Benjamin Turns 5!!!!

I am completely blown away that this big guy is 5 now!  He is growing into such a cool kid.  He certainly has endless energy and would probably spend all of his time participating in some type of rough housing or other physical play.  At the same time he is one of the sweetest and most thoughtful little guys around.  He is starting to pick up his share of the chores and loves to empty the dishwasher whenever he can.  He spends a lot of his days playing with and helping Audrey while the other boys are having school.  He loves books.  He spends hours in his room just looking at books by himself.  He desperately wants to learn to read so that will be high on the list for the coming school year:)  Happy Birthday Benjamin, we are thrilled to have you in our lives and can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Ben's 5th Birthday Party- Mars!

Benjamin had an amazing birthday weekend this year.  He turns 5 on Monday and insisted on two things: a "Mars" birthday party... as in the planet and having Grandpa come to the party. I was heart broken for him when he said, "I know that Grandpa is dead, but I really want him to come to my party". All of the other kids chimed in in agreement and immediately started throwing ideas around to make Ben feel better. We decided on laminating a picture of Grandpa so that he could be at the party. Well, in the days leading up to the party Grandpa has been everywhere with each of the kids.  I often hear them talking to him and it is just the sweetest thing. I suspect that this won't be the only "laminated Grandpa" we have and that he may show up at many future events;)

  I was fairly perplexed as to what a Mars party would look like, but Ben was so excited when the other kids started planning it with him that it just kind of happened.  The kids made the invitations.  Ben orchestrated it, Noah cut the circles out of paper, Audrey and I printed the inside and Noah & James worked diligently to draw the surface of Mars, complete with a rover, on each invitation.  After that I just let them run the show... we had a "pin Mars on the solar system, a Mars bounce, a Mars obstacle course and a solar system bean bag toss.  Ben's cake request was a round Mars cake with red frosting and orange sprinkles... easiest cake to decorate ever! We enjoyed visiting with everyone and watching all of the kids enjoy themselves.  We are also appreciative to have friends with kids who wouldn't question why we were having a Mars party and didn't roll their eyes at our kids spewing Mars facts at them all afternoon:)

The day after the party we took Nannie, Grammy, Trey and Lily on a tour of Flint Woods while Dad and Grampy finished up the floor to our new attic space in the garage. Once all of our guests had left we had such a fun family outing playing golf at Wilson Lake Golf Course. The kids did way better than I thought they would. It was a cool way to make Grandpa part of the celebration:) 

Other Adventures from the Wedding Weekend;)

After the wedding festivities quieted, we were able to spend sometime with Grammy and Grampy catching frogs and exploring the North Maine Woods. We took a hike into the ice caves which were so cool, literally.  They still had ice despite the warm summer we have had.  All of the kids headed into the caves with minimal reservations.

After the caves we hiked a bit further down to the pond for a gorgeous view, a snack and some silly poses on the rocks.  We were all pretty tired after the hike and ready for the ride home for supper. Until we got back on the paved road and this happened... not one, but two flat tires... it was a bummer.  Luckily, Grampy Grampy had rented a minivan for the wedding and could come to pick us up fairly quickly.  Unluckily, AAA couldn't find a tow truck to help us and told us to call back in the morning... Well, needless to say, I wasn't super happy with AAA when I called back in the morning to request "emergency roadside help" again. They sent someone this time and they kindly towed it to our favorite garage who went out of their way to fix the truck so we could be on our way home.  So, for future reference, I now know that if AAA can't make it to help you, you can call your own tow truck and get reimbursed... I guess I am glad it took us 18 years of membership to find that out;)  Our adventure certainly made the trip memorable and we were thankful to have such a great weekend to end our summer vacation!

Andrea & Travis Get Married!

To keep things exciting this summer our next stop was back to Smith Pond for Andrea and Travis' wedding weekend!   We had a wonderful time celebrating Andrea and Travis, kayaking, paddle boating, fishing and dancing the night away at the reception.  It was an absolutely perfect day for a beautiful wedding. Congratulations guys, we were honored to be a part of it!