Balloon

The balloon fit in well with last night's activities.

It seemed to follow Baby Ben around wherever he went.

But not to the airport.  Now I have a balloon and no Baby Ben.
Big sigh.

Rawr!

We took Baby Ben to BYU's dinosaur museum this morning.

Baby Ben started growling the second he heard us talking about the plan.

I ran into my new friend Tiny.

This is a great place for kids and adults.

Ben even found a few things to climb.

Want to make a little kid ecstatic?  Buy him a balloon for no reason.  Or, spill chocolate chips on the floor and let him pick them up.

Ready, Set, Go!

Papa Ben took Baby Ben sledding this afternoon.

Baby Ben was very excited to have me bundle him all up.  Because it's so cold, I have never done a more thorough job.  He was very patient.

Papa began on our small side hill.

Not every run ended well, but Baby Ben was always ready to go again.

The snow was icy.  Baby Ben has little mass.

The sled zoomed.

One last run, and then we moved to a bigger hill.

On our walk, we saw a lot of deer tracks, but fortunately, no deer.

This hill was bigger.  Ben started the sled at about mid-way.

The sled zoomed right past me but stopped on its own.

Up the hill again.

Ben went higher.

This time the sled stopped about two feet from the stream.
I stopped taking pictures for awhile so I could catch the sled.

Baby Ben was saying to Papa, "Ready, Set, Go!"

I'm now getting scared.  Not these two.

Notice the sled isn't leaving any tracks.  It's zipping down the hill and I was scrambling at the bottom to stop it.

Again.

By this time they had mastered the departure technique.  Ben lifts his foot and releases the sled.

Baby Ben didn't squeal or yell or scream.  At the bottom he says, "Papa, Wait!"  That means, "Let's do it again!"

Ben's eyes at the top.  Mine at the bottom.

Loads of fun.

One last time.  And that was my decision.

Because, seriously...

Janet, Don't Look!

Thursday is tamale day at Cafe Rio.  I don't like to upset relatives who can't join us for take-out, but we did in fact enjoy our meal very much.

Baby Ben knows what he likes.

"Sip? Sip?"  He is so polite, and he always says, "Tank you."

Late in the afternoon yesterday Corinne and I took Ben to a park.

The sun was just setting, and with it went any heat we thought we might have.

Should we stay or should we go?

When it's cold, and our boots won't stay on....well...

It was time to go.

But not without first checking out a stick.

My family room has been transformed into a wonderful play area.

Ben is quite fascinated with little cars and trucks.

This morning he studied wheels.

Later in the day we went on an outing.  He raced out of the garage only to promptly fall on the ice.  He's saying, "I'm stuck. I'm stuck!"

I Wike Dis!

Baby Ben has fun all day long.

Everything is an adventure.

You knew hats were coming back, right?

He helped me with the dishes this morning.

Later in the day, Papa Ben and I took him outside for some puddle-jumping.

He is curious about the snow, but not so sure that he likes it.

He was happy to climb any rock with Papa.

Sometimes he climbed by himself.

We found deer tracks, but no deer.  We'll keep looking.

Baby Ben points at all the cars and then waves.  It couldn't be cuter.

Back at the ranch, I built a tent.

This was loads and loads of fun!