A Visit With Great Grandma and Aunt Jean

We spent Spring Break in California visiting Great Grandma Daisy and Aunt Jean. We hadn't been to California since Ben was Addilyn's age. Both kids did a great job in the car (thanks to Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, and Dora movies).

We got lots of much needed family play time.

Addilyn became obsessed with a little red ball which she tossed and carried everywhere.

Ben and Aunt Jean made lots of tall block towers.

Every day we went to a different park. Ben got to ride a T Rex and Addilyn climbed on, up, and through everything. She has a become a strong willed little girl!

Ben fell in love with all the 'pum trees'.

Ben remembered Grandma's orange and lemon trees and was excited to make lemon aide. He taught little sister how to pick the perfect lemons. He juiced them, stirred in lots of sugar and water and decided he prefers apple juice.

Aunt Jean took us to the beach where she and Ben built a sand castle subdivision and Ben ran frantically from the waves.

Addilyn ran into the waves. Repeatedly. Strong. Willed.

We spent a day at the Monetary Bay Aquarium (thanks to Aunt Georgia for getting us all tickets!).

Both kids loved the touch pools and the crashing waves. Ben dressed as Nemo and ran wildly through the play area. Addilyn found the Jellys quite soothing. Ben thought the sea horses with their tails curled together were pretty cool.

On our way back to the car, Ben saw 'Captain Hook'. We had to buy a sword and pirate hat for Pirate Ben (as we now must call him).

Addilyn only wants to 'aw tide' now and has developed a love for flowers.We already miss our Aunt Jean Great Grandma and free time! Arrrrr!

St. Paddy Addie

Little Miss Addie found her pot of Gold!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben!

Ben is three!

He loves anything that goes fast or loud. So, we had a race track birthday party for him. We rented the gym at my school and pulled out all the ride-on toys. Each kid got a goody bag with a checkered flag, matchbox car, and a tool.

Daddy built a ramp for the kids to race their matchbox cars. It didn't take long for the other Daddies to modify the ramp and add a few jumps!

Little sister was the first to try out the race track.
A little push from a friend!

I made him a Lightning McQueen cake! One happy three year old boy!

Breakfast With Santa

Today we went to Breakfast at the Salem Riverfront Carousel. This is a yearly event for kids who are served through the Early Childhood Special Education program with out local ESD. An employee of the WESD donates enough money each year to fund the event for about 35 families. We were lucky enough to be one of those families this year!

We started our visit by checking Santa's workshop to find Ben's name on the nice list

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Then we sat down to a great breakfast.

Ben was too excited to eat.

After breakfast, Santa brought the carousel tickets. They were frozen on a platter because they had just come in from the North Pole. So cute!

When the carousel first started the silly conductor got confused and made it go backwards.

Addilyn had a blast! Ben rode the 'biggest horse' of all!

After the ride, all the kids sat down to a story with Santa.

Ben and Addilyn also got to sit by Santa in his sleigh. (They both prefer Santa from a distance.)

Santa gave each of them a book about a carousel horse and a bell.

What a great morning all thanks to a very generous man and some wonderful volunteers!

Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day, a town close to ours hosted an exciting celebration- a Blackhawk Helicopter landing. Ben was super excited and certain he was going to be driving it. Addilyn, as usual, was just happy to go somewhere.
We arrived just in time to see the helicopter land in Riverview Park.

Excitement!!!

Ben pushed his way through the crowd of people and climbed inside. He sat in each one of the seats.

And the Pilots seat! He got to push all the buttons and move the controller.

He said, "Buckle me up Mom. I'm ready to go!"

Just giddy with excitement!

Ben also got to 'drive' a Firetruck. An actual Fireman climbed in while Ben was at the wheel. Ben turned to him pointed to the back and said, "You can just sit right there." Poor guy!

Watching the Helicopter take off was really cool. It took the pilots along time to get ready, even after starting the engine. In this video Ben is saying, "Say cheese pilots. Say cheese for Mommy." Pilots sounds like 'pirates'.

To top it all off, the local paper took a picture of Ben in the Pilot's seat. It was published the next day. You can see it here:http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20111111/UPDATE/111111025/Vets-honored-mid-Valley-events?odyssey=nav%7Chead

click the little 'more' button under the picture of the guy on the horse on the left hand side if you can't see Ben's cool picture.

The next morning, when I got Ben up, he said, "Ok. I'm ready to go fly my helicopter now."

It's so much fun to see my little boy that happy.