Driving

After Bennett's "Autopia" experience a couple weeks ago he is all about driving now!

So while being drug around Babies-R-Us on Friday morning he was such a good little man that he earned the right to have a little fun and drive the Elmo car! :)

{We've never actually put any money in any of these machines before ... hope I didn't just make a huge mistake!}

Like Father, like Son

We went to the park to celebrate "Baby La-La's" 2nd Birthday...

... and our son "Adventure Boy" had so much fun!

Take note of the fireman's pole to the left in the background....

Who taught him how to do this?  Not me or Adam!
We were rather surprised by his "go get'er" play ground personality!

So... ya know, it was a pretty typical playground, and the only people at the park were with the birthday party so yeah, we might not have been watching "adventure boy" every second as we were sitting in the shade on the picnic tables talking with friends ... that is until we heard the cry! {you know, the real cry, the "I'm in pain cry"}

The first thing I saw was Bennett crying and falling into the sand each time he tried to stand up and take a step towards us! It was about the saddest thing I've ever seen! As retold by Gunnar (and eventually Bennett when he calmed down) Bennett had decided to go down the fireman's pole but missed and basically just jumped about 4 feet down and then landed wrong on his ankle! He kept telling me, "Me jump, down, down, down!" {complete with hand motions of course}

The next couple days our sweet, usually fast moving, little man looked like this ... it was pretty pathetic {but still, so cute}

Harvesting Fun!

We always love to get an invitation out to the picture perfect Taft home and this time was no different! We had a great time with our sweet Shelton friends (and their families too of course)!

This was Adam's frist time on a horse since leaving Texas (he was 10 when he moved), and what a handsome "Country Boy" he is!

It took Bennett a few hours {no joke} to decided that he did in fact want to get on the horse. Up until this point he enjoyed looking at it, feeding it and petting it but every time someone asked if he wanted a ride he quickly responded with "No!"

But once Adam offered to get on with him ... I didn't even offer {I'm a really nice mom, I know} he changed his tune and finally said "Yes!"
So here he is, first time on a horse ever! YAY big boy!!

They had a bit of a ruff start getting the horse to even want to move but once they got it going Bennett and Adam were all smiles for their one lap around!

The horse fun of course continued and the funny {I mean sad} thing is this little guy is the horse he fell off of!

Jenny's family pretty much goes all out for anything so of course they had all the typical cuteness you would expect from a Harvest party all set up!

This picture is quite possibly the funniest family picture from the scariest hay ride {we for some reason kept going up and down hills} that there ever was! I can not get over my "city girl" pearls, Adam's "Country Boy" shirt and Bennett's Hillbilly "smile" full of cookie!
I seriously crack up each time I look at this picture!
{If we were doing Christmas cards this year, this one would be in the running! Ha ha!}

All the kids got marked down on the chart ... made me happy, 'cause this means it's going to happen next year too! :)

And what Harvest party is complete without decorating your pumpkin to look like a sparkly pirate! ha ha!
Bennett loves his pumpkin and tries to pick his "pun-kin" as his toy to bring in the car every time we go somewhere!

Taft family, thank you once again for a fabulous afternoon/evening full of great family memories!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Last week due to a perfect storm of a birthday landing on a saturday and with out asking for it, getting that saturday off, we had a whole day to spend celebrating Mary Beth!

The birthday girl picked a fabulous outing to a place she had never been before ...

... and that I couldn't be more fond of!

 

Seriously, have you ever been to the Getty? There is nothing like it!  There is beauty in every corner of ever building, inside and out, it's stunning!

Okay, but let's be honest, it's a long drive from our house, but we all did rather well (only one bathroom stop for this pregnant girl!)

We were very glad when we arrived and were finally on the tram for our lovely view of the 405!

One of the first things we looked at were old Bibles ... totally facinating!

Especially this part where they laid the process and materials out.

I'm pretty sure we made it through each building and had a great time just wondering around and looking at all the art - there were so many different things to look at!

Bennett of course loved the pieces that had iPad's accompaying them ....

... and wasn't into a whole lot else while we were inside

... but then oddly enough, he seemed rather taken with this vase. He stayed to look at if a really long time and told Adam all about it. 

But being that he is 2 1/2, his favorite part of the day by far was the elevators and their buttons!

 

Okay and can I just share my favorite part of the day too?!  

If I lived in this part of the Getty, my days would consist of sitting in this room...

 ... or maybe this one.

... while drinking tea from this lovely set

 ...while I stared at this painting

... and then when I got tired I could go rest on my couch

...or if I really needed a nap, I would retire to my bed! 

... ha ha! Okay, thanks for indulging me! :) 

Back to reality.

When we made it out to the gardens Bennett was in hog heaven! He was ready to run and jump and play so we let him, a little... it is still the Getty after all. 

We thought it might be nice to try for a family picture like we took back in Nov. of 2009

Still that same crooked smile of "I'm not sure if I like this"

Then without even realizing it, I kind of re-took this picture too

The rest of our time outside is what could be expected ... you know, lots of running and saying "Bennett, No!" Oh well, such is the life of this young man right now.

We couldn't go see our bench (where Adam proposed) because that part of the garden was closed for work - but it still looked good from afar!

On our way out we had a moment of clarity and remembered to ask someone to take a picture of us all together and this really sweet old man did a pretty good job! 

Oh and one last Getty picture ... One of the highlights of the Getty (besides the art, architecture and gardens) is the people watching! There are so many people from all over the world, you never know what you are going to see! 

Unfortunately I didn't get her husband in the picture with her ... but really, what went thru her mind that morning? "Giant bear attack whistle, check! Pearls, check! Extra elastic sleeve covers, check! All right, I'm ready to go look at art!"

Okay, enough with the Getty ... Everyone needs a fun birthday dinner to make the celebration feel complete! So where could be more fun than Disneyland?! (which by the way, Mary Beth has never been to, so this was her first Disneyland experience ... a cry'n shame I tell you!) So we made our way to Down Town Disney to have a fiesta at Tortilla Joe's. We had a fabulous dinner and probably ate way too much guacamole but it's okay, we were celebrating!

Bennett LOVED the Mariachi band the roamed the restaurant and had a very hard time staying in his seat while watching them!

 After a fun song and a little dessert...

 ... we made our way out and about in DownTown Disney! Bennett was in love!

Buzz and Woody costumes!

Is there red 40 in a green lollypop? I don't know, i figured it was the safest :)

a "Raff" made out of blocks!

Hugging Woody!

Anyone still reading? ... you get a prize! 

What a great and fun day but we were all rather tired by the time we got home! Here's hoping next year we can actually get Grandma inside the real Disneyland for her birthday! :)