Day at the Beach

We spent the day Sunday at the Oregon coast. It's so nice to be there and smell the ocean, see the crashing waves, and just hang out. It's a bit different with going there with kid than the "fly by the seat of your pants" days before Ben. Different in some good ways (seeing the 'o-sin' thru a little ones perspective) and some more difficult ways (packing, planning around nap, bedtime, etc.). Of course, the good ways out weigh the more difficult ones...

We started off with a picnic lunch with the (very) high tide waves crashing in nearby.


Then we headed out for a hike to Cascade Head (gorgeous!!) overlooking the Salmon River. We have done this hike twice before - right after Andy proposed and again while I was pregnant with Ben in 2008 (click the link for the video panorama of the area from Jan '08). Ben liked riding in the backpack for (most of) the whole 3-4 miles.

Of course, he got to get out and run around at the end of the hike. It was pretty steep and there were huge cliffs that dropped to the ocean, so there was a lot of hand holding.

The skunk cabbage was one of the few flowers blooming yet...

Then we drove south to Newport, watching the waves crash, and letting Ben catch a short nap. Next, we grabbed some ice cream, and found a nice beach (Agate Beach) for Ben to play at.

We watched the sun go down while Ben ran around chasing a tennis ball and shoveling the sand.

A great way to spend a Sunday.

Long blogging hiatus, I know.

Sorry. I'm not sure what to say except that I've been busy. I know we are ALL busy, but lately, I've had a hard time finding the time to sit down at the computer to write some things down and put up some new pics (well, because I haven't *taken* any in a LONG time - bad, mommy).

Let's see - what have we been up to?

I planned and executed a field trip for the entire 7th grade (for 220 students and with help from 1 other co-worker), to a nearby aviation and space museum that went off well, with a slight bus issue, that at the time was NOT a slight bus issue (when you have 220 students and 12 staff members waiting for the '5th bus' to show up - it's not so 'slight')...

I bought my first new new vehicle. After 2 weekends of shopping and tons of Internet research, we finally settled on the Mazda CX-9 (in liquid silver metallic). I feel quite guilty for having such a nice rig. It had some very nice features such as: heated seats, back up camera, power rear hatch, BOSE speakers, 6 CD, Bluetooth, satellite radio and seating for 7. OK - now I really feel guilty after writing that down. I am totally spoiled.

We had a nice relaxing 3 day weekend over Valentine's Day - We went out to dinner with Andy's brothers on Sat. at Old Chicago. I guess that was 'our' Valentine's dinner... :)

We have been enjoying some VERY nice weather this past week here in the Portland area. Highs in the high 50's and even low 60's - clear skies. Ben has been having a blast playing outside and pushing his na-mower and playing at the park (which he calls 'fun').

Ben said what I guess we call his first sentence (or phrase) - Mommy's home. Followed the next day by Daddy's home... There's no way I can keep track of all of his words anymore - He's a speaking machine!

We went for a short little hike at Champoeg State Park today (only about 15 minutes away). Here are some pics.






I need to work on getting some good video of Ben - The last couple I've taken weren't post-worthy... Ben's got a great version of the ABC's that I need to try to capture...

First 50 (or so)

Andy and I were talking the other day and I realized that I haven't kept very good track of all of Ben's new words. So, here is a list, in no particular order, of the first 50 (or 57, but who's counting) words that Ben says on a regular basis (I'm still probably forgetting some, but oh well):

dada
mama
saw
poo poo
shoes
eyes
glasses
hummus
Ben
cracker
garbage
cheese
apple
pepper
water
cup
cat
spoon
truck
choo-choo
ball
pants
vacuum
bath
Patti
ladder
tractor
moss
clock
purple
bye-bye
snow
hat
jacket
fan
off
top
block
blue
black
wheel
happy
up
down
sleeping
guitar
boom
zipper
pen
table
sink
pocket
button
clean up
bus
whisk
baby

OMSI

We got to visit OMSI (Portland's science museum) this weekend with our dear friends, Jim and Deb and their son, Levi. Ben had a blast! Although most of the displays are kind of over his head (he mostly liked pushing the little chairs and stools around), they do have a Science Playground room just for toddlers that Ben really enjoyed.

And Sunday we got to play outside for a bit...

Let's see, Ben's vocabulary is growing every day... so many new words, that I can't hardly keep track anymore! He did say his own name on Saturday for the first time, along with "Otis, Jim, Deb, pocket, button, plate (pate), spoon (poon), wheel (wee-a-wee)", oh, and he calls every woman that is not mommy, "Patti" -like news anchors, or any other female on TV. Poor Deb was "Patti" all weekend, though he did actually say Deb a few times.

Here is a little clip of Ben showing us his: Happy, Sad, Hungry, and Tired.

He loves his 'hummy'

The other day while I was trying to get dinner ready, I gave Ben some cracker or something dunked in hummus, just trying to keep him happy so I could get some food on the table. Little did I know that I created a monster. Ben now loves to dunk anything - from crackers and Trader Joe's spinach pizza (which make sense) to blueberries and banana bread (um, eeewww) - into his little bowl of 'hummy'. Today I put a few crackers on the tray of his high chair. Immediately, he points to the fridge - hummy, hummy, hummy. Yup, a hummy monster.

We got to enjoy a nice weather day on Saturday - a little taste of spring. Andy got the Christmas lights down, I cleaned up the yard and we got to watch Ben run around a bunch.

Ben points to the sky - and plain as day - says "Geese". He is sooo going to be a little bird nerd, just like mommy...

Then, "Bye, bye", as they fly away.

Other new words include:

sleeping (seeping)

nap (nap)

saw (saw)

basketball (ba-ba-ba)

football (foo-ba)

shoes (soos)

and more, too, but I can't think of them all right now...

Is he a little "Ron" or what?

He just needs a little stubby golf pencil behind his ear...

We tried to get Ben to do a Ricky Business deal on video, but what we got was a little boy jamming on a guitar to Bob Seger, and trying to fall on his knees, but wearing one of mommy's shoes so he couldn't actually make it to his knees... 2 outta 3 ain't bad.

Here is the 19 month old version of Opera Boy (see the 6 month old version here)

The last 2 weeks have been nice.

• We got in the final Christmas with Grandpa Tom and Barbara - but my camera battery died, so I don't have any pics, sorry.
• We celebrated my birthday with a dinner out at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
• Ben had a 12 hour fever in response to his H1N1 booster shot (well, 3 days after the shot).
• We got together with some good friends, Lauren and Tyler for some dinner and some Ben watching.
• I got to wear pajama pants to work 2 times in one week: Pajama Day and Wacky/ Tacky Day.
• I have tomorrow off for MLK, so hope to get my online class 'Google Earth Advanced' completed before the deadline - it's been lingering undone way too long.

More Christmases

... with yet another still to come!

Here are a few shots of Ben playing with a wrapping paper tube and an empty animal cookie container. Wait a minute - how many toys did this kid just get from Santa, when he sure looks happy as a clam with the stuff that was bound for the recycle bin...? :)

Anyway - Here are a few shots of Andy's family celebration here at our house on Saturday. Ben has been loving the wooden choo-choo, duplos and the fire station ramp, (along with the recycling cast-offs)! Thanks again, everyone!

Ben also got a sweet bike from Great Grandpa Glenn and Claudia. He loved "riding" it up and down the hall - just a few more months before his feet can reach the pedals!