Tag Archives: anniversary

Life, New Life, Parenting, Throwback Thursday

6 Throwback Thursday Posts from August 2014

08/27/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Is Throwback Thursday bittersweet for any other parents out there? Bitter, because so many things happen so fast and your baby (even if they’re a teen, they’re still your baby, right?) is growing up. Sweet, because so many proud moments have happened and well, it’s also great that your kid is growing. Not to mention we’re getting older too! Bleh!

Looking back a year ago, we were still holding Avery and rocking her to sleep for naptime and at night, but now that’s a thing of the past. Going Mom has been successful a few times, but I have had no such luck. But that’s what memories are for, right? And since parenting seems to zap our memories sometimes, that’s where the internet (blogging/social media) lends a hand.

Let us now travel back a year to see what I was blogging about in August of 2014. Here are 6 of my favorite posts…

My Wife Wins Again, Our Baby Throws Food, and More Banana Fun Facts #5 – She always wins, and other dads even agreed with this one thing when you have a house of girls. Avery has changed a lot, but she still throws her food every now and then.
Goodbye, broccoli!!
Uh Oh, Our Baby’s First Cold! – We waived her coughs off as no big deal, but then it happened….sickness! Luckily, it ended with this…
Learning to Walk: Is It Wrong to Place Bets On Your Baby? – The funny thing is, I would’ve totally lost all bets since she didn’t start walking until around 3 months later!
Walker in training.
How My Daughter Is Saving My Life – Stress, it had built up for years before Avery, and although having kids is no walk in the park (unless, that is, you’re walking with them in the park), it’s a different kind of stress. I write about that here.
Daughter vs Dishes….hmm, easy choice!!
Free Food And Booze Plus A Flat Tire: Our 7th Wedding Anniversary Recap – How could I not relive this experience as we celebrating moving beyond the itchy phase of marriage?
Having A Daughter: Learning to Conquer The Fear of Fatherhood – I proudly got this published on The Huffington Post, and hold the words near and dear to my dad heart.

August was a big month last year and it turned out to be a big month this year as well. Maybe I’ll share some of the posts again when August 2016 rolls around. No rush though! Year hear that, time? Easy does it now….

Hope everyone’s week is going well. Going Mom comes back home tomorrow!!! Yay!!!!

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 5: Almost Surprised

08/22/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

My wife told me not to plan anything for the last day of our Colorado family vacation, a Wednesday, and gave no further details. Well, at first, but then I kept getting tiny bits of additional info.

First, she had to make sure she was covered under her dad’s insurance so she could drive us to Breckenridge. She also mentioned how she’d like to get there early so we could walk the familiar streets of Breckenridge. So now I knew we were going to Breckenridge.

Then I couldn’t help but think about how we had to be there at a certain time, so obviously it was something that required an appointment. The last hint was when I asked how to dress. Since I would most likely venture off to do some sort of workout, I obviously wouldn’t be that clean, so I had to ask.

“Just don’t be smelly.” was her only request. Easy enough, I would hope I could at least pull off not being smelly. With these clues, I finally put together my best guess that we were getting massages. I’ve only been talking about getting one for a long time, so I truly hoped I was right.

I fit in a workout by going on a 4 mile trail run, which did in fact make me smelly, and wet from the early morning dew. Oh, and the overnight rain.

No doubt, a shower was needed before going out with Going Mom for my “surprise”. But first, I asked her to get a few pictures of me trying a head stand.

“Who cares?” you ask? Probably no one but me, but I can and obviously will share it here! Then I showered so as to not be smelly.

On the drive to Breckenridge, I let off that I was was 90% certain where we were going, and Kelley immediately caved.

“Well, happy anniversary.” she said, slightly disappointed. I let her know it wasn’t until that very day that I put it together, and getting massages, surprise or not, is just freaking awesome! And having a couples massage where I can lay next to my wife as we don’t speak a word to each other is….well, guess that doesn’t sound all that great, but it is!

We arrived in town with time to spare, so we took to the streets to take in the atmosphere. Oh, and get coffee, duh. No pictures were taken while we enjoyed our time together, but the place we got our coffee, Cuppa Joe, has been our favorite choice from year’s past. Here we are when we went in the winter of 2012.

Holy crap, we aged! Is this what having kids does? Nah, I’ll blame it on, *gasp*, the passing of time! That’s deep, I know.

Our couple’s massage at Harmony put us in harmony for the rest of the day. I had the Ashiatsu Massage, and let me tell you, having someone walk all over you isn’t always a bad thing.

Here’s the definition as given by this site.

Ashiatsu Massage Therapy. “AOBT Definition” Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy™ (AOBT) is Asian barefoot massage. “Ashi” means “foot,” and “atsu” means “pressure.” Oils and lotion are applied to the body, and soft, clean, bare feet give a rhythmic and deep Swedish massage

It was relieving, and although not a huge surprise, the perfect anniversary gift from my wife. Thank you, Kelley, I love you dear! Now when can we go again?

