http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdNl_HiNfY

We spent the Fourth of July week with family in San Jose. Man, I wish we lived closer! Benjamin enjoyed his visit with Aunt Emily's family - especially Lux. He liked her so much, he started crawling just like her:

   

Fireworks!

        

Benjamin was bamboozled by Russell's beard:

      

Random pictures of the kids:

   

Off to a big family picnic at a beautiful park with a little stream, a train, and geese. Cool stuff that we just don't see in Vegas...

      

Coolest part of the trip - We took a train through a redwood forest to Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk - Wow!

  

views from the train:

    

Russell's doing his best Shia Labeouf impression:

 

Beautiful Aunt Emily and Lux

  

           

Leighton took the kids for a ride on the ultra-scary spinning ride:

      

     

A visit to Great-Grandma! The kids loved her backyard. They picked apples and lemons.

     

Then, we took our wild animals to the zoo:

                  

The zoo had a train, so we, of course, had to take a ride. That's three trains so far:

 

Garlic fries:

 

Love these babies:

                   

Benjamin's favorite spot on the plane:

Allison got a little makeup kit. She did her own makeup. I kept telling her that she is sooo beautiful without it, but she insisted:

 

 

Swimming at the Rio:

    

Benjamin loves lounging on Daddy:

     

These couch potatoes watching "Jack the Giant Slayer":

  

Leighton's father's day treat:

 

All these kids need for entertainment is a backyard and a hose:

   

Our pumpkin vine is out of control:

  

Brody got some girls' numbers on the last day of school haha:

 

 

Now that nursing is pretty much over, it is becoming really real that Benjamin is my last baby. One of my favorite parts of having a baby is nursing, and it is a bit ceremonious to wean Benjamin.

He will not be an older brother - he will always be baby Benjamin. He will always be the baby of the family, and I think it fits him perfectly. He loves being doted on by Brody and Allison, and they love feeling so grown up when taking care of him. 

I am in love with this guy:

 

 

There is no stopping this boy from being wild every moment he is awake. He climbs on everything. Opens all the doors, including the front door! He opens and empties every drawer and cabinet. He grabs things off shelves. He throws things off of the upstairs hallway (including my phone, which survived). Here he is climbing on the table which he does about 100x per day: 

    

I have had these kitchen curtains for years, but they were stained at the bottom even after washing them, so I painted stripes on them using the same paint on the walls. So, problem solved..... until they get dirty and it's time to wash them again. I am pretty sure I can't wash painted curtains. 

These kids get hungry after swimming all day. Here they are eating their weight in enchiladas

 

 

 

 

Brody

 

Allison

From March:

 

I turn on the radio just to see what she will do:

Giraffe food: