Happy Anniversary to Us!

So those of you who had "three years" in the "how long will they last" pool can kiss your money goodbye. :P

Meghan and I (and Benny of course) officially celebrated our third anniversary last weekend. We went up to Catoctin state park and enjoyed a picnic. This also gave Benny his first real introduction to nature. The weather was fantastic, and it ended up being a perfect way to celebrate our three years together.

Benny sporting his particularly manly camo onesy and his only slightly less manly blue hat.

Our elegant spread, and we were able to get some use out of the picnic set given to us by Abuelita and Tadku.

Odwalla Superfood out of plastic wine glasses. Nothing but high class for this family...

Visit to Mt. Gretna

Conrad, Ben and i went to Mt. Gretna for a little trip before I have to go back to school on Monday. It was delightful to get away even if it was only for a couple days. It was hot and humid, but there was a fantastic storm that came through and cooled everything off.

Great Gran Buck with Ben. She sure makes him laugh!
This little man got a little tired, waaaaaaaaaay past his bedtime!


We took Ben to the Jigger Shop (an ice cream parlor that is a staple of Mt. Gretna) and he saw/had his first Jigger (an ice cream sundae). Boy did he love that whipped marshmallow topping with Jigger nuts!



Here are a couple of videos. the first is Conrad playing peek-a-boo with Ben.

This second video is just our cheeky Monkey.

Ben fell asleep the other night and he looked so peaceful. What a beautiful boy!
But.... what a messy eater!!!

I have to return to school on Monday, and am a little nervous. It has been a while since I was away from my little man for so long everyday. I am sure going to miss our time together. He is such a good boy and so much fun to play with. So... WISH ME LUCK!!!!!! I'm going to need it!

6 months old tomorrow!

I can't believe that Ben is almost 6 mos. old! He is such a kick to watch. He has developed so much in the last month, he rolls over, grabs his feet, grabs toys. I love just watching him play and sing. He is the biggest ham, well... that is, next to his daddy. We are thoroughly enjoying our summer (which has flown by). We had such a wonderful time on the west coast visiting friends and in Ben's case meeting new ones. But enough talk, here are some pictures. To start them off, his latest expression, which we refer to as bitter beer face... Pretty cute stuff :)

Bitter Beer Face

Look at those big beautiful eyes

sooooooooo COLD on the lake!!!

My Daddy and his grandson

Peek-a-boo

Monkey with a monkey at the zoo

Ben and beautiful Jefferson Sand. Jeff was sooo great with Ben

Jeff watching and waiting to lend a helping hand

two cool dudes

Awww sleeping baby

Abuelita and Ben

Our little family relaxin' in PDX

Happy baby

Tadku and Ben

Daddy and Ben having a laugh

Great-Grandma McCandless and Baby

Just chillin' on the couch :)

MONKEY SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT

I forgot to mention that Ben sleeps through the night as of 2 1/2 months. He is amazing!! He sleeps from 9pm to 7 - 7:30am. So thank you to Megan and Heather for their recommendation of the life saving book Babywise!! I think that he skipped a few steps, but I am ok with that. He is soooooo much happier now that he is well rested and on a regular schedule. He is so much fun and we can't wait for everyone to meet our little man. here are a couple more pics to add something to this boring post.

Home Sweet Home

We just wanted to let everyone know that we will be coming back to the west coast for a few weeks on June 14. The tentative plan is to be in Portland until the 23rd or 24th (with a quick trip to Corvallis on the 19th and 20th), then Idaho until the 29th for me, and the 13th for Meghan. Of course we will have Benny with us, and he is looking forward to meeting everyone.

With that being said, here are a few new pictures and one video of Benny to tide everyone over until then...