A Glass of the House White

What a weekend we had! 

It’s unreal how fast 2 days can go by if the day begins with the letter S …

I had a great Friday that started when mom brought Ryan by my office for a visit.  What a way to liven up the office!  He’s very popular with my co-workers and just ate up all of the attention.  Ryan was feeling helpful and decided to tackle some of my work – here he is updating some accounts:

Scott, Ryan and I started the weekend out right with a little happy hour close to home.  I hurt my back last week, so I was a bit slow moving and in need of some “fluid therapy”.  Our favorite pizza place takes good care of us and we can enjoy a glass of wine (or two!) while we wait for our pizza.  Ryan is our “bar fly”, he just loves to hang out with us and meet new people.  He does get restless from time to time so we always have a “bag of tricks” as they say.  And as it turns out, one of his current favorites is a sock.  Move over Sophie, we much prefer laundry!

After a quiet night in, we went to bed ready to wake up bright and early Saturday morning.  We had a busy day ahead!  And to our surprise, we weren’t woken up until 7:00am.  What a nice Saturday treat from Ryan!  After a quick morning at home, we were on our way to the wine country for a fun day complete with a visit with Ryan’s Great Grandma Betty, Great Aunt Bridget, Grandma Cec and Grandpa John (my parents).  Ryan had a great drive – because he slept 95% of the time!  Thankfully we can get away with a drive if it’s time for a nap.  Otherwise, it’s a very very very long drive!  Ryan did so well on the drive that we had time to stop at a winery before our lunch date with the family.  Mom and dad enjoyed some sparkling wine and Ryan had “the house white”. 

Lunch was a celebration for Great Grandma Betty’s 92^nd birthday.   We were in a cute downtown area at one of our favorite lunch spots.  It’s so special that Ryan has FIVE great grandparents.  What a lucky boy.  He’s been lucky enough to meet 3 of the 5 in person – we hope that next year he can meet the other two.  Scott’s grandmother lives in Palm Springs and my grandmother lives in Canada. 

Here’s Ryan with Betty and Bridget … he’s getting a little tired, but is hanging in there!

Next, Scott and I really wanted to head up to our favorite (or one of) wineries … so up we went with Grandma Cec and Grandpa John.  It was fun to taste a few wines – Scott and I are used to our “Two Buck Chuck”, so tasting some nicer wines is a real treat.  We took the time to walk around a little, but my back wasn’t having much of that so we didn’t do that for long. 

Here’s Scott, Ryan, Grandpa and I making our way up to the tasting room:

Sunday was another fun day.   Ryan started the day by having an absolute blast with yet another “toy” – who needs Baby Einstein when there are paper towels?  Yup, here’s our boy with a paper towel – this was a good 20 minutes of entertainment.

On our list today was Ryan’s first swim – a REAL swim this time.  We joined our local YMCA down the road – they have both an indoor and outdoor pool – both are HEATED, yay! – and they also have a pretty decent swim program.  So the pasty-white family we are, we all got lathered up in sunscreen and headed out to the pool.  It was a beautiful day – mid 80’s – perfect for a swim. 

Here’s Ryan as we just got into the water, he wasn’t too sure at first …

But in a matter of minutes we were swimming together – I got Ryan in to his shoulder’s.  I didn’t have the heart to dunk him quite yet …but he'll be fine ... it looks like he takes after mom– he’s part fish.  He was smiling and giggling and even explored the water with his hands a bit.  We don’t have any pictures of this, so you have to take my word for it.  We got in trouble for the first picture we took – no pictures are allowed in the pool except on the first and last day of a class.  Sad how we have to worry about stuff like that these days. 

After the swim Ryan must have felt extra adventurous because he next thing I knew he had his feet in his mouth!  We’ve officially discovered our feet!  It only took a little bit more time for Ryan and it’s a joy to watch him explore his hands and now feet.  I wasn’t sure he would get to experience this phase with his shorter legs - it’s so much fun for him.    Just the other day I was wondering if he had a little growth spurt recently … I guess he may have after al!

Here’s Ryan sampling his left foot … mmmmm.

According to some people, I can be a bit of a talker … apparently I can talk about anything endlessly.  I’m your girl for a long car drive or a long run – just ask my friends!  Well, looks like I have a "partner in crime" – Ryan is suddenly talking non-stop and has something to say about everything.  He’s fully committed to baby babble now and it’s the most wonderful sound I have ever heard! 

I just can’t believe that all of that was in two days.  No wonder I’m tired!  But it was worth it.  It was a wonderful weekend, I didn’t know it was possible to love this much – and he’s only 7 months old!  So much more to come I know … on to the next adventure …