Tag Archives: anniversary

Colorado Family Vacation Day 2.1: Vail Farmers’ Market Surprise

08/18/2015 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

After the long first night in Colorado, we were up and at ’em to go to the Vail Farmers’ Market for day 2. We had planned on going before going on our trip since it’s only open on Sunday so it would be our only chance. Knowing this, I reached out to the friendly Executive Director of the unique market to ask about helping me with a little 8th Wedding Anniversary surprise.

I had no idea just what exactly could be arranged, but I told Angela, the kind director, how it would be our anniversary soon and I wanted something to surprise her while there. I love surprises, big or small, and when given the opportunity, I’ll take it!

That opportunity arose when Angela suggested making use of the live jazz band to announce our anniversary and play us a song in the center of the market. I immediately said yes to her suggestion and couldn’t believe how generous she was just talking to a stranger from Texas. She arranged for the announcement and even told me the time to be there, asking nothing in return.

But geez, getting everyone to stick around the area proved to be an arduous task! I should’ve know how hard it is to do anything that involves standing between a woman and shopping, and it almost resulted in a little argument when I became a tad pushy about moving back towards the jazz band. Notice how I’m walking ahead of everyone in the picture above.

With the help of my wonderful in-laws and several covert e-mails with Angela (Kelley kept bugging me about getting off my phone), we made it just in time to hear the band announce us by name and say happy 8th anniversary.

Steve, Kelley’s dad / Papa, works wonders with the camera, and captured our family of three enjoying the song the band played for us.

Make that two of us enjoying the song, Avery just wasn’t excited about the large crowds and wanted to run around more. We asked her to smile for another picture, but she only looked more annoyed.

She did, however, seem interested in sitting down to finish watching/listening to the band play “our” song.

Kelley was surprised, and beautiful smile on her face filled me joy. It might sound corny, but it’s true, and I will never hesitate to announce it through and through! She’s so wonderful and I’m lucky to call her my wife and best friend. I think Avery was feeling far from being either of our best friends, especially when she had to go in the stroller.

Not that it stopped us from taking turns getting a picture with the happy girl.

All of our moods took a turn for the worse when we walked to Sweet Basil, a restaurant within the town square where the farmers’ market is held.

Avery was already hungry and cranky, and the rest of us were turning hangry as well. It took an hour before our food arrived and the unenthusiastic and uninformed waitress hardly knew what her place of employment served and forget about getting anything answered about the menu. Avery had to be taken outside several times when she turned on the vocals to scream in protest. Thankfully Cousin Ashlee was there to help watch Avery as she ran around with an “I do what I want!” attitude.

Normally, it’s just kids being kids, but we all wanted to do the same and couldn’t blame her. She would hardly eat, and would not have it sitting in the high chair. She went back and forth to Kelley’s and Nana’s lap and we felt it was a win after she ate the watermelon and red onion salad I had to piece together from two separate entrees.

Notice the surprised face on my wife after Avery took a bite. It was clear we had an unruly toddler at the table, but waitress even took her Sweet Basil ass time to bring us the tab we asked for. But don’t worry, she had plenty of time to stand and talk to the patrons at a table next to us about her college plans and probably how she sucks at hearing or just life in general.

Sorry for the rant, but we all left the place extremely irritated and unsatisfied. Plus we were all still hungry! In sum, go to the Vail Farmers’ Market (it’s full of unique crafts, fresh food, and local wine and spirits), but DON’T GO to Sweet Basil!

The Vail Farmers’ Market was only half of our day 2 adventures. Once we returned home to Nana and Papa’s Kelley and I took off to the nearby trail I went on the first day to spend time hiking together. I’ll save our hiking story for the next post so as to not drag things on in one post.

Don’t worry, it won’t be long. For a little teaser, I’ll say that at one point, I found myself stuck between a rock and hard place.

Have you ever had a horrendous dining experience? With or or without kids?

Do you enjoy Farmers’ Markets? Any favorite finds?

Life, Monthly List, Parenting, Photo Journal

21 Month Photo Session + Happy 8th Anniversary to Us!

08/17/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

I interrupt the expected continued stories of our Colorado vacation to say Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to my wife, Kelley aka Going Mom! Note: the font color is the official html code for Bronze, the traditional 8 year wedding anniversary material.

We don’t have anything special planned for the day. After just getting back from our family trip and frantically trying to restore order back home by grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, getting new smartphones (Wow, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is cool!), and picking up our neighbor’s cool play house with swing set, I don’t know how we’d fit anything in anyway.

Don’t worry, we have a fun camping trip planned for October with just the two of us while G-Ma stays at our house with Avery. I still need to get sleeping bags and several other camping essentials first. Any pointers/suggestions?

Oh yeah, and we had to make sure a get 21 month pics of Avery on the 15th to carry on tradition. Same chair, same bear, and same, but constantly changing/growing, little girl.

