Our friends, the Bairds, came down to Fort Wayne for a visit from Friday night-Saturday night. It was a quick trip, but we packed in a lot of fun! On Saturday morning, Rachel and I took the three boys to the zoo while the guys went golfing. It was a beautiful morning for the zoo, although it got pretty hot out by the end of our visit. There are many zoo pictures...sorry for the overload! After the boys got up from their naps, we went to the mall and had a variety of dinners from the food court. Then we played in the backyard until it was time for them to leave. Thanks for coming! We had a great time! :)   Jackson, Ben, and Luke in the back of the Jeep ready to head to the zoo. I've never had that many car seats back there. Ben thought it was so cool to sit between his friends. Luke and Ben hanging out in one of the tents. Ben wanted to feed the giraffe and a volunteer helped him squeeze all of the lettuce through the fence. ...

When I got the mail yesterday, there was a package for Ben from his Grandma and Pop (Curt's parents). Ben was very excited to open it and see what was inside. It was a new t-shirt! He wanted to wear it right away, so I let him try it on. First thing this morning he asked if he could wear his new shirt. He's loving it! Thanks Grandma and Pop! Ben showing off his new shirt with his best "CHEEEEESE" smile. :)

Curt came home for lunch today and we decided to have a little picnic in the backyard. It is still super hot out, so I also put up our umbrella to give us a little shade. It was nice to visit with Curt for lunch because he has softball tonight and comes home late. Time for lunch! Ben would not look at me for the picture because he said the sun was in his eyes. We moved him more in the shade after that and he was much happier. After we ate, Curt and Ben looked at some birds up in the sky.

Ben and I spent this morning soaking up some sun! We went for a walk to our neighborhood playground and after we got home Ben played golf in the backyard. It is nice to see the sun instead of rain, but my perfect day would be a few degrees cooler. I am not a humidity fan and it makes Ben drip with sweat after only about 20 minutes outside. Poor boy...I'll probably spend half of the summer toweling sweat from his head. :) Climbing up the steps at the playground. Coming down the twisty slide. Ben wanted me to set up Curt's "chipping" net. I have no idea if I did that right. He tried to hit balls into the net and in his "Cozy Cone." It came with his golf set for putting practice and he also uses it for his cars to sleep in like the "Cozy Cone" from the movie Cars . Swinging at a golf ball up on the hill. We tried out the new sprinkler after his nap. It is a "crazy caterpillar." Testing out the cold water with his foot.

All last week, Ben was very excited to take a trip to "Grandma & Gramps" house on the weekend. He said that he was going to play cars with Gramps and he certainly did...I think he wore my dad out with all the car playing. :) We had a good time visiting with everyone. We were able to see my Grandma and Grandpa Bierema on Saturday morning and visit with our friends the Bairds on Sunday. We were tired out on Sunday after returning home, but had to find some energy to stay up late watching the ending of LOST. I'm still deciding how I feel about that one. I think I need a few more days to think about it. :) Ben and Bella (my cousin's daughter) in my parent's backyard on Saturday. Playing on the trampoline. Kicking a big ball around. We used it to play soccer. The kids playing in the little house. Ben having a serious talk with Gramps. :) Me, Bella, my dad, and Ben Ben playing with his friends Jackson and Luke. I took him over for a visit on Sunday morning w...

Curt has a softball game tonight. That means that he won't be home until after Ben is already asleep. In order to have a little "Daddy & Ben time" we decided to meet Curt at the mall for lunch. Before we went down to the food court, I let Ben run around in the play area. We haven't been there in a while, so Ben was excited to play on the slide and other toys. On the way home Ben said, "That was super fun to see daddy...right, mom?" I replied, "Yes, it was super fun." Of course. :) Having fun on the little fish. Going down the slide. After eating lunch, Curt took Ben on a carousel ride. Ben had so much fun riding on the tiger.

We had so much fun during the last two classes at County Kitchen SweetArt, that we went to another one this morning. It was called "Rock n' Roll". We made a chocolate cd, a brownie decorated with frosting and music notes, and a music note cookie dipped in chocolate. Ben had a fun time. It was hard to stop him from eating everything while we worked on it! He does love treats...I wonder where he gets that from? :) We first dipped the cookie in chocolate and covered it with a paper that would leave notes on it. Then, we filled a mold with chocolate to make a cd and music notes. Ben's favorite part was eating the extra frosting! Yum! He drew lines on his brownie (with a little help from mom). Then, he put the chocolate notes on the brownie. After we finished with the brownie, we used some warm chocolate to stick the extra notes on the cd he made earlier. The treats...almost finished. The last step was to pull the paper off of the cookie. Ben was really excited to ...

On Monday, we went to Ben's last Lil' Sluggers class. Curt was able to come with us too. Ben had been listening really well and following directions the last few weeks. This week, he was a little wild for some reason. He really just wanted to run around and play...I guess that is normal for a two year old. :) He had a fun time though, and participated in quite a few of the things his coach had planned. Overall, we had a great time going to the classes. I'm sure we'll try more baseball classes or different sports as Ben gets older. Tapping the plate...getting ready to hit the ball. They learned to point-step-throw. Ben practiced that while throwing the ball into the hoop. Ben is ready to hit the ball from home and run to first base. I think this was his favorite part of the last few weeks. Ben ran to first base (with a little help from Coach Chuck). Sometimes Ben would still run in the wrong direction, but he definitely has a better understanding of the bases after t...

After a little trip to the store to add to our supplies, we had an afternoon of fun with playdough . We got a "Fun Factory" so we could make cool things, like spaghetti. I also got out the molds we used in Ben's baking class. They made fun shapes like frogs, dinosaurs, and butterflies. We such a good time that I'm sure we'll get the playdough out again this week! Curt showed Ben how the playdough machine could make spaghetti. Ben thought that was really neat! Ben taking a turn squeezing out a new shape. Curt sporting a mustache. I made some frogs and Ben's snake tried to attack them. Our dinosaurs got into a bit of a disagreement. There was quite a lot of roaring! Having such a fun time! I made a little worm, like Slimey on Sesame Street. Ben thought he should drive a car because we saw an episode in which Slimey drove a race car.