Back at it.

We've had a busy few days before the end of my summer here. On Thursday Ben had his 15 month well-baby check up and then we met up with some of Andy's family for dinner at Applebee's and had a nice time.

Ben's stats:

Weight: 23lbs, 1 oz (just below 50%)

Height: 30 inches (50%)

Head: 18 inches (close to 50% also)

Saturday, we went a fun family party, and Sunday met up with our dear friends Jim, Deb and their son Levi at the Oregon Zoo.

I started back at school today for some science planning work, then Tuesday and Wednesday for regular in-service days. The kids come back on the Tuesday after Labor Day. We're hoping for a beach trip over the holiday weekend (even with the shower-y forecast) as a nice finish to the summer. Maybe we can even get another trip somewhere (camping, etc.) during September. It is always such a nice month here in Oregon.

Here are some zoo pics: (Jim and Levi in the reflection)

Bye-Bye

Well, grandma and grandpa just drove away - So sad to see them leave. Ben had so much fun with them! Among other things, they got to watch Ben use crayons for the first time - He did pretty well.

Next week I start back at school with a few days of in-service, then the kids start up after Labor Day weekend. It might be a tough transition after having such a relaxing summer... Here are a few more pics from the new camera:

They just can't stay away...

Grandma and Grandpa Stokes are back. They drove out from MN and arrived on Wed. about lunch time. Ben has really enjoyed their stay as he now has 2 has new perpetual playmates. Andy and I got to go out to dinner 2 nights in a row (one by ourselves and one with some friends) - I'm not sure that Ben missed us very much. When we came home the first night, Ben was still up playing with a new toy helicopter, airplane and drill that had been pulled out from the MN luggage. The second night, g-ma took some nice pics of Ben playing in a box having tons of fun.
As an anniversary present to myself, I recently got a new digital SLR camera. I'm still learning how to use it, but I am excited about the better quality pictures that I will (hopefully) be getting of Ben. Here's one:
Here are some pics from a children's museum in Salem that we went to on Friday - Pretty neat place.

And here are a few more that my mom has snapped with her fancy shmancy telephoto lens...

It's been great having them here - I think we can keep them here a few more days, but they are anxious to get back to to MN - Ben's cousin could be born anytime now - My sis in law, Patti is at about 37 weeks, I think... We all can't wait to see this new member of the Stokes clan!

The Great Outdoors!

We had a fun (but tiring) weekend camping. We left on Friday after Ben's afternoon nap for a possibility of getting a non-reservable campsite along the Nestucca River about 1 hour away from us. There were 4 separate campgrounds along a 20 mile stretch of river. I think we got the last site available... We started setting up camp at about 7:30PM - feeding Ben dinner, so we both could help with the tent setup. It worked pretty slick, but the differences between camping as couple versus camping with a toddler are very great. Everything seems to take 3 times as long as it used to. But it seems like it all paid off. Ben had a great time and even slept pretty well. The nights were pretty cool - I'd guess low 40's.




Here a little clip of Ben walking around in his PJ's just before bed. Ben is borrowing the fleece sluggly-thing from his future cousin. It is SOOO cute (and warm)! Thanks, Patti!


The campsite we stayed at was about 1/2 of the way to the coast, so we took off on Saturday morning and headed to the Cape Meares lighthouse area for a picnic lunch and some little hikes that were do-able for Ben. He actually did a majority of the hiking himself - but we did have to carry him during a few parts.

Ben really liked the flagpole... Look at how little he is. Awww.

The is the infamous (pretty ugly in my opinion) Octopus Tree.

After the light house, we headed for Pacific City beach and the Pelican brewpub. Here are some pics from the beach. Ben LOVED the sand. Can you tell?

When you're happy

...and you know it, turn in circles...

For those who remember the old Mirror Book footage (reading from a book with a mirror on every other page) from when Ben was like 8 months old, here is a slightly updated version.

And one other thing I would like to remember when I look back at the blog years from now... This past week Ben and I were reading from one of his picture books. Typically, if I point to a clock in the book, say clock, then Ben will point to the clock in the book, and then find the nearest clock in the room and point to it, or he finds a ladder in a book, then he points to the garage (where, of course, the ladders are stored). So, I pointed to a picture of a shark and said "Look Ben, it's a shark". He immediately pointed to the TV - weird, I thought, until I realized that the day before we had Discovery Channel's Shark Week on TV for like 15 minutes... This kid is TOO quick. Now, whenever we point to a shark, he points to the TV. I really don't even remember making a point of showing Ben the sharks on TV, but I must have... Or maybe he just heard us talking about the sharks - I don't know. I know that all of us think our kids are brilliant, but really - this kid is making some incredible connections...

Four years ago today, our friends and family came together to celebrate our new lives together. What a joy filled trip it has been since then... Happy Anniversary, babe. You are an amazing husband. I am so lucky to have you in my life every day.

Nice weekend

We had a very nice weekend, both weather-wise and event-wise. We spent Saturday running a ton of errands (Michael's, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods and Toys R Us), then meeting up with Andy's brothers at Old Chicago for dinner. It was nice having dinner out for a change. There were a ton of kids there, so it made Ben's normal "talking" through dinner time just blend into the background noise... On Sunday, we set up our new 6-man dome tent (super-easy setup) as a practice for a future camping trip, then we headed out to Champoeg for a nice bike/ Burley ride and hang out time under the old oak trees. Oh yeah, Ben can now "blow kisses" very well all on his own. I've been helping him blow kisses to daddy everynight, and now he does it all on his own. Awww, he's growing up so fast...
















We broke down and got Ben a toy vacuum and corn popper - he loves them both!





















Here are Ben's first scribbles - on his doodle pro - you can't save it, so I thought I'd take a pic...

















And a random pic of an unexpected late harvest of strawberries from the few plants in our garden.















And a few pics from the park on Friday.

And a little clip of Ben and his Da-coom (da-coom, da-coom, da-coom).

Back to the "normal" Oregon summer days...

Thank goodness, it has finally cooled down here. I'm back to wearing jeans today - high in the 70's maybe. I can't think of any specific things that we did during the past week, except a few errands, some cleaning, some baking (zucchini bread and blueberry oatmeal bars), and I've been working on my second on-line class (learning how to use Google Earth) to maintain my teaching license.

It seems like something is new with Ben almost every day now. He can give kisses (wide-open mouth slobbery ones), and sometimes hugs, likes to lay his head on a pillow on the floor in the office, is making tons of connections with things in a book to things in real life (he sees a clock in a book, then points to a clock in the room, same with guitar, ladder, etc). He is now attempting to say garbage, ladder, guitar, and window. It's funny, he won't repeat the easy words like cat or ball, but instead goes for the 2-syllable words. We may be transitioning into a 1-nap-a-day routine, but we'll see. Poor buddy came down with a cold on Monday - it's been a while since we've had to wipe snot. No fun.