Adventures at Callie's!

Some of these pictures may have been posted before, but I stole a few more from Callie's blog to show how much fun Ben has been having with Callie and the girls over the past few months! 

Ben is finally back at their house after a WEEK of being sick (double ear infections - no joke), and then won't be back for a couple weeks since Greg's family will be in town soon!  I am sure he will have a blast over there today with their new PUPPY! :)

 

Thanks again, Callie, for always take such good care of my baby!  XOXO



   

 

Jamie's Bachelorette - AKA My Weekend of FREEDOM

 

Last Friday morning, I dropped Ben off at Callie's and was soon on my way to Chelan for Jamie's bachelorette party!  I will admit I was a tiny bit sad saying goodbye to my little dude, but I knew how much fun he was going to have with Greg - and I think Greg was looking forward to having a "man weekend" with Ben :)

 

Jamie, Tif and I drove over together - stopping to meet Jamie's mom and Aunt for lunch in Leavenworth.  No trip to Leavenworth is complete without a stop at the Munchen Haus!

 

 

 

 

Before checking into the house we were renting at Wapato Point, we snuck in a quick wine tasting at Hard Roe to Hoe:

 

 

We soon were able to check into the house, and OMG was it beyond my expectations.  It was SO gorgeous and such a perfect place to spend the weekend!

 

 

We then proceeded to drink champagne and this punch on the deck for the next  (I have no idea how many) several hours as the rest of the group arrived. 

 

 

Weird that instead of driving into downtown Chelan for dinner (which was the original plan), we decided to walk to a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant around the corner ;)

 

 

 

While dining, we could hear the karaoke music pumping from the dive bar next door, so it was the obvious choice as to where to spend the rest of the evening.

 

 

 

It worked out perfectly, as Jamie was lucky enough to get serenaded by both this bachelor party...:

 

....as well as her bachelorette party:



 

The next morning (which came much too early) we boarded the wine party bus at 11 for 6 hours of wine tasting and lunch!  This was by far the part of the weekend I was most excited about, as it is something I have always wanted to do!  We had a great time, tasted some amazing new wines, and we made sure to send Jamie home with her favorite bottle from each place we stopped.

 

 

 

At Benson Winery:

 

 

At Karma Vineyards, where we had lunch:

 

At Tsillan Cellars:

 

Impromptu Wine Bus Dance Party:

 

The rest of the evening we spent swimming in the lake, (seemed like a fantastic idea after drinking wine all day), eating a delicious Italian dinner prepared by Jamie's mom and aunt, and just relaxing at the house.

 

The next morning, we stopped at Blueberry Hills on our way our of Chelan for the most amazing breakfast ever.  Seriously, GO HERE the next time you are in the area.  The eggs benedict was hands down the best breakfast I've ever had.

 

 

 

 

The only bummer from the weekend was that I was getting updates from Greg about my sick baby at home :(  I have to say, Greg was doing a great job of handling him on his own and was only updating me because I was BEGGING him to.  I couldn't believe that my first time really being away was probably the worst time for Ben - as he is a guy that wants only his mama when he is in that condition.  From the moment I got home on Sunday afternoon, I'm pretty sure Ben didn't leave my arms - which I obviously am not complaining about :)

 

So, the lesson I learned from this weekend was that it is 100% okay and amazing to take small chunks of time away from your kid.  I think it was good for both of us, and good for Greg, too!  He told me that he wants more time alone with Ben so that Ben can get used to him comforting him instead of always choosing me when he is sad/hurt/sick.  There was a time when I never thought I would be able to feel okay about this, but I know that it was important for me to let loose and enjoy some time with friends (especially celebrating my amazing friend, Jamie)!  It felt SO STRANGE to pack a bag only for myself.  To spend a couple days where I wasn't constantly concerned about what Ben was eating, when he was napping, what he was getting into, and where he was running off to.  To not have to carry around boogie wipes, snacks, water cups, diapers, and toys with me at all times.  To not get sweaty from being in warm weather with a kid that wants to hang on me or be carried.  And instead of making me long for more days like this, it made me miss my little sidekick like CRAZY!

Meal Planning: Week of June 10th

Last week's meals were good!  We pretty much stuck to the plan, just on different days :)  Greg's new BBQ arrived last night, so we will be grilling the Pineapple Pork Kabobs on the patio tonight.

