We arrived to San Jose exhausted only to find out the airline had lost Damon’s car seat. We didn’t let it phase us and proceeded to try and find our car rental company, which it turns out is the only one without a little booth in the airport. Then we found out one of the cars was booked for the wrong days (starting 2 days after our arrival) which was kind of a big deal because it’s high tourist season here. All somehow worked out ok though, with no major fights and Riley and Damon holding themselves together reasonably well. I think Michael deserves a lot of credit for that. Like I said, he’s super helpful, and also very calm.

My the time we got the cars and car seats all sorted out, the Boston crew was just arriving, so the timing actually worked out perfectly. The kids slept most of the 4 hour drive to Playa Hermosa. Well actually the first hour was filled with Riley telling Grandma everything that has happened to her in the last few weeks.

Monday we slept late (my mom took Damon in the morning so we could sleep in, bless her soul), then hung around our ridiculously beautiful house enjoying the pool and the view. Later we made it down to the beach, which was not too busy, and really very peaceful. The water was warm and calm so even Riley was coaxed into the water. We made a little tent out of blankets and towels for Damon to nap in (which was a recurring theme on the trip… we could have a whole post just filled with pictures of Damon sleeping in different places).

[As long as Damon had his pacifier in his hand, he was happy in the water. He didn’t even need it to be in his mouth, just nearby. Since he seemed so comfortable in the water, we decided (after a lot of hemming and hawing) to dunk him… the first time he was really surprised and cried, but after that he didn’t seem to mind a bit. He even started to close his eyes before going under.]

[Pat and Damon spent a lot of quality time together]

[Eric was actually the one who convinced Riley to leave the step and venture out into the pool on her own in the floaty thing]

Tuesday we went on a little boat tour down the river in Palo Verde national park. Riley got car sick and puked on the way there, but the rest of the day got better after that. Thankfully the day was a bit overcast so it wasn’t too hot. At first the boat seemed a bit treacherous with the kids, but Damon seemed to actually like having the wind in his face, and actually ended up falling asleep after a while. Riley was bored until we started seeing animals, like giant iguanas, white faced monkeys and crocodiles. We stopped at a little restaurant for lunch and Riley was in heaven because they had one of those plastic play houses with a pretend kitchen inside. that may have been her favorite part of the day actually. The food was delicious.

[Damon on the boat]

[Glamour girl]

[Monkey on the boat!]

[Not sure what’s going on here exactly…]

[Sleeping through dinner in a nice restaurant]

Wednesday we went zip lining! Well Michael, Patrick, Eric and Sage and I did. We rode horses up to the top of a canyon, then took a series of zip lines back down, criss-crossing the canyon. It was pretty touristy, but the views were amazing and the zip lines were awesome. Riley and Damon stayed with my parents and went on a long walk exploring the natural hot springs and steaming rocks. Riley was of course resistant and scared at first, but as soon as they found her a good walking stick she was off and running and had a fantastic time.

We met up for lunch, then spent the afternoon lounging around the pool. There was a swim-up bar, pretty amazing. Riley was happy because the bar tender gave her an almost endless supply of maraschino cherries. Everyone else was happy with their beers and fancy cocktails.

They claim that the mud from the hot springs is good for your skin… who knows if that’s true or not, but we all slathered it all over our bodies anyway. Even Riley! She actually did it multiple times.

[Covered in mud, I’m amazed Riley agreed to this]

Before leaving we went back to the horses and asked if Riley could ride around on one. They picked a nice one for her, and boosted her up. She was terrified, but stayed put, and gradually became more comfortable, until finally she was laughing and having a great time…

[Riding a horse!]

It was a great day, but by the end we were ready to leave the resort and get back to our house…

Thursday was New Years Eve. We had a relaxed day at the beach, then went to a nice restaurant for dinner. The nice thing about Playa Hermosa is it’s big enough to have fire works and New Year’s celebrations, but still small enough to not be overwhelming or too touristy.

[decadence]

On Friday we decided to drive to a beach known for having big waves. Turned out to be a beach with almost no shade, and we got there at noon… perhaps not the greatest timing. There was a little shack with a bar selling drinks and tacos, and a lot of surfer kids hanging around, I felt a little old and out of place with my two little kids. Turned out to be okay though. We took turns playing in the giant waves, which were a little scary, but also super fun. At one point, Riley was sitting on the bar in her underwear, drinking mango ice tea from a bottle, her blonde crazy curly hair flying everywhere, and I thought she actually fit right in with the surfer kids smoking a joint right behind her. I wish I had a picture…

Eric was dying to go fishing, so on Saturday we all went out in a tiny boat together. Everyone but Eric and Pat got dropped of on a deserted beach to snorkel and play, while the two boys tried to catch some fish. They were gone forever, but luckily caught something!

