Backyard Pooligan

There's no better way to beat the heat than a nice cool swimming pool and with all this hot weather we've been having so far this summer, Ben's spent a good amount of time swimming.   And believe it or not, Ben's been swimming for almost half is life already!   We started Ben with swimming lessons when he was only six months old, so just about every Saturday morning since then we've been taking Ben to the YMCA for his swimming class.   Now that summer is here, he also gets to practice his skills in his little pool in the backyard.

Ben took a few seconds in between his laps to pose for this shot. 

Then just a few seconds later he announces his next dive...  a triple back somersault with a twist.

(well, that's how I translated it.)

These first two pictures were taken in his big family sized pool.  We also have a little 3 foot wide pool that we use for those quick dips.  

In this picture, you might think Ben's concentrating on levitating some of his water toys, but scroll down to the next pictures to see what he's really up to.

Just how big of a splash can Ben make?  Let's show you...

Wow... that's quite a big splash.  

We all know what happens after a splash like that... but Ben had to learn this the hard way.

You get all wet!  But that's OK... its a hot day.

What else feels good on a hot day?  Well an ice cold ice tea!

(Ben doesn't know that we just put pool water in there...  heh heh)

Stay tuned for more pool pictures soon!

By the way...  Can you believe that Ben's first birthday is in less than two weeks??!!!  On July 16th it will have been a year already since Ben was born.  We can't believe it... and we can't believe how much he has grown and developed over this past year.  Ben is actually almost walking already and he's started saying a few words too.  I know I've been overdue with adding new posts here, so over the next week and a half I'm going to catch up with a bunch of new blog entries about Ben's recent adventures.   Stay tuned for more!

Vroom!! Vroom!!.... Mush!! Mush!!

Jill & I enjoy taking Ben for walks around the neighborhood, especially on nice cool spring evenings like tonight.  We usually put Ben in his big stroller and take him out for a lap or two around the block, but Ben hasn't been enjoying his time in his stroller so much lately.  We think its because he feels that he's outgrown them already.   So I bought him a new car today.

A few weeks ago we saw just how serious Ben was about his new wagon.  Well, he was just as serious about his new car.  Of course he had to check it out very carefully first....

And look under the hood to see what kind of power it had...

All checked out well, so we were on the road shortly after...

Lybbie came with us for a walk this evening.  Jill figured that we would be going slow enough with Ben in his new car so she would be able to keep up.   Well, something very unexpected happened...  Ben wanted to help walk Lybbie, so we handed him the reins....

At first neither Ben or Lybbie really knew what to do... but then all of the sudden, it was like they were both on a mission! 

Mush!!  Lybbie!!  Mush!! 

(That's Eskimo for Let's Go, Lybbie!  Let's Go!!)

I don't know what you all think, but is a 10 1/2 month old kid supposed to be doing things like this?   We laughed and laughed all around the block just watching the two of them.  Lybbie even got a charge out of it.  She was moving a lot faster than normal.  And sometimes she would stop to sniff, but Ben would give a tug and off she would go again. 

We got half way around the block and we ran into an obstacle...  another dog!  Its Ashley! 

(We know the names of all the dogs in our neighborhood)

Hmm... Ashley is a lot bigger than Lybbie, but that didn't stop Ben! 

He's not afraid of no dog!

Shortly after, we were on the move again.   Walking dogs is serious business.

We made it all the way around the block and when we got back to the house, Ben decided that it was time for him to push the car around himself.   But he's just not quite tall enough yet...

But with a little help from Mom was all he needed!

I have a feeling that we're all going to have lots of fun playing with Ben's new car.  And Lybbie will probably get lots more walks now too! 

Always on the Move...

This is a very rare photo of Ben.

Yes, I know exactly what you're thinking.  Photos of Ben have never been considered rare - we have thousands of them and they're all cute!  And we can just keep taking more!  But what makes this photo so rare is that Ben is actually sitting still for a few moments long enough for us to take this picture.  Most of the time these days, Ben is on the move and exploring the world around him. 

(Oh and yes, that is my iPod that he's holding... I downloaded an Elmo app that he likes and keeps him occupied for about 20 seconds.  Long enough to keep him seated for this picture.)

One new thing Ben discovered is how to navigate our back steps. 

That first step is a long way down...

And he soon discovered that turning around and going down the step forward is much easier...

And soon after... he made it to the botteom to give Daddy a big hug!!

And then turned around and headed back in the house to go work on a new project.

And its not just crawling that Ben is up to lately...