Greg will be doing the grocery shopping this weekend since I'll be out of town, so my goal is to keep it simple this week so he doesn't have too many specific items to pick up for me.  We also will be out of town next Saturday/Sunday for a wedding, so we don't have meals to plan for the weekend.

Monday: Spinach and cheese ravioli (Costco - I finally found the frozen kind so I'm looking forward to trying them)!

Tuesday: BLT Chopped Salad with Corn, Feta and Avocado - Saw this on my friend Layne's blog and absolutely have to try it!

Wednesday: Cheeseburgers (or boca burgers) and arugula salad.

Thursday: Smoked BBQ ribs and roasted brussels sprouts

Friday: Papa Murphy's? Rachel is coming over to watch Ben after work so Greg and I can attend a wine tasting party to help select wines for our friends Jamie and Collin's upcoming wedding and reception.  Pizza seems like the most obvious thing to buy for the "babysitter", but feel free to chime in, Rach :)

20 Months Old

Ben is 20 months old!

I don't have a lot to say about 20 months that is new or exciting, but I still cannot believe how quickly my crazy, silly, and adorably sweet little boy is growing up.  The main thing I have been noticing about him lately is just how much he loves to explore and how much he LOVES to be free.  He is at his happiest when he is allowed to be outside and running around with zero restrictions.  (I learned this....the hard way...this weekend at the zoo) :)  Ben is only interested in being in his stroller for short periods of time.  He does pretty great when we are strolling around our neighborhood, and he still does great at the grocery store, but if we are somewhere new or interesting, he does NOT want to be contained.

But speaking of the zoo, Becca organized a group of us - her, Amanda, Erica, Maureen and myself and our kids to meet up Saturday morning!  It was so fun to see everyone and spend approximately 7 minutes catching up....before Ben wanted out of his stroller, or out of the zoo, or onto a big rock, or out in the field, etc.  It was a bit of a...zoo.  :)

 

 

 

We recently purchased a water table for Ben, and he was entertained by it for a LONG time.  It's nice to have him just chill on the deck for 5 seconds before having to chase him down the stairs.  But he lovvvvves it.  It will be a great toy to play with this summer!

 

 

Ben loves music and loves to dance.  He is obsessed with this video and will walk in a trance towards the TV anytime we play it. 

On Sunday, we went to see Casper Baby Pants do a show at Teatro Zinzanni.  Our friends The Tarter's invited us to join them and their son Jasper, who turns 2 this month.  I had a feeling from the beginning that Ben may be overwhelmed - with the dark lights, loud noises, crowd of people, and the need to stay seated for 1 hour and 15 minutes.....BUT, I figured we would give it a try anyway.  Looking back, it was probably a mistake to agree to go.  While we had a great time before the show - getting to meet "Casper" himself and get a signed CD - Ben only was interested in the first 20 minutes of the show.  For a few minutes, he was even clapping and laughing!  But soon something changed his mind and he cried for at least 15 minutes while Greg followed him around the theater.  We finally gave up and left early.  Greg and I discussed it and figured that for the time being, there is no sense in forcing Ben to do stuff like this just because some other person's kid thinks it is fun - because every kid is different!  We should just focus on going to parks and to places where he can explore when and what he wants to :)

 

 

 

After we took Ben home, and after his 3+ hour nap, we took him to Juanita Bay Park and we had a GREAT time :)  While taking these two photos below, I didn't realize that Ben was taking off one of his 1 size too small crocs and throwing it in the water (that was well beyond our reach) below.  Ha!  The price I paid for this photo-op.

 

 



While Ben is still slowly adding new words to his vocabulary, (recently we have heard "diaper", "strawberry", "bath", "soap", "this is....this??" and what I think was "where's Ben??") I'm starting to understand how much more his non-verbal skills are developing right now.  For example, anytime we see a dandelion, we will grab it and he will hand it to me to blow (while he makes a sort of blowing motion with his lips).  The other day, I asked him (for the first time) if he saw a picture in his room of an elephant blowing on a flower like we did outside.  He immediately pointed at the picture on his wall and started to try to blow.  I honestly never even knew if he had noticed that picture before, but apparently he had :)  We can't wait for him to start to SAY more and more words, but it's still so much fun to see his wheels turning and to know how much of what we say really sinks in and is comprehended.

 

Ben is consistently wearing size 2T/24 months and size 7 in shoes!

Finally, his love affair with the iPad never ends.  Last night, after an exhausting day weekend, I had no problem parking him in front of the iPad while I watched Mad Men.