The rest of the day was low key and spent at home with Nana, Papa, and Ashlee. While we were out, Ashlee continued her marathon book reading to Avery like the awesome cousin she is.

That night, we got Avery to burn off lots of energy by mimicking Ashlee as she ran and jumped into a pillow pallet we created. Over and over again, she would do her best to “jump” into the pile and crawl around.

She slept very good that night! Which was great since it made for uninterrupted Yahtzee playing time for Kelley and me.

Besides the first night, every night we were there, we’d hole up in our room for a couple rounds of Yahtzee. We hardly play anything at home (as in never), and I forgot how fun it was to play a board game, especially with my wife! It probably helped that I won all but two games, but I think Kelley would agree it was part of the best thing of our vacation.

Maybe it sounds silly, but quality time spent together truly is the best thing for any relationship!

The next day was our return home, but not without crossing the last thing off my vacation bucket list. Come back to find out what it was. Hint: it was cold!

Have you ever figured out something that was supposed to be your surprise? Has your surprise ever been figured out?

Do you play board games with friends and/or family often?

Life, Parenting

Colorado Family Vacation Day 2.2: Hiking Addiction

08/19/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

When in Colorado, I have to get out on a trail at least once a day. The area is too beautiful not to take advantage and get outdoors in the wilderness.

Lucky for me, Going Mom feels the same way. The other half of our second day in Colorado, after returning from the Vail Farmers’ Market, we took off to the trails in Nana and Papa’s mountainous neighborhood. I’m forever grateful to Nana, Papa, and Cousin Ashlee for happily keeping Avery and playing with her while my wife and I enjoyed several outings alone.

Kelley and I walked the half mile from the house to get to the trail head and set off taking one of two directions presented to us. When I went alone the day before, I took the opposite path we chose this day just to see what was different. Silly wife, she looked to me for direction as she took awesome photos, so I did the best I could to be act confident that I knew where we were going.

Note to self: Remember this tree... — Note to self: Remember this tree…

I look confident, right?

We trekked through the lush plant-life trying to take in the scenery while simultaneously not tripping over the rock-littered path. We failed at that, by the way, and lost count at how many times we stumbled. I think that’s just a part of trail hiking though. Or is it clumsiness?

Kelley was in awe of the trees, and took many pictures trying to capture their wonder….

…..while I just scalee their trunks.

Getting down was a little painful though. I still have long scratches on my belly, shins, and all the way down my left calf from hugging the trunk and sliding to get down.

That pic is from the next day. Don’t worry, the trees and I quickly made up since I never should’ve climbed on them in the first place.

Of course, I had to be “cool” and throw one of their fallen compadres. Well, after posing long enough for Kelley to snap a pic of me and all of my coolness.

We were having fun hiking through the varied terrain and checking everything out, but knew we couldn’t go on forever since we did have a kid to get back to. So naturally, we kept going and even stopped a stream to pose for pictures.

The flowing water was so clear and probably better to drink than most city water. So I did….

I even talked Kelley into taking a sip from the icy stream. We later read a warning sign saying only to drink water from purified sources. Oops! Well, we’re still standing today, so I guess that was a purified source.

As it got later, I urged us to push on just a little further. Kelley protested a little, but agreed to continue along the path. We hit a steep incline that I saw as a challenge to run to the top. I wanted to put my Soft Star Shoes Dash RunAmoc’s with a trail sole to the test anyway.

The shoes were already performing great across all types of terrain, and they never let me down as I went up.

I’ve been wearing these shoes for a while and use them when lifting in the garage, running outside, and now, hiking outdoors. The perfect for any activity!

I tried to keep quiet and just continue our hike, but Going Mom finally talked some sense into me to turn around and get back to the family. I’ll admit, when it comes to being on the trail, it’s hard to stop. You tell yourself just a little more, but a little more turns into another hour, and then another hour…..much like an addiction to drugs, only much healthier. That is, unless you get eaten by a bear or something….

Speaking of eating, we saw many mushrooms I was tempted to try, but thought better of it since I have no clue about wild mushrooms when they’re actually in the wild. But man, these little guys emerging from a hole in the ground were begging me to try.

But I passed on the delectable fungi and started making the way back with Kelley. Our backtracking journey was obviously faster than when we went out, so figured we would stop another hiker to ask to take our picture. The hiker, originally from Dallas, was happy to oblige and did a good job at pushing that shiny silver button.

She even told us about a 4 mile loop we could hike which was part of the trail we were on. The wheels in my head were already turning, and Kelley knew we’d be returning to complete the loop very soon.

By soon, I mean the next day, after our 2.5 mile walk along the Blue River for coffee at Red Buffalo Cafe. But that completes day two of our vacation. Making the 4 mile hike had Kelley feeling lost for a while, I swear, I knew where I was going the whole time. 🙂

Do you love hiking?

Ever feel like you can’t turn around and have to keep progressing forward on the trail?

Have you tried a wild mushroom not in stores before?