Babysoroos

Last week, Ben turned 11 months old. The first few pictures of this set were taken the next day (we missed taking pictures on the 21st this month, oops). It’s so hard to believe he’s almost 1 year old! Although, looking at some of these pictures, he is clearly turning into a little boy and not a baby anymore.

One evening we took him down to the Ballard Locks to look at the boats. He was able to wander around for quite a while – a nice change of scenery from our living room, and flatter ground than the park, and also more contained with fences on either side so we didn’t have to chase him so much. He seemed to have a blast walking around smiling and waving at people and laughing at us.

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Saturday was the Fremont Solstice Parade. Ben was dressed to fit in amongst the wild and crazy citizens of Fremont. Pictures of the parade (and the naked bicyclists who preceded it) are available on Dad’s site.

And we’ve got messy eating and evidence of new teeth…

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And then there was Father’s Day. Eric had been a keen advocate for Ben owning Hawaiian shirts, so Ben got Daddy a Hawaiian shirt too. It doesn’t quite match, but the sentiment is there. Don’t they look great together?

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Last weekend, we ventured out on our first ever family camping trip. We had a new (cheap) tent, and far too much other stuff. It was pouring all day Saturday, but we got on the ferry anyway, stubbornly sticking to our belief that the campsite was in the rainshadow and would be dry. It wasn’t. It was pouring. And our reserved site was beside – and open onto – a fast moving river. We sat in the car, with Ben sound asleep, and thought about coming home.

But we didn’t. We changed our site, we pitched our tent in the drizzle, and we cooked and ate in the rain. It was fun! (Said in a mock moral-boosting voice.) But honestly, it *was* kinda fun. And we all slept well and woke up to glorious sunshine, so we were able to have breakfast outside, let the little guy take some walks, and have our stuff mostly dried out before we packed up.

In fact, it was a fun enough experience that we plan to do it again, and some day we’ll even invest in a better tent that doesn’t drip from the canopy directly in the door. 🙂

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A random collection of photos from the last week or so, including another trip to the zoo on Thursday. This time, I got him out of his stroller more often and let him walk around holding my hand. Until he decided to let go and wander off his own direction. Then I stuck him in a cage of his own. 🙂

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Walking is the new skill. And the new entertainment. And the new exercise. Walking is everything right now. Oh, apart from the eating. Eating is exciting too.

We went to the park last weekend. And there was lots of walking. And eating. Oh, and swinging! It was an exciting day!

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Ben is really walking now, so we got him his first pair of “real” shoes. He seems happy enough to wear them, although like almost everything these days, he’d rather eat them. We had a couple of really hot days over Memorial Day weekend, so we bought a big paddling pool and filled it with a few inches of water. Ben loved it. So did I! And, Ben attended his first festival on Sunday – we went to Folklife. We were there nearly all day, and Ben was wonderful – he charmed everybody sitting around us during the Samba show. A bit hyper when we got home, though.

new shoes, new pool and folklife>
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