He's now walking around the house and yard (with the help of furniture and 'walkers')

Here he is out on the patio pushing around his little aligator walker that his Uncle Dan sent him.

When he hits a wall, or the house, we just turn him around and he's off again!

And sometimes he even tries walking without the walker, but he still needs some help from Mommy

This new found mobility makes Ben very happy..  

And it also seems to make him want to stick his tongue out...

Wagons are Serious Business

The warm weather is finally here so we all can get out of the house and starting playing outside in the backyard!  We recently picked up a little wagon for Ben to play with and we found out pretty quickly that he takes his wagon time pretty seriously.

We pull him all around the yard and he doesn't move from in that wagon.  We believe that he thinks he just looks too cool for words sitting in his little red wagon.

Eventually we do get a smile out of him. 

But its just a matter of time before we grow tired of the wagon, so now its time to play with water. 

Ben LOVES water...  be it from a sink, a hose, or in a bucket, a bathtub or a pool...   he loves it!

He likes to splash in it...

Taste it...

Or dump it over his head...

Water is just fun waiting to happen.

But then soon after he's on the move again. 

Sometimes Ben slows down long enough for us to get a few good pictures of him.

But then he declairs -
"Enough with the pictures!"

And its time to move on to something new. 

 know!  Let's go chase Lybbie!!

Ben Cruises to Bermuda!

Ben had his first vacation last week - a cruise to Bermuda!  It was our first family vacation and even Grandma & Grandpa were there too!  Just take a look at this picture below and you just know that Ben had a great time...

And here's the rest of our gang (minus Grandma because she was taking the picture)

Ben wasn't very happy at this moment because just a few minutes earlier he was having a great time playing with some rocks that he found while we were waiting for the ferry to take us back to the ship.

These little pebbles kept Ben busy for quite some time!

There wasn't much room to move around in our room on the ship mostly because of the crib, Ben's toys and the extra luggage taking up a lot of space.  Most of the time when we were in our room Ben would spend his time making crank calls down to the front desk and to some of the other passengers.

We couldn't let him keep doing that for long, but there weren't many places on the ship were we could just let him crawl around and stretch out his legs.  We did find a quiet corner with some open space and each evening we let him crawl around and play as much as he liked.

There were a few evenings that we even had an audience watching Ben play and crawl around.  I think that Ben should have gotten paid as part of the ship's entertainment because he made a lot of people laugh and smile on the ship...   especially when he flashed the people on the 'promenade' from our room.

He liked watching the people walking down the center of the ship from the window in our room.  A few of them would occasionally look up and point at Ben too..  I can't imagine why..

One of the funnier things that Ben did was when we took him to a couple of the shows on the ship.  We don't have any pictures of this, but he would watch the shows so intently - it would just crack us up!  He watched a dancing show and an ice skating show.  He just loved them!  ...until he wanted his bottle, then he just would konk out even with all the loud music and lights flashing.  Then as soon as we got back to our room where it was nice and quiet, he would wake right back up and be ready to roll.  Amazing.

Ben made lots of friends while on the ship - some old, some young, and some others that didn't quite fit in any category.  The ship had a play group scheduled for all the kids his age twice a day while we were at sea.  He liked playing with all the other kids and it was just a bonus having Mom & Dad there too.

 

We made friends while on the Ferry getting to other parts of the island too.

And he even made friends with the animals on the island...

And he even tried his luck at selling an empty ice tea bottle to some people from China sitting behind us on the ferry. 

They didn't buy it... But they certainly had a good time talking with Ben.

The weather wasn't very good while we were on the ship, but the rocking and rolling of the boat didn't seem to faze Ben very much.   He didn't puke or anything... but he liked to imitate the people who did.

Life on a cruise ship did change Ben's sleep schedule a bit...  He just didn't want to go to bed!  He just wanted to party all night long!   Even after everyone else went to bed, he was still looking for someone to play with!

 But when Ben finally did go to sleep... he was OUT!

 

Here's a nice family picture while we were out touring the island when Ben was awake.  

But it didn't last for long...  here he is on a trolley ride sound asleep.

Ben got a little spoiled in the evenings because sometimes Mom & Dad would snuggle with him to try to get him to sleep.  It worked, sometimes, and we didn't mind one bit.

 

But when he woke up again... he was ready to GO!

He wasn't too happy when we told him that the cruise was almost over.  He was having so much fun, he didn't want to go home.  His face pretty much said it all.

But then we told him not to worry - we'll go on vacation again sometime soon.

And he was happy again!