Just wake me when you're done. — Just wake me when you’re done.

My belly? Of course I know where it is.... — My belly? Of course I know where it is….

See? It's right here! — See? It’s right here!

Oh, I know what you just did, good trick. Well, here you go, you win a smile from me!

We only have so much time before she just gets irritated that we’re making her sit in the chair. We consider it a win if we get one smiling pic, so, YAY! #Winning

Although we have a future anniversary celebration trip planned, I always have to find something traditional to give. Since bronze is the traditional material for 8 years, I found a really cool compass which fits in perfectly for our first of many camping trips together.

On the outside of the box, I made a quote saying:

No matter where life takes us,

may we always go together.

I didn’t get it from somewhere else, otherwise I’d give credit where credit is due, so please let me know if it’s been used before. I also gave a 30 pound kettlebell. It’s not bronze, but she’s been wanting something heavier than the 25 pound she currently uses. Plus I left a cool handmade note I put together with glue and construction paper; go me!

Aside from the personal note on the homemade card, I wrote a quick poem in true corny dad/husband style..

7 is done, wasn’t it fun?

Now we’re at 8, ain’t that great?

Next up is 9, I’m so glad you’re mine!

And then shared 8 (because 8 years, duh) quotes about marriage I felt were appropriate.

·       Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, 1966

·       It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

·       A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

·       True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach

·       We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love. ~Robert Fulghum, True Love

·       A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short. ~Andre Maurois

·       We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham

·       More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. ~Doug Larson

That’s about it for today. I’ll get back to sharing our trip soon, but I have a play house I need to figure out how to get level in our slanted back yard first. I’m open to your thoughts. Oh yeah, and I haven’t forgotten about my monthly memories post, but still need to find 21 things…hmmmm.

Do you enjoy keeping with traditional items for wedding anniversaries?

Any cool anniversary gifts of your own you’d like share?

Life, Parenting

I Survived the 1st Year As a Stay-At-Home Dad!

02/02/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

More importantly, we/us/our family has survived a year having me as a stay-at-home dad. Nerves were high for all of us a year ago as my wife was returning to work from her maternity leave, and I was leaving work to stay home with our daughter, Avery.

It was obvious how unsure I was looking back at my first post from my first day at home. The world revolved around nap time and I heavily depended on Kelley’s breast milk soaked shirt laying in Avery’s crib to provide comfort and help with keeping her asleep.

Poor wife, I wouldn’t dare let her have that thing back for quite a while! On the second day, my confidence-o-meter was still in the negatives, as well as many subsequent days after.

If you checked out the links I provided from my first and second days as an at-home dad, you might notice a common theme that’s present with most parents, especially new ones; a difference in parenting styles. Yep, it’s a big one, and doesn’t matter if one is staying home or both are working, parents tend to disagree on one thing or ~~another~~ a miliion, and that’s just how it is.

Kelley and I still have our own ways of dealing with Avery and we’ll sometimes argue over how the other is handling a situation. Damn wife, she’s usually right (at least I admit it…..eventually), but sometimes I get the 1-up. Not often, but sure does feel good when I do! Parents, don’t you agree?

~~Fighting~~ ~~Arguments~~ ~~Quarrels~~ Misunderstandings aside, Kelley and I make a great team and have learned a lot along the way. Is anyone ever done learning when so much is changing every day? In parenting and relationships, I vote NO! But that’s part of the fun, right? 🙂

In my year as a stay-at-home dad, I’ve made many mistakes and figure I’ll make many more. But from the ones I have made, I have learned and grew stronger as a result. For instance, babywearing, something we fully support and love in our home, took me a bit before realizing I was doing it wrong at first. I was wearing Avery all over with legs dangling and front facing.

Too cool for school...or anything. — Too cool for school…or anything.

As I shared on my post about Why I Wear My Baby, there are many studies showing the problems with a baby’s development when worn like this, especially the dangling legs!

And there are plenty more (I’m picturing my wife nodding her head as she reads this) mistakes that I’ll share in a separate post soon. Hopefully other parents, whether at-home or at-work, will learn from my mistakes and avoid making them their selves.

Today I want to call attention to making it an entire year with our arrangement and to express my deep, deep appreciation to my lovely wife, Kelley, for working so hard for our family. Some times are extremely hard with work, keeping up with breastfeeding, and dealing with an unruly husband (me!) and she is great at keeping everything together.

Kelley, I can’t thank you enough, and just want to say I love our life together and having such a crazy, yet sweet, daughter to raise with you.

Are you currently or can you remember being a parent to a baby/toddler?

What are some ways that you and your significant other pushed through the tunnel of stressful times to emerge from the other end, happy and sane? Okay, maybe a little crazy. 😉