!

Abby has all the good stuff at her house, even a table perfect for the Munchkins (Abby, Meredith and Ryan ate two bites before they were off and running...)

"Mom, I'm just going to sit in my new princess chair and you can finish opening the gifts for me."

I'm not sure if Abby was happy or upset with what Ryan was doing.

Jack and Ryan playing at the water table.

News from the Farm

Wow...it's been too long since my last post. The last weekend in May, Ryan and I went home to visit the crazies on the farm. My Dad had knee replacement surgery while we were in San Diego, so we owed him a visit.

Chris and Tonya were home too...so Chris went riding. He and Ryan didn't get very far on the 4-wheeler. Ryan was terrified!


Poppy has a new ramp into the house and Ryan thought it was a blast to run up and down, with Annie following close behind.




The other big news was that work had just started on replacing the bridge near their house. Before they could tear down the old bridge, they had to put in a temporary bridge, which was almost complete when we were there. Seems trivial I know, but big news on the farm. That bridge has been there since my parents built their house 30 years ago!

Here's a picture of the existing bridge with the temporary being built on the right.


And here's the temporary. They filled in the culvert with lots and lots of dirt.