Jail Time

Columbus day weekend Ben and I went to visit my Grandma for our family's annual Cider Squeeze. Part of our weekend activities included visiting some of the historic sites in Knoxville,IL. We visited the new museum, the court house and the jail. Here are a few pictures of Ben and me in the "bullpen" portion of the jail.

FREEDOM!

Weekend Visitor

A few weeks ago Ben's cousin Clay came over for a play date (he brought his mom and dad and Grandma Karen too). They are a lot of fun to watch, and played pretty well together. Come and visit again soon Clayton!

Ben and Clay were tackling Grandma Karen.

Ben with his Aunt Gretchen and cousin Clayton.

Swim Class

We got Ben swim lessons for his birthday. They started out a little rough, but now he seems to really like the water. I know Mike and I have a lot of fun with him every week. He definately can't swim yet, but I think it is a really great experience for him. Here are some pictures of him waiting for class to start.

Ben with one of the instructors. He really likes them all and

will usually flash them a big smile when they come to help.

San Antonino

Over Labor Day weekend Mike, Ben and I took a long weekend trip to San Antonino to visit our good friends Jeremy, Heather, Annie, Millie, Justin and Mary. We had a blast and hope to make plans to visit with them again soon. We didn't take many pictures over the weekend, but here are a few that we did take. This is a picture of upside down Millie at Sea World.

Ben and Mike watching the seal show.

Visiting the penguin exhibit.

Out to dinner at a Tex Mex restaurant on the River Walk.

On the Saturday before Ben's birthday we

had a family birthday party for him.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Ben with his cousins and Grandma and Grandpa.

Great Grandma Frances with her grandkids and great grandkids.

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben turned 1 on Tuesday August 24th. We celebrated with our families over the weekend and had a little dinner with him on his birthday. It is amazing that it has already been a year. It seems not long ago that we were taking parenting and childbirth classes. The last few days, we have been remembering what we did exactly one year ago on that day. We are so happy that Ben is in our lives and has blessed our family.

Here are some pictures of Ben over the last year.

Walking/Running

Suddenly, Ben has gone from only crawling to sprinting.