Another Trip to PA

From Left to Right-Top Row: Ksavera, Jon, Caitlyn, Ash, Cocia Sonya. Bottom Row: Cocia Mary, Babcia, Cocia Betty (all wearing sunglasses from the 1994 Rychlinski Family Reunion)

This time I went with Caitlyn, Ashley, Ksavera, Jon, Mandy, and Hana. We all had such a great time... thanks to all our family there who were so welcoming. It really is great to have such a big and loving family!!! We stayed fom Saturday to Saturday and were to there to help celebrate my Babcia and Dziadzia's 59th wedding anniversary!!! We were able to enjoy so many things when we were there... let's see... the best way to blog about it would be a list!!!

10. Woodpeckers, McKenzie's, and Buffalo Bills

9. Swimming Pool dance Parties

8. Bon Fires

7. Pizzas so big that the pizza box could burn for days in the fire pit

6. Holy balls, egg toss, and the famous quarter game.

5. Indonesian Food, Wings, Subs, limoncello (made by the master of limoncello), Rhubbarb Pie, and other freshly baked goodies

4. Amazing Hospitality

3. Pittsburgh Strip Food Tour

2. Watching the Rychlinski Family Reunion video of 1994

1. Fun time spent with family!!!

There were so many great times shared by all of us. Hopefully this list sums up most of them. Enjoy the pics and we will start planning the Rychlinski Family Reunion of 2010!

Serious Steelers Fans... I know Caitlyn looks like a boy, but she was wearing the cutest little shiny black mary janes which dolled her up a tad... in this pic she looks like she would bleed black and gold!!!
This here is the famous quarter game, I wish I would have taken more pictues of it, but I was so busy laughing so hard that I was crying! The object was to carry a quarter between your cheeks and drop it in this cup! Ksavera dominated this year and I came in a very close 2nd place... I got extra style points too for attempting my cousin Kane's famous crab walk move!

Daddy and Caitlyn enjoying some sunshine by the pool.

Babcia gave Caitlyn many horsey rides... ocassionally the horse would get a little wild!

Dziadzia was rehabilitating after a fall so we all went to visit him. We totally should have brought him a beer cause he was pretty upset with my cousin Ed for not sneaking one in.

Last but not least... the Rychlinski Kids with Babcia and Dziadzia!

Camping at Lake Trask

This Labor Day was my 2nd official time being able to celebrate the real labor day... being that I have been in labor... wink wink! We celebrated at Lake Trask. Ash's family has property up there. We've almost gone every single year since I have known him... about 9 years now (last year we missed the kite festival for the 1st time in over 20 years and Lake Trask due to the arrival of the lovely Caitlyn Leigh). We drove up on Saturday night and stayed til Monday. I'm not really into the whole outdoors thing... but I didn't wanna let Caitlyn down and I showed her that woman and spiders can coexist in the wilderness! Camping was a little difficult with a 1 year old... she loves rocks and dirt in her mouth! I couldn't turn my eyes for a second without her eating something new! The first night should only be recapped with a few words... poker, spiders, hurt thumb, hiccups, sneaky gas, sneaky snacks, and laughter so hard you can't breath.

The next day, we spent some time down at the lake where there was a carnival and Caitlyn won her first cake walk! While we played, Grandpa and Gary built a new bridge to connect some of their property. They decided that all the new additions would be named after their grandchildren and so the new bridge is named... Caitlyn's Crossing!

Aunt Scarlet walks with Caitlyn for the 1st time accross Caitlyn's Crossing.

Gary posing by the finished bridge.

Caitlyn checking out the wilderness!

Traveling through the rough terrain on her way to the carnival.

Cake walk... I won, I won!

Playing with Dad in the bouncy toy.

Fishing with Dad... she caught a blue bracelet!

Me... the Camping Queen... and my family!

Pappy shows Caitlyn around the property.Caitlyn, after a long couple of days in the wild wilderness!

Kite Festival 2008

Another year at the kite festival has passed. We had such a great time!

Caitlyn had a fun time flying her 1st Kite!!!

Dad bought his 1st fighter Kite and we played 'knock the can down'.

Caitlyn with dirt on her face... I spent the 1st day trying my hardest to keep her clean and then realized that it is impossible while camping. Cocia Hana and Aunt Scarlet climbed this mountain of dirt with Caitlyn!
Caitlyn running towards the Pacific Ocean, she loved jumping the waves.

Three sun bathing, wave jumping beauties!

Caitlyn playing with her sand castle bucket from Uncle Jonny and Mandy.
This is her excited to be holding her 1st kite
That's me trying to show her where her kite is in the sky.
That's Dad making sure she learns all the right kite flying moves. Caitlyn relaxing at the camper.
More sun bathing beauties! Jumping the waves.
I love the excitement in her eyes!
If you look close at the picture below,

you will see she ate the sand... mmm!

Top 10 favorite moments of Kite Festival 2008

1. The beach, the sand, the waves, the sunshine… everything about the beach!
2. Flying my 1st kite
3. Bean bags and Holy Balls
4. Sleeping in the same gigantic sleeping bag as my mommy and daddy
5. DziaDzia’s surprise visit
6. Noodles on the LBW strip and Nacos
7. Exploring everything and playing in puddles
8. Barguments and Loaded Questions
9. Laughter, fun, and excitement 24 hours a day
10. Being on vacation with my family

I ran outta space on my camera from pictures at the beach. So we didn't get much of the actual camping action... 'til next year!

