B is for Blueberry

I had been wanting to go blueberry picking all summer and finally decided that the Friday after the 4th we would go! Vince was not very excited about it (boo) so when my dad said he would like to go I let Vince off the hook. We got down to the The Berry Patch late morning and got our buckets and started picking! Ben was in heaven! He loves loves loves blueberries! More blueberries ended up in his tummy than his bucket. He did really well only picking the blue ones as he learned the red ones are a bit tart. After about 30 minutes Ben was hot and tired-he plopped down under a blueberry bush in the shade and informed us he was ready to go. So we headed back to get our blueberries weighted and pay for them. And then it was off to find some ac and lunch! We just finished eating the blueberries we picked and Ben always asks if they are his blueberries from "the garden" that he picked! I am so excited to go apple picking this fall along with our traditional pumpkin picking! 

Independence Day

4th of July 2013 was pretty low key for us this year. We had plans to go to Miege and watch the fireworks Wednesday night but a random thunderstorm came in about 5:30 pm and it was still raining at 8:30 pm so we decided to nix the fireworks. On Thursday we met up with Natalie & Ryan at the Prairie Village 4th of July Festivities in the morning. The boys had a blast! They sprayed the fire hose, rode the train, saw the animals at the petting zoo, got their faces painted and got free bike helmets! Our friends Andrew & Meryl came up to check out the celebration too! After a few hours it was hot and the boys were getting hungry so we grabbed some lunch at BRGR and then it was nap time!

After nap we headed to my parents house for dinner. Ben had a blast playing in his pool and playing in my old Radio Flyer! After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to America and Ben got to blow out the candles-this kid really loves birthdays!

Lake Trip 2013

The last weekend of June was the annual Rupp Lake Trip! This year we got a special treat and Vince's Uncle John came all the way from San Francisco! Everyone was at the house by Thursday night and the fun began! Times sure have changed over the years as the years tick by and more babies join the family-long gone are the  late nights drinking on the dock. Well I should clarify the boys are great at keeping with that tradition but us girls not so much! The weekend consisted of playing in the lake, great company, laying on the dock, boat rides, cocktails and great food! Ben was fearless as usual. This year he decided he wanted to go down the slide on the dock and after doing it once with Vince he decided he didn't need Daddy's help anymore and insisted on going by himself. And he went over and over and over again! He had a blast driving the boat and playing with his cousins! That Friday was Paige's 12th Birthday (I still can not wrap my head around that she is 12 years old) so we had a birthday cake, birthday presents and birthday singing! After we sang to Paige and she blew out her candles we sang and blew out candles for Ben!  Ben hasn't quite grasped the whole concept of birthdays yet. On Saturday us "kids" snuck off to the bar just outside of the cove. It was nice to have a few hours as grown-ups without kids! Besides a few thunderstorms we had beautiful weather! Sunday morning we left after breakfast so we could still have part of our Sunday left to catch up on laundry and grocery shopping.

Quick Trip South

June seemed to turn into the month of travel for us...

First was Nashville.

Second was Oklahoma.

My cousin Lisa was getting married in Enid on June 22nd. So we headed down to Enid Saturday morning. Ben did really great the whole 4 1/2 hrs in the car. He kept busy reading lots of books, watching movies and by eating countless snacks. The wedding was wonderful-Lisa & Josh looked so blissfully happy! And we wish the newlyweds a life full of love and laughter with each other! I don't think that all 6 of us cousins had been in the same room since my wedding almost 8 years ago. After the reception we headed to the hotel to check-in, change and then headed over to Grandma's house for a casual pizza dinner while we all caught up! Sunday morning we were up bright and early and hit the road back to KC. GG rode with us part of the way and helped entertain Ben which was great! Although the trip was short it was great but I failed on taking very many pictures. Somehow we didn't even get on with our Grandma.

Sporting KC

Last Saturday night Patrick & Leah invited us to the Sporting KC game with them. It was our first time and it sure didn't disappoint! As we got in our seats the pre-game  fireworks were going off-this was the least favorite part for Ben. It has been awhile since he had been close to fireworks and he covered his ears and buried his head in my chest. But after it was over we wanted to see more and is still talking about them! Ben loved cheering..."GO KC"-"Get That Ball"-"Run Run". He had a blast! Not to mention he got a huge bucket of popcorn so he was in heaven! Even though we lost (hopefully we weren't bad luck) it was still such a fun evening and we can't wait to go to another game!

Marco Island 2013

We got back a few weeks ago from our annual Marco Island trip. This year my parents wanted to join us and we rented a nice 3 bedroom house with a pool! Ben, Vince & I headed down on Saturday-we flew into Ft Lauderdale instead of Ft Meyers this year since it would be a direct flight. We decided that an extra hour or so in the car was worth it in exchange for a direct flight. This was our first trip that we had to buy Ben his own plane ticket so we brought his car seat on with us and we were pleasantly surprised how well Ben did! He never asked to get out of his car seat-he kept busy with new toys and new videos on my iPad. He even took a snoozer! The first night we ordered pizza from our favorite pizza place and just relaxed. Our first full day on the island started at our favorite breakfast spot and then we spent the day at the beach! Ben had such a great time on the beach! He loved being in the water, building sandcastles and "feeding the turtles" (throwing shells back into the water)! My parents got in Monday around dinner time. Ben was so excited to see them! The rest of the trip was spent at the pool or on the beach! Ben was such a fish in the pool. We could not get him out of it! He would put on his floaties and go and go and go. I think we may have a future swimmer on our hands. We also enjoyed good food and good drinks! We went to all our favorite restaurants at least once. We did do one thing we had not done before and that was going on a shelling. We took a short boat trip out to a little island and had the whole island to ourselves! We spent a few hours walking the island and picking shells. Ben had a great time he was so excited to see dolphins swimming by the boat. We found a ton of shells! And of course Vince insisted that we bring them all home with us because he just couldn't pick his favorites! The week went by way to fast as it always does. It was such a great time and we loved showing my parents why we love Marco so much.