Crystal Lake

We went for the first time to Crystal Lake here in Newton. Ben's parents used to swim in the lake, but not at the official site. It is pretty nice, and Ben thought it was lots of fun, especially jumping off the pier into the shallow part (with his parents holding his hands). The deep area is quite big, so it's nice for his parents taking a swim too.

Tree guys

When Ben's parents moved into their apartment, there were two trees in front. One of them was taken down a few years ago, and the remaining one, which had many dangerously dead limbs, came down on Tuesday. Ben found it extremely interesting, and we now have to play tree guys every day, and have many conversations about the "bye-bye tree." Of course, his parents also found it quite compelling to watch. It took about six hours start to finish (it was a big tree), first taking off limbs piece by piece and putting them through a chipper, then carefully taking the trunk down in segments, moving all the big logs onto a truck, and finally grinding down the stump.

Picnic

A little over a week ago, there was a picnic at school. Ben thought it was fun, and that we should also have picnics at home.

Camping fun

For dinner camping, Andy cooked hot dogs on a stick, and for dessert, we all had roasted marshmallows, to have the full camping experience. Sonia and Ben had a hilariously good time playing with Sonia's family's tent. They did performances, using the fly as a curtain; they leaned against the tent to see how it gave and bounced; and they played inside the tent, bouncing around, hugging each other, screaming in delight as Stacey pretended to be a bear, and smashing their faces up against the screen. Eventually everybody got into Ben's family's giant tent for bedtime stories, and the kids fell sound asleep very quickly after going to bed. A wonderful time was had by all, and we hope we can do it again soon. (In these photos, Ben is wearing his cookie pants, his current favorite. His mama made them for him out of cloth his daddoo bought for him in California.)

Camping!

Last weekend Ben went camping for the first time. He went to Pawtuckaway state park in New Hampshire with his parents and his friend Sonia and her parents, Will and Stacey. He had a wonderful time. The park has a lake with a nice beach and everybody went swimming (OK, wading in Ben's case). Ben thought that being in the water was really fun. Sonia takes a swimming class and is pretty fearless, so she went out deep with her daddy (that's them in the background in one of the photos), and to Ben's astonishment, did a somersault in the shallow area of the beach. It was a great beach for little kids, because it was shallow for a long time. When he went the second day, he also discovered the great fun of playing with the wet sand. He would happily be there every day.

Going to the grocery store

Ben is a little obsessed with grocery shopping lately. He keeps telling us he is going to the grocery store (on his scooter, or walking with a bag, or by some other means of locomotion) and that he is going to buy milk and carrots. Sometimes he is also going to buy eggs or cheese or apples too. It does mean that going grocery shopping is now a fun outing for him, and when a trip is not in the offing, he shops himself on our shelves. (In this picture, he is wearing his sheep shirt, which he asked his mama to make for him.)

Jane!

Ben's parents went out to dinner last week to celebrate their anniversary, and for the first time (except for the freak-outs with cousins in Chicago) Ben stayed home with a babysitter in the evening. His babysitter was his friend Jane, who watched him one day a week all last spring semester while his mommy taught a class. He really likes Jane; she is fun to play with and is really nice, so he had a good time with her.

Chicken Pox!

Poor Ben came down with chicken pox the night his daddoo came back from California. Luckily, since he's so young, it only lasted for five days (only three of those really feeling sick) and he is doing well now. He was very interested in the Calomine lotion that we used for the itchiness, and he also liked taking "spaceman baths", or oatmeal baths (he is very into spacemen at the moment, so that's how we could talk him into the bath). He got a little stir crazy by the end of the five days.

Cookies!

Ben and his daddoo made chocolate chip cookies. Ben was fascinated by the whole process, and very much enjoyed mixing, but not as much as he enjoyed eating the cookies.

Tres Chic

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Jan gave Ben some French overall shorts for the summer. They are perfect for the hot weather we now have, and are very chic.

Uppyair

Ben flew "uppyair" with his mama to go to Chicago and come home. Luckily both flights were not full and we got a little extra space to play with. He was very excited to see the clouds moving by, and by the whole experience, including the music on headphones and the plane going "really fast." He was so excited that he didn't sleep until the last 15 minutes of the flight home, even though it started at about his nap time. Tanya changed her flight so that she could spend the whole weekend with us, which was wonderful, especially since we haven't seen her in a while and this is the first time she and Ben have met (since he was out of the womb, at least). We all had hot dogs and french fries in the airport and she was able to come with us the whole way to the gate, which was very helpful as well as giving us a little more Tanya time. We are so happy that Tanya is doing well and that we got to see her.

Julien and Sebastian

It was very exciting to spend time with Julien and Sebastian. Ben and Sebastian got along much better this time than at Christmas, both because they are older and because it was not either one's turf, I think. Ben was particularly thrilled with Julien, and talked about him all the time, especially first thing in the morning.

Bill and Jan

It was great to see Grandpa Bill and Grandma Jan. Ben had made his Grandpa a painted T-shirt for his birthday, and was very proud to give it to Grandpa. He was also very happy to give them both kisses. It was a very stimulating atmosphere, however, what with the cousins, and we are all looking forward to having a chance to spend some quieter time with them in France in July.

Promontory Point

We went for a walk on the Point on Sunday, where Ben's parents have done many many walks and where some of Ellen's ashes are scattered. It was beautiful and clear but chilly. All the kids were fascinated to climb down the big breakwater to get near the water and throw rocks in. There are no pics of Ben there because his mom had a strong hold of him the whole time. We had a nice time seeing the water and the city, but couldn't stay long because the little guys were tired and hungry and overconfident of their ability to play on the rocks.

Chicago Playgrounds

Ben went to several playgrounds in Chicago, including the one we called Tony's Park, but not his mama's old playground. He regularly insisted on going out to a park/playground. When we were waiting for Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday, he and his cousins played in the very nice park that is part of their building.

Running

There was much running. Julien, Ben, and Sebastian had a wonderful game that consisted of all running as fast as possible from one place to another, with Julien announcing each run and Ben echoing him. On Friday night, when the grownups went to dinner with Bill and Jan and the people presenting at the conference, the kids stayed with a babysitter and had pizza, to their delight. We were sure they'd be tired and grumpy when we got back, but instead they were running as fast as they could from bed to couch in the apartment A,R, J, and S were in (in the basement of the B&B). They repeated this game on other occasions, most notably on Sunday evening in the living room.

Museum of Science and Industry

On Friday, it was rainy, so we went to the Museum of Science and Industry and everyone had a wonderful time. We started with the model trains, which the little guys were especially fond of, but which are enthralling for those of all ages. We went on to the farm area (advertising corn, hog, dairy, and soy farming, as well as John Deere equipment) and the kids had a great time driving a big tractor and a combine. The space area was the most exciting, as we all got to see rockets and spaceships and an astronaut suit hanging from the ceiling, which was particularly impressive for Ben. He keeps talking about it, and now I have to tell stories about astronauts every night (helped a little by a book I bought a couple days ago, "I Want to be an Astronaut"). He also likes watching youtube of weightlessness. He particularly likes the idea of juice and soup floating around as bubbles you can slurp up. It makes him laugh. We ended the trip with lunch (Ben and Julien ate, Sebastian played) and a visit to a big streamlined train.