1) FIRST DINNER OUT AS A FAMILY OF FOUR: While we've braved this feat before with reinforcements (aka helpful grandparents), we had yet to do it with just the four of us. Last weekend we decided to give it a try, and went out to dinner at Red Robin, since we aren't crazy enough to try anything other than a kiddie restaurant just yet. :) It actually went really well...we took lots of puffs (thoroughly enjoyed) and toys (ended up on the floor) and Harper and Riley were really pleasant the whole time! Harper spent much of her time smiling at our waitress, while Riley preferred to eye her suspiciously.
2) FIRST BOOSTER SEAT EXPERIENCE: Also at Red Robin...the girls seemed to enjoy sitting with us at the table, as opposed to staying confined in their stroller which is how we have typically handled restaurant situations up to this point. A few pics from the evening...
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| Riley, excited at the prospect of the family-of-4-restaurant-experience. Harper, less than sure... |
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| Once inside and surrounded by people, moods shift as Riley becomes a bit more hesitant and Harper gets PUMPED. |
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| Caleb and distracted Harper |
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| Me and Riley who, shockingly, left her bow on the ENTIRE time. |
3) FIRST DAYCARE EXPERIENCES: Now that the girls are over 6 months, we have signed them up for Kids' Club (a daycare at our gym) and they have been there FOUR times over the past 9 days (1x with Caleb and I and 3x with just me- wahooooo for increasingly transportable babies!) We also left them in the daycare at a new church we tried last Sunday. So now they have been in a daycare setting 5x total and have done awesome - there was definitely some crying that very first time, but they are becoming increasingly used to being around new adults and kids.
4) FIRST ARTS FESTIVAL: In an effort to expand their cultural horizons (ha!), Caleb and I took the girls to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival last Friday afternoon. We met up at Chili's before hand for a quick lunch, and consequently, our second family-of-4-dining-experience.
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| Taken pre Harper-grabbing-my-ranch-dressing-and-then-spilling-an-entire-glass-of-water-all-over-the-table |
While at the arts festival, Riley particularly enjoyed the live music, while Harper particularly enjoyed the opportunity for a cat nap.
5) FIRST TIME WEARING SHOES: Pitiful, I know. Actually, Harper has worn them once before while attending a baby shower. So I guess this was technically the first dual shoe experience. The girls seemed excited about them...
6) FIRST TRIP TO SAMS CLUB: Not terribly eventful, but a first nonetheless. Since I had to push the girls around in the stroller (and couldn't ALSO push a cart), I took a big tote bag with me for a few groceries. The girls seemed ok with the trip for the most part, until the check out guy said hi to them, at which point Harper smiled and Riley started crying...LOUDLY and with real tears.
7) FIRST TIME ATTENDING 3 BARBECUES IN 1 WEEK: Although the girls are barbecue pros at this point, this was a busy week with many fun 4th of July barbecues to attend! We went over to Caleb's coworkers for one on Monday, had Amy, Tony and their sweet baby boy Asa over on Wednesday for burgers, and met up with our friends Trevor, Bree, Addisyn, Julie and Terry on Saturday. All in all, many delicious burgers and brats were consumed this week. Sadly, fireworks were NOT a first for the girls this year...due to all the fires in Colorado recently, most of the firework shows in the area were cancelled.
8) FIRST PROTEIN: Chicken. Which didn't go over well and resulted in these faces:
