Sunday Busy Sunday

Like most weekend days, today was a busy one. Can't complain. We try to devote as much of our weekend to fun time for Riley as possible since we don't spend nearly as much time with him during the week as we'd like. The day started out with our normal trip to the bagel place (Riley insists on a "special toast bagel" (large bagel coated in mass quantities of cinnamon and sugar) in his own bag). Sadly, we are such regulars at The Bagel Station on the weekends that they know his order before he even places it. Then we drive across the street to Starbucks for some coffee and to eat our bagels. We pass by a used book store on the way (one which only bought about 5 of our two laundry baskets full of books). Riley must have a vivid memory of Casey getting mad that they didn't buy more because each time we pass the book store he asks, "Daddy, are you still mad at them?" After finishing our bagels, we walked with the dogs over to the park, played soccer on the "soccer field" (otherwise know as the bocce courts), used the lacrosse stick to throw the ball for Wrigley, hit "laser shows" on the "baseball field" (a different bocce court), spent some time on the big boy swing (no more baby swing for this kid), played in the boat (slide/play area designed to sort of resemble a boat) and then walked back to our car. We arrived home at 10:40 and had to divide and conquer in order to get ready for his friend Grace's birthday party at 11:00 (incidentally, the way to Riley's heart is to send him some mail - he was so excited to get the party invitation in the mail that he actually gasped before grinning from ear to ear and clapping). We spent the rest of the morning at Grace's wonderfully non-overdone and very relaxed, fun birthday party where, I should note, Riley was the only little boy invited (except for the baby brother of one of Grace's friends). Apparently Grace kept asking her parents if she could invite Riley and they finally gave in (I should note here that Riley before, in spite of knowing her first and last name very well, has referred to her as Gracie Otis - uh oh). Anyway, he had a blast and was worn out by the time we left. We came home for nap time which consisted of Casey running around town trying to pick out suitable tile for our bathroom floors and me trying to go through the insane amounts of baby clothes to semi prepare the guest room for its transition to the nursery. Three hours later, Casey had returned with the tile and had treated the yard with something that will hopefully get the weeds in our front yard under control, while I managed to get at least a decent start on the nursery preparations. Time to wake Riley up from his nap so that we could leave in time to make it to the Western Carolina vs Elon college baseball game which our former neighbor, Connor, was playing in. In spite of the 45 minute drive to get to the game, Riley was super excited, randomly shouting, "Let's go Connor" from the back seat. When we arrived at the game and started walking towards the stadium he kept repeating, "I'm excited!!!" Guess the trip to the game was a good decision. After we paid, he cried when I told him he had to use the potty before we could watch the game. After using the bathroom, he practically ran to the stands where he promptly sat down in the first seat we encountered. He stared intently for quite awhile until Connor's family came to talk to us between innings. From that point forward, Riley became Connor's 8-year-old brother's shadow. He thinks Whit is the coolest kid ever. Fortunately Whit is an active little guy too and was perfectly content to play catch (if you can call it that) with Riley for the next hour or two. Eventually Connor and Whit's other brother (Ty) joined in too and pitched for Riley so he could hit some laser shows. I do not think he could have enjoyed himself more. He talked all the way home about being a baseball player and playing with the big boys. By the time we got home, it was almost 9:30 (a full two hours after bedtime) and we were all exhausted. Just a typical Sunday...