Big Day for Ben!

1.  Initial allergy tests (skin pricks) reveal that he has outgrown his peanut allergy!  We will have to do an in-office challenge where he actually eats some peanut butter under close supervision, but we are optimistic that the results will remain the same!

2.  His new bike arrived in the mail yesterday.  I got it assembled during nap so he could ride it in the afternoon. After a bit of tentativeness, he was off and biking like a champ.  It seemed he had it down - same foot brakes as his old bike, but bigger handlebars, and bigger, heavier bike in general...  So we went off to the nearby park for a quick visit before dinner.  On the return trip home, Ben was ahead of Eli and I by about a 1/2 block.  On a gradual steady downhill sidewalk.  Suddenly, I hear a little "Help me mommy!" and I look up and Ben is flying down the sidewalk out of control.  Seems he couldn't make the foot brakes work.  I just happened to see a woman running with her dog - asked to to quick watch Eli for a second and I took off at a steady jog to catch up to Ben.  After a few seconds it was obvious I was not going to catch him with a jog - he was really moving and picking up speed.  I turned my aging, no-exercise body into Olympic form and literally had to sprint as fast as I possibly could to catch up to Ben.  It seemed like a slow motion scene from movie, but I did catch him, grab the handle bars and slow him down safely.  What an adrenaline rush for Ben and me...  Ben's first comment - "See, mommy, that's why you need to stay close to me..."  Funny.  Very funny.  Thank goodness for several things: 1.  that someone happened to be there to watch Eli for a minute 2.  that Ben kept it together enough to not crash (it would have been a doozy)  3.  that I didn't severely injure MYself after exerting my muscles to their utter capacity for a brief moment.  Phew.

A few pics from last week:

 A short hike at Mary Young Park

A fun Saturday with friends (Lauren, Tyler and son, Camden) watching the boys play in the water.

Eli

 Camden

 Ben

 Again, Eli's adorable belly.

Shark Pool

The weather here this summer has been pretty cool and it actually sprinkled a few times in the past couple of days. Weird for Oregon in July.  Despite the cool weather, the boys have been begging for me to break out the shark pool.  Today I obliged, even though it was cloudy and only in the high 60's.  They didn't seem to mind.

 

 I'm having so much fun I can't stand it!

Is this not the cutest belly you've ever seen?

July

Summer had been flying by and we have been staying busy - in one weekend, Andy flew to Colorado for a college buddy's wedding, I flew to Minnesota for my grandmother's funeral.  While it was tough to say goodbye, she was 91, and had lived a good long life.  The whole Stokesbary clan has not been together for some time, so it was good to catch up with the various cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.

Here are some pictures from the first half of July... 

Eating berry shortcake on the 4th of July

Eli eating corn right off the cob

The cousins at a July birthday gathering. 

Grant is pushing the mower...

 Ben is kicking a ball...

 and Eli is... well, walking around with a large stick, which made him very happy.

Here are my boys at the nearby park.  Ben has outgrown his little bike and is eagerly awaiting his new big boy bike to arrive in the mail next week.  I've also ordered up a balance bike for Eli, so he can keep up with us on walks.  We'll see.

And here are some videos (to tide grandma and grandpa over until our visit to MN in August!)

Ben has been a bit camera shy lately, so these are mostly of Eli.

First playing Ben's harmonica:

singing his "ABC's":

and singing some 'other' version of Itsy-Bitsy spider

and a few more alternative hits.

We have quite a bit in the works for the rest of the summer and weekends are filling up fast with various activities...  Still waiting to hear about the house in Dundee.  Hopefully, very soon!

Short Sands Beach!

We felt the need for a get-away even if just for a day, so we headed to the beach.  The day started out cloudy, but turned beautiful!  We carried in a picnic lunch and ate it from a table overlooking the beach.  As we walked up to our table, Ben looked out and said "It's so beautiful!".  Precious.  The boys enjoyed their day, and Ben kept asking when we are going back.  "I want to go to the beach every day, mommy".