Rough Morning

Caitlyn finally went down for a nap... so I am going to blog, then shower, then have lunch with Ksavera, then hopefully by that time Caitlyn will be awake and I will take her to the Tacoma Farmer's Market! My morning has gone as follows...
7:00am-woke up,
7:10am-diaper change and ventured downstairs for some breakfast,
7:15am-gave Caitlyn 2 bites of pear, strwaberry, and granola....
7:17am-then she wanted to read her books
7:20am-tried rice cereal... didn't work
7:22am-checked for teeth... none!
7:23am-let her play while I did laundry
8:00am-tried some more bites of fruit... wasn't interested. Continued playing but had to be touching me while she played.
8:30-attempted hamburger buns (this is actually one of her favorites right now) two bites successful
8:35am-continued to play the alligator xylophone
9:00am-gave up on trying to get her to eat... gave her a bottle (only took 4 ounces)
9:10am-huge poopy diaper, then thought maybe she had an upset stomach and NOW she'll wanna eat... no such luck (maybe this is why she only weighed a measley 17 pounds 2 ounces at her 1 year check up)
9:30am-she starts rubbing her eyes I think she is tired, but doesn't go down for a nap. I tried laying with her and still not interested in napping or playing or eating at this point. This went on for about an hour.
10:30am-decided to heat up some leftover chicken from Sunday Dinner and she loved it... finished her bottle and then ran around the house as if there was some form of energy booster in that chicken.
11:30am (now an 1-1/2 past her usual morning nap time) she acts a little tired again.
11:40am-trying to get Caitlyn down for a nap and Ashley calls to see how his girls are doing... Caitlyn steals the phone from me and hangs up on dad.
11:45am-I put her in her crib and called Ash back (at this point I am kinda crabby cause I haven't even showered yet this morning)
1150am-start this post... it's already putting me in a better mood because I am realizing that it wasn't that bad afterall... maybe Caitlyn is transitioning to only one nap a day... We'll see!
Now-I'm headed for the shower!

Our Walk

Friday was so hot... we decided to walk to Starbucks to enjoy a smoothie! It was cooler outside than it was in our house! Enjoy the pics of Caitlyn on our walk!

I guess I could've chose a place with better scenery for this post... sorry.

Numbers

Caitlyn's 1st Year Statistics

Weight: 17 pounds 2 ounces (3%)

Height: 30 3/4 inches (90%)

Head: 46 (75%)

Splish Splash...

It's Caitlyn's 1st Birthday Bash! Saturday, after I posted on my blog... Caitlyn and Ashley woke up, we made cinnamon rolls and sang happy birthday to Caitlyn... She learned that she really likes cinnamon rolls!

In the evening, we went to our friends' (Sandy & Ian's) wedding.

It was at the Point Defiance rose garden and it rained all day... but cleared up just in time for their outdoor wedding. It was beautiful!!! Caitlyn stayed the night at Babcia and DziaDzia's house (her very first night away from us) so Ash and I could spend the next morning getting ready for her big party.

Sunday was the big day!

We celebrated at my Aunt Cindy and Uncle John's house, they were gracious enough to let us invite many of Caitlyn's friends over for her first pool party! There's not much to explain... just enjoy the pics...

Here's just a few of Caitlyn... her cake... her friends... In this collage... she gets her own special cake to eat... which she prefers to feed to me... then to herself... then she offers me a frosting fingered hug... then feeds dad

(she's loves to share & we teach her that sharing IS caring!)
Then of course we had to take a family pic with frosting all over!
Here are a few more pictures of many of her guests.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this party so special! Who would've thought throwing a party for a 1 year old would be so exhausting!?!

Exactly a Year Ago Today…

She changed me into a better person! When Caitlyn was born, my life was flipped upside down and into a total tail spin, since then… I have grown and learned just as fast as she has. On this day at exactly 8:29am, I met my baby, Caitlyn Leigh. She was like no one I had ever met before. She completely melted my heart. In one single very short year she has changed me and taught me to be so many things, including: patient, caring, understanding, happy, sacrificing, hard-working, imaginative, proud, tender, and most importantly how to love with all my heart! I was a pretty emotional person pre-Caitlyn, but since her arrival… my emotions have been enhanced and boosted to some new level. Ash and I were reading through my blog from start to present and we realized that I cried (or shed a tear) a lot. Everything about her makes me so happy and brings me to tears… This morning… I have a ton of mixed emotions. I have cried 2 times so far (I’ve only been awake for an hour). Both times were because I can’t believe it’s been a year! I feel excited and happy that I have a happy and healthy 1 year old. I feel sad that she’s not a tiny baby anymore, I feel amazed that this year has gone by so fast and scared because I don’t know exactly how to slow down time.

Thank-you, Caitlyn Leigh for making me who I am today! I love You with ALL my heart...
and I am shedding happy tears as I type this post ;)

Surprise Visit!

I was trying to scrapbook and play with Caitlyn at the same time (which I have learned is very difficult) when my phone rang... It was Krista Kellett! She was in the area with Ludy and Caitlyn's best friend, Avery. I told them to swing on by!
Here are the babes playing so well together... it was right around Caitlyn's nap time (which shows in the expression on her face). It seems as though I hadn't seen Avery in a while... and my how she is growing! She has 4 teeth... since Caitlyn is STILL toothless, I measure growing by teeth! Avery is so darn cute and a good grower of teeth!!! Oh... and I was so happy to see that Avery was moving all over our family room and would crawl to Caitlyn and grab her eyes or her cheeks... I think it was pay backs for all the times Caitlyn stole Avery's pacifier outta her mouth!

I thought this was a great picture of Avery's little teeth...

I'm becoming obsessed with baby teeth!