Knott's Berry Farm

We recently took Bennett on his first trip to Knott's Berry Farm along with all of Dan's family. Bennett and cousin Sam had a blast in Camp Snoopy there. Bennett really had fun on the rides and had a great time despite the fact that it was nearly 100 degrees outside that day!

Bennett's first ride on a roller coaster...he already knew to put his hands in the air for maximum fun. :o)

Snoopy's Red Baron Airplane ride. Bennett and Sam had fun flying up and down in their airplane.

Video of Bennett and Sam flying Red Baron style.

One of Bennett's favorite rides was the semi trucks. Dan got to ride along too. The funniest thing about these trucks is that they have little clown horns for the kids to honk, and the kids like that better than the ride. Just sounds funny with a bunch of "Mack" trucks and little clown horns!

Video of the Mack Truck ride and the little clown horns. :o)

Grandpa helping Bennett get a drink of water on this very hot day!

Anniversaries

This past weekend Dan and I celebrated both our dating and our wedding anniversaries. They happen to be one day apart, so it is easy to do both. We have been married for 6 years, but together a total of 12 years. We got the wonderful opportunity to just get away for an overnight trip to the Lodge at Torrey Pines which is down near San Diego. It was so nice to just get away. My mom took Bennett for the weekend so we could have a little time alone. The Lodge was beautiful and very relaxing. Just happens that next week they are hosting the US Open there, so the golf course was being reformed with bleachers and tents, etc. Still the scenery was gorgeous! We had a room overlooking the golf course and the ocean and all of the Torrey Pine trees. We laughed because when we got into the elevator at the lodge they had a pine scent pumped into the elevator. Smelled good though! The grounds also had alot of Sage and Rosemary planted around, so the air was very aromatic. We had such a nice time, but I forgot to ask someone to take any pictures of us together and consequently got only scenery pics this time. Oh well. My mom made the weekend great by not only taking Bennett for us, but she had champagne and fruit delivered to our room as a surprise! We enjoyed it as we watched the sunset over the ocean.

Looking back at the lodge from the grounds behind. Our room is the top floor balcony between the two peaked roofs. Great room location!

View from the balcony of our room overlooking the golf course and the Pacific Ocean. All of the bleachers and tents were being set up for the US Open.

A lone seagull decided to visit us before we left.

The sunset from our balcony.

Champagne that mom sent us via room service. We felt like VIPs!

On the way down to the Lodge, we stopped off at Legoland and went in for 45 minutes on a shopper's pass for free. Took some cool pictures of some of the miniland there. They had neat replicas of most of Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, etc. Thought I'd include a few here for those of you who have never been. We can't wait to take Bennett when he is a little older.

Mini Las Vegas sign made out of Legos.

Mini version of the Excalibur Hotel in Vegas .

Mini version of the Treasure Island Hotel in Vegas.

Mini version of a street in San Fransisco complete with moving cable cars.

Mini version of the Griffith Observatory in Hollywood.

Trash Talk

So...I don't know about everyone else's 2 year olds, but my 2 year old happens to be infatuated with all things regarding trash. He LOVES the trash trucks when they come to collect the trash. Friday (which is trash collection day in my neighborhood) is definitely the best day of the week for Bennett. Every Friday morning when we hear a trash truck Bennett says "Truck!" very excitedly and runs for the front door so he can go out and watch the truck picking up the trash. Most of the truck drivers know Bennett now and they always wait for him to come out so they can honk their horn for him. He just loves it! He also loves to throw stuff away (even things that aren't supposed to be thrown away!) So we have to watch that he doesn't throw away our car keys and things like that. :o) Cheryl was over one day and took this video of him asking if he can throw these balls into the trash can behind him. Pretty funny. Maybe I won't have a hard time getting him to clean his room when he gets older eh? One can only hope!!!

Farm Walk

This past weekend we ventured over to Pierce College, a local junior college, that opened up it's farm for the public to see as a fundraising event for the agricultural school there. They call it the Farm Walk. We thought it would be fun to take Bennett to see the farm since both our moms come from farming backgrounds. He loved the animals and the wide open space. The farm at the college has 225 acres of farm land in the middle of suburbia here. They had sheep, goats, cows, chickens, horses, hay rides, BBQ, music, and lots of open space to run. They had demonstrations on sheep shearing, wool spinning, etc. They also play Cowpie Bingo where you buy a temporary deed to a plot of land and they set a cow loose in the pasture. If the cow plops on your plot of land you win money. Hilarious! We had to play! We didn't win though. Bennett really seemed to have fun. Poor Dan had worked about 24 hours straight through the night before due to a power outage at work, but he went anyways, then came back and slept most of the afternoon. Oh and he was also horribly sick with a bad cold. He wins points for being a good dad!

Parks, Parks and More Parks.

This past week, Dan had training for some software he uses at work. It was 5 days of intensive training all day. So I didn't really see much of him. I decided that I would try to occupy Bennett by going to the park a bunch and having some playdates, etc. I found this new park out by Cheryl's house called Gates Canyon Park and the play area is called Brandon's Village. Turns out that it was built as a playground to be accessible to handicap children and is even wheelchair accessible to park of it. This playground is simply awesome. We were there for 3 hours and had a hard time getting Bennett to leave. This park was so impressive. The playground equipment is amazing...so many things for them to do from rock climbing walls to slides to swings to sand play etc. I have to say that with a 2 year old I am now getting really familiar with every park in my area. They are a God send when you really need to get the kids out of the house!

