Walla Walla Week

Bennett and I just got back from three fun filled days with our friends Jania & Charli (13 months) in Walla Walla, the new home of our friends the Block family. It was so great to spend time with my girls and their amazing kiddos. We spent a ton of time at parks, at Hadley & Coen's Grandma & Grandpa's pool, walking around down town, and Andy even treated the three mamas to a kid free evening while he stayed home and watched, count 'em... 4 baby monitors.

I have been completely shocked with Bennett's new found flexibility and how he can smile through nearly anything. The drive there and back was very long but Bennett and Charli made a fabulous duo in the back seat. It was great to spend more time with the Block Kids, Hadley (17 months) and Coen (2 months) too... we miss them being on this side of the state.

A well needed scrub a dub... banking these pictures for when they are older... what a trio!

The Blocks have this beautiful mirror on the ground and Bennett was waving at himself in it constantly so I said "give Bennett a kiss" and this was the magic moment...

They have some great parks within walking distance... Bennett was in Heaven!

Bennett's first two on one date... watch out for this Bachelor!

THANK YOU TO THE BLOCK FAMILY... We had a great time!

Tractors, Fords and a Wedding... Oh My...

What a beautiful day for a wedding... and what a beautiful place to have it. Yesterday we spent the day at our cousin Jennifers wedding at the Meyer Family Farm in Gig Harbor. It was blazing hot and even hotter when I was running after the little guy all day. He was running from toy to toy. Jennifers dad, Danny is a collector of old Fords and old John Deers. It is amazing to walk around the farm and look at his collection and boy was my little guy in heaven. He loves anything with a steering wheel and would have happily sat on one of the tractors till morning if we had let him. His Grandpa Olsen would love this place!

I was so proud of how well he did with the big crowd, his dancing (which I would like to think he gets from his dad) and his smiles considering his lack of a nap. He zonked in the car as we left the wedding and tried to fit in another party. We went up to Seattle for our friend Mike's 40th Birthday Bash. Bennett ran circles around me until 11pm... obviously the latest he has ever stayed up and in true Bennett fashion giggled the whole time.... what a day... now a day of recovery at home before packing up for a Mommy week of fun in Walla Walla... toddler road trip... wish us luck!

Grandpa driving the old yellow Ford, little does Bennett know, his Grandpa used to play in this truck when he was a kid...

Happy Hour

Bennett and I turned a day banned from the house into a sunny cocktail hour in the back yard. We got our carpets professionally cleaned this morning so I have officially banned my dirty black lab and sometimes equally dirty 19 month old to the back yard only. I brought out the swimming pool, hose, a tall glass of red wine and a 1 part whole milk, 1 part chocolate milk cocktail straight up for the kiddo. (note that this new milk combo has officially gotten Bennett to drink milk from a cup and off the bottle!! I am feeling guilt free due to organic whole chocolate milk and the plan to ween him to 100% whole milk in a bit)

It's no Seattle Rock Bottom during busy season like the old days but our new happy hour is perfect in my book.

I have no idea how our back window gets so dirty...

And before bedtime... a little Dada time... Pretty sure today was perfect in Bennett's book too.

Back to the real world...

This week has been an adjustment, we have missed the lake, our RV, and all of the family we spent the last month with. Bennett has been reminded of the real world by sleeping in his own room by himself, bed time when it is still light outside, and finally a trip to Seattle Childrens today for a routine follow-up. As many people know, Bennett is routinely checked every 3 months (until he is 10 yrs old) for certain types of childhood abdominal cancers that are frequent with little kids that are born with similar stuff as Bennett was. He had great test results today and he was kinda adorable during the appointment...

Bennett can now climb up on chairs at the clinic and loves tongue depressers too...

He usually hates these appointments and it is usually a very unpleasant day. But today was a bit different, he did great during the screening due to a very yummy blow-pop, and when we left the appointment we spent a couple hours at our friends Kate & Harley's.

Kate has been a friend of mine since college and she has a beautiful daughter named Harley... it was a great afternoon with sunshine, a water table for the kids and a yummy beer and pizza for the mamas. :)

This is them a couple weeks ago... friends already, such good sharers :)

This week was also exciting because Bennett's cousin Evie was spending time at Grandma's, We were able to go down to Chehalis and have breakfast with his cousin one day...

Helping Grandma in her beautiful garden...

Stacey

As many people know we were absolutely blessed with the most amazing home nurse when Bennett was sick. She was the only nurse that watched him during the day and so we got to all play together A LOT during his first year. She was there for so many firsts, like rolling over, sitting up, surgeries, and even when he was first making sounds. She means a great deal to Bennett and even more to the mama that couldn't have done it without her.

She found out she was pregnant with her second little guy right after she started with us and was pretty pregnant when she was looking forward to a move East to be with her family while her husband was deployed to Iraq in the fall. She hung in there until the day before Bennett got his Trach out in October. We were ecstatic she stayed with us so long but at the same time it was sad to have her leave before the big victory of him finally getting his trach out.

Thankfully her husband has returned home safely from deployment and they met back up here in Washington and we were able to spend some time with her. It is great to see her even if she is planning to move on to Oklahoma in a couple weeks. She is a lifelong friend for us and I know I will always tell Bennett many stories of his nurse Stacey. This is us having fun at the park today...

Did I mention she has two adorable boys?! This is Grant is 9 and I got to hear all about him while she was here but didnt get to meet him until this summer... He is so much fun and Bennett loves just following him around seeing all the big kid stuff. It is so fun seeing Stacey as a mom.

