Benny's Vacation Adventures

Our vacation activities mainly centered around the boys. Therefore, Benny had a great time. we went to this family fun center. They had a huge indoor play structure and a lot of video games. Outside they had bumper boats, go carts, a batting cage and a miniature golf course.


Here is Benny playing what he calls "silly" golf. We only did 9 out of 18 holes. It was very hot and they boys were tired. If fact, Timmy was asleep in the stroller while we did this.

Benny had a blast with the bumper boat. Fortunately for us, we were the only ones out there at the time.
Another day, we stopped at a neighbor hood park. We brought Benny's bike and he had fun riding it to this play area.
We went to a bowling alley called Lava Lanes. Benny did an awesome job bumper bowling. He almost beat Daddy.

Vacation 2011

For our vacation, we decided we needed to seek out sunshine, so we ventured south to Medford, Oregon. Our major destination was Crater Lake National Park. We also took in some of the local sites. We visited this local chocolate shop.

The Medford Cruze was in town the week we were there. We came back from Crater Lake to find a bunch of classic cars in the parking lot of a hotel. Of course, Brad wanted to stop (more pictures to come). Benny got to sit in this little car.
Here is a picture of Crater Lake. There was so much snow up there that we could not drive around the rim. The lake was just beautiful.
Can you say Snow? This was the parking lot of the restaurant where we had lunch. The boys had fun playing in it.

Here is a local creamery. They are known for their blue cheese.

We all had a good time. Benny had a lot of new experiences. We spent an extra day in Oregon thanks to our van's fuel pump quitting on us. But, we got home safely.

Major Update!

Sorry for not keeping this up to date. We have been super busy. We went on vacation the beginning of June, Benny had his birthday in late July, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Leslie and Uncle Steve came to visit, and we sold our house. Plus a lot of other stuff happened too.

Yes, if you were reading carefully, you would have read that we sold our house. We are hoping to close the end of September. We have narrowed are search for a place to stay to two apartment complexes. We have been busy trying to come up with the money to get out from under our house.

So far, we have not heard anything regarding a job transfer for Brad, so keep praying. Pray also that everything falls into place (ie money, time, moving) and that Benny adjusts well to the move.

Newport

The week before the 4th of July, we took a mini-vacation to Newport, Oregon. We had two really nice days while we were there.

We went to Florence, Oregon and found this cool restaurant. Benny was excited that he got to eat his lunch in a car.

Just north of Florence, OR is the Sea Lion Caves. Benny wasn't very impressed. He didn't like the noise, but enjoyed the elevator ride both down and up.

Benny loved the beach. He had fun looking for shells and flying a kite with Daddy.

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit part 2

Here is a great picture of my parents and Benny. They just couldn't get enough of him and would have taken him with them if they could. We are lucky to have a fire station just up the hill from our house. Pop-pa took Benny up there because Benny loves fire trucks. He was actually able to sit in one.

Pop-pa liked to sit next to Benny whenever he could as we were driving around. I don't know who was sillier, Benny or Pop-pa. They sure had a lot of fun though.

Benny loves to have books read to him. He even managed to persuade Pop-pa into reading a book to him as Grandma watches.

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's Visit

Some of the beautiful wild flowers up on Mt. Rainier. There was still mounds of snow at the picnic area at Paradise. Here is Benny and Pop-pa standing on one. Here is one of the sculptures from the Sculpture Park. This was Benny's favorite because it is a train.

Benny and Pop-pa at the Sculpture Park.

Benny had a great time with his Grandma and Grandpa (who he calls pop-pa). Of course my parents would visit during the really hot days we had in July. On the hottest days we went up and around Mt. Rainier. We had a picnic at Paradise and they had the chance to finally see Sunrise. We drove through a thunderstorm, but that was okay because it dropped the temperature from the 90's to the 70's. We stopped at a sculpture park on the way to Mt. Rainier. Benny had fun running around.

The Jelly Belly Factory

One of our first stops on our trip to San Fransisco was in Fairfield, California. It is home to the Jelly Belly Factory. We were about to take a tour of the factory, which was fun, but we were not allowed to take pictures. Benny liked watching the people working.

Here is what you see when you walk through the front door. This is where we had to wait in line for the next tour.

This is a portrait of President Reagan. He was the one that made Jelly Belly Beans a household name. What I didn't know was that he had started eating them way before he became President. He used them to help him kick his tobacco habit.

Here is Benny and I in front of a huge inflatable Jelly Belly Bean.

We had a lot of fun trying out different flavors of jelly beans. We even bought some to bring home.

Update!

Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile. We were on Vacation the last two weeks of March. We went to San Fransisco and I will post pictures and video of that adventure sometime this week. We had a lot of fun and I think the only one who was not stressed out or worn out was Benny. He discovered that he likes to chase pigeons.

Our little boy is trying to be more social. At least with the kids in our neighbor hood. The other day some kids were down by our house and Benny went up to them and said "hi" and then said something that was totally beyond understanding, but he said it like he was asking a question. The kids said "hi" back to him and then promptly ignored him. Benny came back to the street in front of our house and drew with his sidewalk chalk. (This is his new favorite thing to do. That and chase bubbles.) He didn't seem phased by it. My little boy is growing up.