Brandon's Village at Gate's Canyon Park

Bennett and Riley running up and down the play equipment ramps.

Video of Bennett playing on the rings...or trying to figure out how to hold on to them using me as a stepping stool. Notice the look of determination on his face while he is trying to hold on to the rings. :o)

Ardis' Birthday

Ardis had a birthday last Sunday and she said the only thing she wanted was a picnic in the park. So we went over to a local park near Dan and I with all the kids and let the kids run amuck for 3 hours. They had a blast. I didn't happen to get a picture of her on her special day, so pictures of the kids will have to do for now. Happy Birthday Ardis...you are 39 right?? :o)

The three Musketeers - Bennett, Sam and Max. Bennett always finds a doggie wherever he goes...this is Rosie.

Sam is now 5 years old!

Our nephew Sam just turned 5 on the 18th. Amanda and Joe had a party for him with a pinata, a bouncy house, and lots of food! I made the birthday cake being as that I now have lots of "Car" cake experience. :o) He had a Hot Wheels theme for the party so we did a Hot Wheels Car Cake. It was pretty hilarious watching a bunch of 2-5 year olds try to whack away at a pinata. That thing was stubborn and didn't want to budge! I don't think we really needed to blindfold the kids...they had trouble hitting it as it was. :o) There were lots of goodies inside when it finally got opened though. Have to have a pinata at a California birthday party. Here's to Sam and being 5...may it be the best year of his life...so far! :o) Happy Birthday Sam.

Sam blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.

Bennett taking a his first ever whack at a pinata. :o)

Bennett and his blue face after eating tons of blue frosting on the last piece of birthday cake.

Hot Wheels Car Birthday Cake.

Video of Bennett courtesy of Cheryl. Bennett thinks he is just so sneaky as he sneaks the last piece of birthday cake off of the table while he thinks that no one is looking! :o)

Jay Leno and The British Auto Meet

Last Sunday we went to a British Auto Meet at Woodley Park. Dan and his Dad have long had a love of MGs and Dan's first car was a 1974 1/2 MGB Roadster. About 10 years ago they purchased a 1969 MGC GT at an auction. Last Sunday they showed off their MGC GT to a bunch of other British Car Enthusiasts at a British Auto Meet and all of us tagged along. The cars that were there were amazing. Just so happened that Jay Leno had his Bentley there on display too and he also walked around admiring other's cars as well. He let Bennett and Sam play in his Bentley and we caught it on video. He really is a very nice guy. Sam had a whole conversation with him as to where the horn was etc. The video had a slight problem for a few seconds in the middle, so if you watch it, just hang in there for a few seconds and it will clear up.

Video of Jay Leno and Sam and Bennett. Just press the play button to start the video.

Bennett and Sam trying out the horn in the Bentley with Jay Leno looking on.

Jay and Sam talking about the finer points of the car. :o)

Jay lifting Bennett out of the car...in a few seconds he is probably gonna figure out just how much Bennett weighs! He is a hefty little guy. :o)

Bennett and Sam just cruisin' along.

Jay Leno and his Bentley.

Bennett standing in front of Triumph TR3 just like the one that Grammy Pat and Grandpa Russ had when they first got married. Bennett and Sam in front of another Triumph. Bennett and Sam sitting in the back of the Lewis 1969 MGC GT.

The Lewis MGC GT is the one on the left.

Bennett and the Helicopter

Don't know why, but I just loved this picture. I just love the look on his face - dirt smudge and all. Usually Bennett has a car in each hand no matter where we go, but today he was fascinated with how this pull string helicopter worked. Just figuring everything out!

Cheryl's new doggie - Bennett's new best friend!

Cheryl adopted a new rescue doggie last week. She is a one year old female and no one is really sure what breed or breeds she is made up of! She is a mutt for sure. Cheryl is still trying to find a good name for her, but Riley seems to be sticking so far. At least she answers to it pretty well. For now, we could just call her Bennett's BFF (texting language for Best Friend Forever :o) Bennett was in HEAVEN today with her. Of course, he was learning the finer points of training said pooch in the fine arts of fetch, sit, walk on a leash, and run away from me when I am trying to spray you with a water spray bottle. :o) (Poor Riley got chased around my mom's yard for about 30 minutes by Bennett who was spraying her with water and running away giggling.) He is a boy...what can I say! It was great though because they both ran each other for 3 hours straight and just didn't seem to want to stop. They exercised each other! The doggie is pretty good with Bennett. Bennett just loved her. Boys need dogs...I am convinced of that. But not convinced enough to get my own of course! For now we will live vicariously through everyone else's doggies! :o)

Riley (her name for today!)

Bennett throwing the ball for Riley....who is fetching the ball though? We weren't sure. :o)

Bennett learning or errr "teaching" the art of leash walking a doggie.

Bennett and his new BFF Riley. :o)