Good Bye Lake Chelan... Till next year...

Our trip has finally and sadly came to an end... after 22 nights away from home we have been reminded of our comfortable home, a warm shower, countless hours recorded on my Tivo and about 8 loads of laundry.

As I was packing the night before we left I was thinking about how much Bennett can change in such a short period of time. He seems to learn new things so fast now and I thought "Bennett is going to change even in just these three weeks" and strangly I feel I was right on track. While we were gone he learned about 10 new sign language words. He nearly communicates fully using a few verbal words and all the fun signs. He was a little boy full of giggles and since he feels he can communicate more easily he rarely whined the entire trip. He is growing up so fast and I am shocked with how fast three weeks can go by...

Once a week the ranger station puts on a little learning time and cartoon up at the ranger station. It may be the earliest memory I have at Lake Chelan... My mom would make this huge bowl of old fashion popcorn and we would get in our pajamas and lug a ton of blankets up to the ranger station well past our bed time to enjoy a fun cartoon. On our second to last night I was delighted to share this memory with Bennett. The same ranger, Dwight, is still doing the same presentation, and he actually remembers us each year. Bennett was forsure the most entertaining child with shrills of excitement and dancing to the presentation music... Although there is little chance he will remember this year... I know his mommy sure will...

Chelan

Our trip continues... and we have loved every second. It has been a magical week of sunshine, boat rides, fabulous food and lots of family. It has really been everything we have been dreaming of since Bennett was born... he is one HAPPY CAMPER.

Taking on a 3 week trip in a small RV with a baby and a large dog was something many people warned us would not go well... but now that it is nearing an end we are sooo sad. I am fairly certain Bennett is convinced we moved into the RV anyway.

Sitting on the back of the boat with his Mama

Every morning and most evenings we took Hurlie down to the swimming area to swim after her ball... Bennett loved it and it was a great way to start each day... and look how beautifully clean that water is...

He mostly loved stopping at the toys on the way back from the water, they got way too hot in the peak of the day so toy time in the morning was the best :)

Climbing very high... this boy is 100% courage!

The cousins learning to share toys...

Cousins sharing a bath

First Smore...

We even took him to learn a little Put Put... he has a long way to go before hitting the golf course.

My little Put Putters!

The Cousins All at Lake Chelan!

Bennett and two of his cousins (all the Grandkids on his mama's side) are reunited at Chelan. We got them these adorable hoodies in town today and once again we couldn't resist from forcing them into a photoshoot... I think they are getting the hang of it.

I love spending all this time with the kids. I love them all so much and it is awesome that they can grow up together!

Lake Chelan, Washington Hoddies!

Bennett has fell in love with the doggies on this trip. One of his two verbal words is still "dog dog" and he has been completely facinated with walking them. All the dogs are amazing with him and let him follow him while holding their leash... it is pretty priceless. (and yes, those are his dragon pajama bottoms with the hoddy... who dresses this kid?!)

Happy 4th of July

Our Cousin Jennifer sent us these great outfits for the kids... so we couldn't resist to take advantage of our Aunt Pam and Uncle Paul's great landscaping to take some fun cousin photos.

I am not sure how many times we will dress up all the cousins and coax them to sit still for a picture but so far they could use some practice. As you could expect some of the best pictures werent of the smiles...

Bennett desperately signing "cracker" during the photoshoot... man can this kid get the munchies...

Finally one where they are all looking in the general area of the camera and no one is crying or asking for a cracker :)

Good Morning Lake Chelan

It is our first of ten mornings here at Lake Chelan State Park...what a beautiful one it is!

We started off the morning with a wagon ride and a trip to the toys after some great breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa. We miss Dada and cant wait for his vacation to begin tomorrow when he will be arriving to stay for a whole week!

This is the view that we normally get... Bennett's back side... running away to something fun!

So ambitious!

Love to start the day off with a bunch of smiles like this one!

I think the next ten days are going to as fabulous as we had hoped.

Orando, WA

Our 3 weeks of Fun in the Sun road trip continued with Oronda Washing River Side Park for 10 days.

Look Mama a boat...

Loving the boat

Grandpa... loving his little captain

Tubing... what a brave boy...

It has really been Bennetts first camping in the sun and he has enjoyed every minute of it.

He especially loves the incredible amout of snacking people do (as he begs through sign language and mostly grandpa cant resist) and all the sun and water. He has been through a lot this last couple years and all I wanted was this normal little boy... and boy did I get it. He has been enchanted with every mower, helecopter, boat, wave runner etc. if it has a motor, he loves it.

He has also fell more deeply in love with the chase game, thankfully this place has a large yard and he has a chance to get a good running start before we have to call him back, which is his favorite part. So this trip has been made special by a few moments.... one of the most memorable is his consumption of goose droppings on the shore of the river... sometimes I think I never take my eyes off of him for a split second and then I stop and see him chewing on a bar of some sort almost looking like beef jerky... I scream and have to pry the goose poop away from him... There was definately a call to the pediatrician soon after and thankfully no side effects so far.

Secondly we have been so happy to have his dada drive back and forth to work a ton so he has been able to be here a lot... Thirdly we have enjoyed grandpas boat... Going along with his love for motors, Bennett loves being in the drivers seat! He is so brave and it makes us so proud... He even did some tubing... I couldn't believe it but he loved every second...