Vacation (Part 3) Scott Air Force Base

While on vacation, we had the opportunity to go to the Open House at Scott Air Force Base. I had been there before a long time ago and I wanted Benny to experience it. It was a whole family affair because Granpa and Grandma went as well as Benny's Aunts and Uncle Steve. Benny had a great time looking at all of the big airplanes (especially the wheels). Brad and Benny got a chance to see the Thunderbirds perform. Well, Brad did anyway because Benny fell asleep during their performance. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
The guys from McChord Air Force Base where there. Brad and Benny got to sit in the cockpit of the plane.

Grandma and Grandpa's House

Benny had such a wonderful time at his grandparent's house. He got to ride on Grandpa's tractor. Grandpa even had a pedal tractor that looks just like this red tractor for Benny. Benny wasn't tall enough to reach the pedals, but he liked pushing it around. Here is Grandpa and Benny doing some porch sitting. I am not sure why Benny has a sad face. My guess is he was told that he couldn't do what he wanted.
Grandma and Grandpa had a lot of little toys for Benny to play with. He really liked this toy tricycle. Anything with wheels was fine with him.
Here is Benny sitting on Grandpa's tractor. He liked to play with the knob on the steering wheel.
Grandma and Grandpa live out in the country so there is alot of room for Benny to play. Benny liked chasing after the cats.

Vacation, Part 2 (Take me out to the ball game!)

One of the highlights of our vacation was watching the Chicago Cubs play the Milwaukee Breweres at Wrigley Field. Aunt Jill and Aunt Jenny drove up and went to the game with us. We had really good seats (Thank you Aunt Jill:) ). Benny lived up to his good luck charm reputation. He has been to 4 ballgames now and the hometeam has won every time. It took 12 innings, but the Cubs pulled it out. Of course, Benny fell asleep just as the Cubs were ralling back in the 9th inning to tie the game. After the game, we drove down to my parent's house in Southern Illinois (about 4 to 5 hours south of Chicago). Benny had fun cheering for the Cubs with his "cool" Aunts.
This was not the final score. I am glad you can't see the other side. Kansas City blew away the Mariners by a score of 12 to 0.

Vacation!

Here is Benny and Mommy at the top of the Sears Tower. Here is Benny looking at some fish at the aquarium. Yes, he has a Chicago Cubs shirt on thanks to his Aunt Jill.
Here is our little engineer. This was at the Museum of Science and Industry.
At the Museum of Science and Industry, they had a big model train set up. It went from Chicago to Seattle. They got most of the buildings correct and you can even see the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Benny liked watching the trains.

Sorry I have not updated this recently, but we have been on vacation in Illinois. We flew into Chicago and spent a couple of days there. Benny got to see Chicago at night from the top of the Sears Tower. We went to Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. I forgot that the Museum was not near the aquarium so we spent alot of time on Lake Shore Drive.

Update

Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile. A lot has been going on. Brad had a few overtime shifts and I have been busy with work.

Most of you know that the "unofficial" word is that Seattle will let Brad go January of 2010. The last we heard is that Allentown has yet to respond to that offer. We may go earlier but we just don't know. We are planning for the January date for now.

Yesterday we went to the Puyallup Fair. Benny had a great time looking at all the farm animals. He wasn't too interested in petting them though. I hope to have pictures up this weekend.

Also, next week we fly to Chicago for a few days and then on to my parent's house. I am so looking forward to this trip. My parents haven't seen Benny since he was 2 months old. Well, that's all for now. I hear the little guy waking up from his nap and I have to get dinner started.

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

On our way back home from Crater Lake, we stopped off at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument to see the Big Obsidian Flow which was created 1,300 years ago and covers 700 acres. It really looked like someone just dumped a big pile of rocks in the middle of a valley.
There was a trail to hike up the big pile of rocks and that is what we did. We are sure glad we brought the backpack.
You can't really tell from this picture, but the rock is really shiny and looks like glass.
You are forbidden to take any rocks out of the park. Although, I didn't really see anyone doing any searches.

Crater Lake National Park

Last week we took a mini-vacation to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. We drove 8 hours Tuesday to get there. On Wednesday it was rainy and foggy that we couldn't see the lake at all, so we decided to go to California since I had never been there. We drove by Mt. Shasta and was able to see it fine because it was sunny and warm. On Thursday (the day we were leaving to go back home) we went to the crater rim one more time. It was still covered in fog. We decided to take the east way around the lake and boy are we glad we did. As you can see in the pictures, the west side was covered in fog and clouds. Benny slept through the first part of the drive around the crater, but woke up and wanted to stretch his legs. It was very windy and cold. Here is an island in the lake called Wizard Island. It's elevation is 6940 Feet!
This is called the Phantom Ship. It is not really a ship, just a rock formation that looks like one.
In this picture you can see the blueness of the lake. Even though is was overcast, it was still pretty.
And here is a picture of Mt. Shasta. We didn't go up it or anything, we just drove by.