Blue/White Weekend

One of daddy's dreams finally came true. Ryebread got to take in the glory of State College. Once again, Rye's ability to roll with the flow and remain cool, calm and collected came in handy this weekend. First stop - the Lion statue (where else?)

Next stop, was the creamery - everyone was too busy chowing down to take any pictures - oops. We did manage to get inspiration from another girl hanging out in some daffodils, so we plopped Ryan down for a quick photo op.

Quick pause for a non-ryebread photo! Grandma and Grandpa (well...mostly grandpa) finally got to experience the fabulous Monkeyboy at the Saloon!

OK, back to business. Saturday was the big game - Ryan got to sport his awesome PSU sun hat (the nice, white, PSU shirt he was wearing got tainted with daddy's screwdriver...tsk, tsk.)

It was dang hot in the sun, so Stef and Mark were nice enough to share the lemonade water ice with Ryan. Very refreshing!

The trip ended with a stop at a memorable place for mommy and daddy - Old Main, where Daddy popped the question to mommy that same weekend, three years earlier. :)

Fun in the Sun

Thank goodness for warm weather and the ability to go outside and play!

"This deck is like an over-sized playpen!"

From this angle, our grass looks fantastic! Even with the weird red weed popping up to entice Ryebread :)

Playing peek-a-boo at the park.

Ryebread is still on the fence...well...no...Ryebread is not a fan of independent, motion-propelled rocking or swinging yet. Guess this means we'll have to wait a few years before Space Mountain!

Compromise

Compromise seems to be the best thing to do in order to maintain sanity while raising a little one. With daddy in California, it was just mommy and the boys. Ryebread wasn't in the mood to be fed dinner that night (who wouldn't want to just sit back, relax and be fed!?), so rather than fight him with each bite - we compromised. If you want to eat your sloppy, stain-inducing meat ravioli by yourself, you're going to do it in your diaper! Compromise is a beautiful thing.

A trip to the Sweetest Place on Earth

The "firsts" just keep on coming! Rye went to his first amusement park this weekend and had a blast! Though daddy couldn't be there because of an extended business trip, mommy, Erin, uncle Dave, Dee and Nanna all joined in the fun. We quickly learned that, though Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are cool characters, giant walking candybars...not so much. Luckily, we found a Ryan-size candybar (that wasn't walking around) that seemed to be Ryan's new best friend.


The first ride (another first!) Ryan went on was the Carousel. He seemed a little concerned by the situation, but there weren't any tears, so that's always deemed a success. After that, there was a re-grouping session with Uncle Dave through some vogue poses.


Rye eventually warmed up to the whole "going on rides" situation and rode a green dinosaur (like his shirt!!) roller coaster with Nanna and a spaceship (in honor of daddy) with mommy.


All that riding around put Rye in a great mood!!


After the rides, we all headed over to Zoo America to check out some cool animals. Ryan was captivated by some of the creatures and oblivious to others.

It never ceases to amaze anyone how well behaved and happy Ryebread is in any situation. Whether it's luck or genes, or a combination of both, Rye is an uber-happy, up for anything (except giant walking candybars) kinda kid. We're blessed.

Another great thing about outtings like this are that they seem to be one of the few ways Ryan can actually wear himself out. We were in the car by 6 p.m. and he didn't blink an eye open until a full 12 hours later. Amen!

We have words!!

Awhile back we shared that we think "dada" was Ryan's first word. OK, fine, I'll acquiesce to that thought. But, more importantly, since then - more words have finally crept out. As of today, Ryebread's vocabulary includes (in order of appearance):

• Dada
• Mama
• No (it doesn't appear often, thank goodness)
• Balloon (this one is a stretch, but it's close enough)
• Uh Oh (yes, we drop things on purpose just to hear it - don't judge)
• Ball
• Dog (minus the "g" sound, but really, such small details)

While the sweet moments surely outweigh the sticky moments when it comes to raising our little man, the sweetest moments are the ones of new discovery. I think Rye is so excited he can (limitedly) verbalize his thoughts. Beyond that - he even figured out how to hold his hands up in the "I don't know" pose. We need to capture it on camera...he does it when anything he was focusing on (people, objects) leaves his line of sight. So stinkin' cute.

Be vewwy vewwy quiet! We're huntin' for Easter eggs.

It was super windy on Easter Sunday, but there were eggs to be found! Rye did a fantastic job of finding the eggs and placing (well, throwing) them in his basket.

Daddy helped join in the hunt - those eggs could be hiding anywhere!

The Bachman family - and all their eggs in one basket.

Here comes Ryan Cottontail

Ryan's first Easter! Though he had his picture taken with the "Spring Bunny" at daycare a couple of weeks ago, we're pretty sure he has no concept of this whole Easter situation. Nanna was nice enough to get Rye the cutest three-piece suit ever. Although he wasn't too keen on it when he first put it on...

He certainly warmed up to it pretty quickly

And before long, realized he was hot stuff and started posing for the ladies.

He got several Easter baskets full of goodies - including books, bubbles, yummy treats, fuzzy rabbits and even some candy for mom and dad.

He saw so much cool stuff in the baskets, he figured that's where the best stuff must hang out. So - he decided he should go in a basket too! :)

Post-birthday/Pre-Easter Party

After a trying week with Nate in California, we all headed up to PA to celebrate Easter. First stop - party at Aunt Leenie's! Ryan got comfortable pretty quickly, even schooled some people in an intense game of Texas Hold'em (OK, maybe not...but he looked darn cute hanging out at the table!)

Aunt Leenie was nice enough to get Rye a cake for his birthday, since they couldn't make it down to Delaware for his party. In true Ryebread fashion, he dug in with two hands and didn't stop until the entire piece was gone.

Also, in true Ryebread fashion, he made sure to account for every last crumb and lick of icing...seriously, you'd think we didn't feed him.

A shot of mommy and Rye for good measure :)