Little Chocolate Monster

So lately we can't seems to get this kid to eat much solids at all. Tonight with both of us looselysupervising, she got a hold of a Lindt 70% dark chocolate and cherry chili bar. It looks like she had a pretty good piece of it, at least and inch square. Here are the mug shots from the very quick damage. Sooooo busted!

Play time

Here Riley is last Sunday having a blast, playing with Grandpa. So many toys to chose from!

She also looked ridiculous with this ring in her mouth!

First Fondant Attempt

My first attempt making fondant turned out pretty well. I made a sticky, powdery mess out of the kitchen, but once I added enough powdered sugar (about 3 pounds) into the mixture, I was able to roll it out! Not too bad.

A Couple More Maui Pics

Here Riley is with her Grandma, in a beautiful little church in upcountry Maui. It was nearly dark in the church, so I had to hold the camera still and do a very slow exposure, I still think it turned out beautifully. This will be one of my favorite photos and memories.

The view out of the church was spectacular. Riley poses with both Grandma & Grandpa here!

Tooth #4 and #5...Oh dear.

Riley is now having her two top teeth come in with an additional tooth to the right of her middle bottom teeth. Last night she barely slept and has been borderline fussy and sick all day. I hope we'll survive this new development and I am hoping for some sleep tonight. Please?!

Boogie Boarding, Maui Mitt Part 4

We took Riley boogie boarding a couple of times, when we were at beaches without serious waves or undertow.

Even though the water wasn't that warm, she loved being in the water and especially enjoyed the boogie board. On her second outing she cried when we took her out of the water, after over an hour on the boogie board! (Sorry, not worth risking a sun burn!)

A Typical Bath Time

There is something beautiful and timeless about bath time. A very young Riley, skin just glowing in our very old bathroom. She is stunning against a backdrop of old porcelain.

We love the smell of her baby shampoo, it is the cleanest, gentlest and sweetest smell. She just loves playing with the shampoo bottle. She will use it as a microphone, putting the bottle in her mouth and singing into it.

Fort Mitt (Maui Mitt, Part 3)

During our week in Maui, we went to our favorite beach, Kamaole III a couple times. It was windy, but beautiful.


Matt tried to build a little wall around Riley to keep the water from getting too high around her. The waves kept knocking it down, so "Fort Mitt" was started. Once built, Fort Mitt was capable of withstanding the highest flood waters and was a formidable presence and delicious snack!

"Mmmmm, sand!"

Maui View, Short Video

My apologies, the wind was so loud in this clip, but the view is absolutely gorgeous!

Maui View from Kirsten kcy on Vimeo.

Maui Mitt, Part 2

Riley has a plumeria from the garden tucked behind her ear, this stayed in place for a surprising amount of time.























Riley with the Iao Needle behind her, we hiked a bit around Iao Valley, the whole time Riley peeked around her dad's head to see where she was going.









Here we are a cove near Wailea.

Riley and Charlie Sitting in a Tree....

Last Wednesday Auntie Megan came to Sacramento to visit. This was our first real chance to meet Charlie, who is 9 weeks old. He is adorable, charming, has more hair than Ri and is all-boy!



Here Riley and Stella both meet Charlie, everyone is interested.






Riley warmed to him immediately. Here she's holding his hand. (he is trying desperately to sleep and is not too charmed by her advances).













Riley, very serious, going in for the kiss.









.....and "MUAH!", Riley gives him a series of big, smush-y kisses. I can't wait until they are both a little older and can play together more!

Tooth #3

Today we noticed tooth number 3 has come in! Last night Riley went to sleep in my arms around 6 p.m. (her usual bedtime is around 11 p.m.) She slept all night and even kept sleeping when we went to bed. I woke her up at 7 a.m. and now I'm thinking that Mitt-Van-Winkle just needed extra sleep from the stress of the tooth coming in. Either that or she grew a few inches during the night!

Here's Riley cruising around tonight....she is tired, but not admittedly so. She keeps running out of gas, putting her head down and then going back to her crawling.

Maui Mitt, Part 1

Riley enjoyed the plane ride and did well. She was quiet, easily entertained and she slept for about 2 of the 5 hours. This didn't prevent the honeymooners sitting benind us from complaining about he mere idea of sitting near a baby. They complained to the flight attendant and found it unacceptable that the plane was full and they'd hgave to pay to upgrade to first class to find other seat together, they leveraged free bottles of vodka from the "inconvenience" (seriously, if you're going to be nasty and high-maintenance, pay for first class seats, espcially on a honeymoon). Riley was perfectly quiet and well behaved and really, we should have gotten free drinks for putting up with their gross, mid-life, honeymoon PDA.



Here Riley plays with my headphones and enjoys taking up the whole seat while I'm gone for a minute.


















Shortly after arriving at my uncles' house, we headed to the pool. The yard and view were gorgeous, though Riley's favorite part was dismantling my lei.