Wonderful Wine Weekend

We all left home on June 25th to start the great summer road trip of 2010 and since then we have sadly been without internet connection (we would not be surviving without our 3G on our Iphones) But thank the lord we have hacked into the park connection and we are back up to blog... We have a little catching up to do.

We left bright and early on June 25th, 5:00 am to be exact. Anyone that knows my fathers vacation schedules would not at all be surprized. We drove 4 hours with Bennett strapped in back watching Shrek & his signing time movies. We arrived at Orondo River Park around noon to drop off the 2 trailers and the boat where they will stay until our return on Sunday. We left and started another leg to Richland in the afternoon and arrived at the 2 Annual Tincher Wine Tasting Weekend! Last year we couldn't go because Bennett was sick and we were thrilled to make it this year.

The weekend was a beautiful one full of wine, family and many babies... that is right we had 5 babies and Bennett was the oldest (not that he qualifies as a baby but since it was his first time there he made the cut). Bennett loved hanging with his cousin Lily the most. She flew in from Hawaii to surprize her Grandma and Grandpa and to Bennetts extreme delight... she loves to play chase!

Bennett has been using his sign language like crazy and loved showing off how he can say his first signed sentance "more cracker please" He does it really fast and if we dont hand over whatever we have he quickly gets frustrated and starts using all sorts of "please" and "more" while yelling... still pretty cute.

Tasting at the first of many Richland Wineries... Loved it!

The newest of the babies... Miss Violet Scott... What a sweetie and I was so happy to get a snuggle :)

Hiding and Jumping...

Bennett has been making smile since the day I found out I was pregnant... but lately it has changed to all out constant laughter. He is such a ham and just loves the encouragement.

Buddy, thank you for all the happiness you bring me and all the years of laughing this hard!

Here is a short video of him toddler jumping... hilarious!

Bennett Jumping (click here)

Here is a video of him playing hide and seek last night...  

Bennett Hiding (click here)

Dear Dada,

It is your second Fathers Day and I love you so much,

We have been through a lot these last couple years. It took me so long to get here and you were there to hang out with Mama and be as supportive and optomistic as you could be. I needed Mama to be strong for me and I know you helped her.

I definately made my first year here memorable and tested all your fatherhood limits. I spent most of my time crying and you spent most of your time just loving me anyway. You were always proud of me even though being my Dad wasn't exactly like you had it all planned.

Now that I am feeling better you are patient with all my normal toddler craziness.  I hear you coming in at night and I yell one of the two words I truly know "DADA!" The only other word being "Doggie" who usually comes in with you, this makes for my favorite part of every day. I love that you do my bath every night... it is our specialy time to be guys and hang out. Being outside with you and the doggie is my favorite thing and I can't wait for the sun of summer so we can do it all day.
I am so lucky that you picked me to be your son and I hope that some day I grow up to be just like you. You are super fun, a great dada and couldn't make Mama happier.

Happy Fathers Day Dada, I love you,
Bennett

Shorts, Shapes and Sharing a Walmart Cart!

Bennett, his friend Charli and a new friend Baby Sammie took on Walmart today to do a little Fathers Day Shopping. We couldn't help but laugh at ourselves pushing this enormous cart around spilling of goodies and children. The kiddos had a blast and I wont lie, there was a little smooching going on in that double seat... thank you Charli!

There were some pretty good finds for the kids and the Dads. Bennett picked out a Radio Flyer Wagon for his Daddy for Fathers Day and we scored on these great plaid shorts for B. Who knew there were such good deals there?!

Bennett has been working hard on his shape box. It is one of his favorite things to play with and he has conquered the circle, square, rectangle and star with efficiency... He puts them in, waits for me to clap enthusiastically and dumps them out to go again. Such a show off!

Showing off those cute new shorts and his big open mouth smile!

Check out these shape box skills!

Summer Time!

Bennett has been loving the sunshine today! We played in the sprinkler but mostly just hung out with Daddy in the back yard helping out on a few things like mowing the lawn.

I keep on thinking that I have his little personality all figured out... and then he surprizes me with a new facial expression, new little waddle/run and new words. He is hilarious lately and could not be more fun. He has been picking up sign language like crazy and has added "cracker" and "drink" they are adorable and I love seeing him thinking it all through.

This kid got wet! He would run in like a war hero and then out to reorganize his attack!

Here he is getting after that lawn work...

B's new summer kicks... He looks so funny in these and shorts... man does this kid need to grow some ankles!

Always up for a good playdate!

Bennett had over his good friends Charli, Anthony, Jackson & their mommies. What a group they were! So fun! Charli (Jania & Tony's little one) is growing up so fast. She is exactly 6 months younger than Bennett and just turned 1 this past Monday... It is going to be so fun seeing them grow up together. It already looks like they will get along as good as their mommies do. Anthony and Jackson are just adorable and Bennett had a great time chasing them around, they were all so busy that it was hard to track them down with the camera :) The kids were even ALL dancing to Casper Babypants... pretty much the cutest think you will ever see.

We cant wait to see them all again.

A little like his Mama...

Grandma Ruth has been doing some photo archiving and sharing some pictures of her girls when we were little. We have always laughed at how my little guy looks a little like Grandma's little girl.
He is looking more and more like Joel everyday and thank goodness I had a bit more hair than Bennett does.

Maybe this is why mommies always think their kids are the cutest of them all...

More sunshine please...

Bennett and I spent the weekend down in Chehalis because Joel is Golfing with the guys in Eastern Washington (Happy 35th Birthday Joel!). We had a great weekend soaking up some sunshine with Grandma & Grandpa and Auntie Katie & Cousin Reece. We tried out some life jackets in the hot tub trying to find a perfect fit for the boat this year. We spent a lot of time day dreaming of our three week vacation to Chelan coming up... I have been there every summer since I was Bennett's age and this is our first time to go since I was pregnant. I can't wait to see him grow up sharing the same memories that I grew up with.

We even snuck in some time at Bennett's Cousin Maddie's softball game. Bennett really enjoyed watching all the kids, games and the girls making icecream after the game...

Watching Maddie's team win the game!

I so wish I could blame this outfit on anyone but me but we didnt realize we would be spending most of the weekend and it was this or his construction pajamas paired with aqua socks...

My froggy life jacket! He doesn't mind wearing it as long as he doesn't get deep enough to actually make him float... the search for the perfectly cute & safe jacket is still on.

School is out for Summer!

Usually we would be excited for the freedom of summer... but in the case of Bennett's weekly Toddler Group we are so sad. Bennett has only been part of school since March but he has grown to fit in and love every second. We will miss all the kiddos, parents and especially the teachers this summer. Toddler group starts back up in September and he will be able to be part of it until he turns 3. Lots of fun to look forward to for the next 18 months!

One very special teacher will not be teaching next year... We will miss you Teacher Tammy!

Tonight was the end of school year toddler BBQ. It was fun to have Joel there to meet some of the other parents and kids. As always we had a blast seeing Bennet interact with all the other kids, parents and teachers.

The school playground

Daddy mastering the dogs and burgers...

Bennett & his buddy Jervon

And then the kiddos found a box...