[Cold beer on the hot beach… is there anything better?]

Our kids can sleep anywhere, even on a tiny, bumpy, noisy boat…

[Sunset view from our house]

Sunday was our last day, so we spent it at our little beach…

[Beach boy]

[Nap time]

When we got home, I asked Riley what her favorite parts of the trip were, and she added:
1. Singing the grinch with Mikey (Riley was obsessed with “How the grinch stole Christmas,” so Mikey and I looked up the words to the song and sang it to her in a taxi… she loved it)
2. Swimming in the lagoon (at the beach, it was really shallow and clear, with no waves)
3. “Playing games with Pat was cuckoo fun!” (Riley decided a while back that “cuckoo” means really, or very, and we’ve all kind of adopted it. Pat brought trivial pursuit, and Riley played with the little pie pieces every day. He also brought the movie “The Soloist,” which Riley actually watched the whole way through)

A final thought from Riley: is pink a fish or a vegetable?

The reason we went to LA was for Jesse’s second annual heart party (Riley was there last year, she just doesn’t know it). Riley had a heart outfit just for the occasion, and a special heart hair clip (though sadly not really enough hair to wear the clip). She slept through most of the party (amazingly given how many people snuck upstairs to try to meet her) but did make a brief appearance.

Jesse graciously let us have her bed for the night. Poor Chloe had to share the bed with us, which I feel bad about because Riley woke up quite a few times. (She says she didn’t mind!)

We stayed on the Russian River for a long fourth of July weekend with friends and spent a fair bit of time on the river. Riley fared well, especially with her inflatable sun shade float! We took her drifting down the river–quite an adventure, even though the water was barely moving and at times only 6″ deep. All that relaxing can get pretty tiring, though…. time for a nap!

Riley went on her first camping trip this weekend! We were up in Ashland for my 10 year high school reunion (yikes!) and spent a night up and Squaw Lake with a few people the following night. Riley had a pretty good time, despite having a bit of a cold. Here she’s sporting her Camp Out outfit from Houston and Taylor.

The trip gave us an opportunity to finally try out the backpack baby carrier thinger (the “Wanderer”) that Eagle hooked us up with for Riley’s baby shower. It’s great! She has more room to move around than in the Bjorn, and there are some loops we can hook her toys through so that she has something to play with.

The next day Andy and Kendra got married in the Little Sanctuary at St. Alben’s School on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral. We were a bit nervous going into it, but Riley was in such a great mood the entire time, and smiled the whole way through. There was one tense moment, where the officiant asks, “If anyone here knows any reason these two should not wed, speak now,” but Riley couldn’t think of anything–she was too interested in my pinky finger! There was a remarkable number of small children and babies in attendence, and a few odd moments (“Why is that man so bald?!?”).

The ceremony was beautiful and the party afterward was definetly a good time. We’re really glad we could be there to see Andy and Kendra tie the knot, and to catch up with old friends we hadn’t seen in years. Last year we went to a wedding in DC and stayed out all night partying… this year we called it a night around 10:30… times sure have changed. Life with Riley makes everything into an adventure.

More wedding pictures here…

Riley went on her first hike this Sunday! Not that she probably took much notice snuggled into her Baby Björn and pea green baby suit. We went up to the Palo Alto Foothills Park nature preserve, which has a bunch of trails and excellent views of the bay. It was so nice we went back again on Tuesday.
Vida and Dallas came by afterwards (with Charlotte!) to meet Riley and say Hi.

After two nights in the hospital, Riley took her first ride in the new baby-mobile, sporting one of her new outfits: layette (or whatever it’s called) and hand-knit hat from Vida and Dallas, fleece blanket from Becca.
Packard has a guy you can make an appointment and go to to help you put in your car seat. Apparently four out of five are installed incorrectly! Sounded a bit inflated to me, but sure enough, I’d put ours in wrong: apparently the little baby-seat hooks between the cushions only work if you put in the seat on the left or right side. If you install in the center, you need to use the seat belt, because the hooks are welded to two unconnected bars (in the 2006 Lexus RX at least!). We learned this and much much more. Despite this, and Riley being almost a week overdue, we still didn’t manage to have the seat installed before leaving the hospital. According to the orderly guy who wheeled us out, this was also par for the course.