Florida (2/7 - 2/14)

This is way overdue, but I finally uploaded some of the videos from my iPhone from our trip to FL. Enjoy!

Ben at Starbucks.

His daddy has taught him well.

Ben's Favorite Things

As Ben gets older, the things he spends his time doing have changed a little bit. When we are home, you will most likely find Ben...

- Playing with his trains. Train play is often punctuated by "help please" and "Mommy's turn." In the last few days he's shown even more interest in the tracks as well as the "choo choo trains."

- "Coooooking." Ben wants to cook only with REAL cookware and REAL food. Typically, a pot, a bowl, a wisk, a spoon.....and a handful of pretzels.

- "Brraaaaa" (a.k.a drawing). Strangely he prefers a regular pen. If I give him crayons or markers, he spends more time lining them up than coloring with them.

- Playing with stickers...all over body parts rather than on paper. I think because he prefers to move them around rather than have them stuck in one place. (This is his approach with bandaids as well.)

- Books! He's even sleeping with them these days.

- Dancing. (His Mommy LOVES this.)

- Singing. Ben will not sing real songs, but prefers to make up his own. Always accompanied by a clap, a "snap" or drum beat, his songs tend to be only a few words over and over and over again. :)

- Play Dough. He's not great at this yet, but it does keep his attention for a long time.

- Helping Mommy with lots of things. Ben is always willing to put trash in the trash can, pour soap in the washing machine, turn on and off lights, close doors, etc. Wish he'd pick up his toys and dress himself....I guess we need to have room for improvement. :)

Soooo happy playing

Pic for Daddy at work

Ben at Mommy's dr appt

Naples, FL

We went to Naples today to meet my Grandparents for lunch. The restuarant we ate at was right on the beach so we were able to have a little beach time before and after lunch.

Go Villanova!

Congratulations!

Congrats to Katie and Andrew who welcomed a baby boy early early this morning!! Can't wait to meet him! Ben's excited to have another 750 buddy. :)

Lakes Park in FL

We are still in FL, but it felt like a sunny October day in Philadelphia today. That didn't stop us from going to the park for a little play time.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Another day in Ft. Myers

Yesterday, we took Ben to the Imaginarium because the weather wasn't great. We can't complain though - it's not snowing!

Ben touched a toad.

And a snake.

We had a conversation with a bird.

And chatted with an alligator.

Finally, we fed the sting rays.

Wrapped up our visit with a weather report and sent a quick picture to Brian and Christa (our favorite meterologists).

On the way to lunch, Ben spotted a water fountain and took off running. Such a happy boy! :)

Florida Fun

We started out yesterday with a trip to the science center to learn a little bit about the South Florida animals.

Then a stop at the beach...which was quite chilly. Ben loved the sand, water, boats, shells and birds. His favorite thing to do was throw the shells into the water. (I think we've taken too many trips to throw pennies in the fountain at the mall. He thinks he's doing the same thing here.)

Sorry, a little bit of a cheesey smile...from both of us. :)

Snickers is being so patient with Ben. They have really bonded. She lets him hold and pet her. However, I think she hit her limit when he loaded her bed with some of her toys and dragged it across the floor to the kitchen....with her in it.

Ben's 2nd cousins left these necklaces here over Christmas. He wears them every day. Today, he even wore them to the grocery store.....all 5 of them.

This is the hit of the trip so far. He was afraid of it for the first 24 hours and now he won't put it away.

Finally warm enough for some pool time!

Doing a little work with Pop Pop.