Visiting Baby Riley...

On Ava's actual Birthday, July 16th, Ava and I flew to Moline, IA to visit my new niece, Riley. She's adorable and Ava and I were so excited to meet Riley, visit with Shane and Sean and see the remodel of their house. It looks great. Ava was especially excited on her birthday morning, not because it was her birthday (she was totally over her birthday after having a huge celebration the weekend before - see post below), but rather she was so excited that she was going to fly on an airplane. This was the first time she has flown on an airplane.Ava was excited about all the airplanes the moment we were close enough to DIA to see the planes land and take off. Then we road the bus from long-term parking and the train within DIA to our concourse, so the day was full of excitement. Ava asked many questions, as usual, and once on the plane she was SO excited to "BLAST-OFF". Here she is coloring on the plane. We went through many activities on the plane, but she did great and loved watching through the window.

After a long couple of hours of travel, we finally got to meet cute, little Riley. Oh, how I forget how little newborns are. Riley is adorable. Ava was very excited to meet her cousin.

My best friend from college, Kelly, and her little girl Lainey, who is 6 days older then Dylan, drove from WI to come visit us in Le Claire where we were staying for the weekend. It was so great to see Kel, and to meet her adorable little Lainey. Thanks Kel, for making the drive to come see us and meet baby Riley too.

Ava enjoyed "sistering" Lainey and Riley, since Dylan wasn't around. Thanks Lainey for putting up with Ava. :)

Here we all are eating out at restaurant on the Mississippi River. It was beautiful and all the boat watching during lunch was great entertainment.Uncle Sean headed out on a long sail with his friend and cousin so when we dropped him off at the marina we all got to go check out Shane and Sean's sailboat. Ava excitedly showed everyone the toilet and two sinks inside the boat and had no fear walking around the boat or docks.

We made sure to hit up the pool a few times. Ava was enjoying Uncle Sean's big splashes when he joined us for a swim one evening too. The water was cold but Ava was having fun so I was willing to put up with the cold for her, but welcomed the hot tub. Shane and Riley relaxed pool-side and supervised all the action.

Sean watched baby Riley for a few hours so that Shane could take Ava and I on a boat ride to the beach up river. I wasn't thinking ahead and forgot to bring Ava's suite to the beach (it was actually very cool all weekend) so Ava ended up playing around in the water and sand in her undies. She thought it was great.

We also took Riley for her first stroller ride to a nearby park so that Ava could get some park time too. Ava LOVES to go to the park, especially to new parks on vacation.

I just love how much newborns sleep in any position and through any noise even as noisy as Ava. :-)

Ava was very proud to hold her little cousin and I was thankful Ava was very good with Riley. She sometimes spoke a little on the loud side, but overall did great. Over Shane's right shoulder you can see Shane and Sean's sailboat in front of their house.

Thanks Shane and "Uncle Sean" for a wonderful visit. We loved meeting your new, little girl Riley. She's adorable and all the work on your house looks great. Sean thanks for putting up with Ava's excitement about everything you were doing, the cats, and her enthusiasm for calling you "Uncle Sean" the whole time - very cute. I can't wait to see Riley August.