All in a Day

We visited Matt this last weekend and were able to use the laptop he has to download some of our pictures that were stuck on the camera. So let's play catch-up.

 

The picnic lunch in the garage while Matt welded together our trailer, as mentioned in last week's post.

Moving Matt into his hotel for the next two and a half months. This is his "kitchen." We went to the store and stocked him up on all the necessities of life, and between that and his George Foreman he is set for a temporary life of bachelorhood. (He says it was more fun in college...)

Patton Fife, the happiest boy I know. I will be cooking in the kitchen or something and turn around to see him sitting in his swing just smiling away at me like this. It makes my day. He is my joy-baby. (P.S- I don't know why, but my computer is being completely unreasonable when it comes to rotating pictures. Just cock your head to the left a little.)

Bennett playing in his tree house. We got him a little kitchen and a little chair and he practically lives up here now. We have even eaten our lunches in this tree house for the last several days in a row.

A fort--one of them. Bennett is VERY into forts. He builds about one a day. This fort involved the rocking chair from Patton's room, Bennett's pillows from his bed, a wicker hamper, every TV blanket we own, and all the bedding from the guest room. He is quite the builder. And, since I refuse to clean up that many blankets and pillows every day, he is also quite the cleaner now. Win-win all around.

Another fort. Actually, I think he called this one a castle. And there's a surprise inside...

...Patton! As you can tell from the look on Bennett's face in the above picture, he was extremely proud of himself for putting this little beauty together. Patton was a little less excited about it, but he was a good sport.

And here is a picture of me (since there are never any pictures of me on here) as taken by Bennett. Except for his finger being in front of the lens he does a pretty good photography job.

So that brings us to this weekend, where we packed up the car and headed back down to San Antonio to see Matt for a few days. We got there Friday afternoon, and after a quick "hello" Matt jumped in the car with us and we all drove down to Rachelle and Jess's for Pie Night at their church. And it. Was. AWESOME!! I am not really a cake person, but give me a pie and a fork and I am one happy camper. And there was a plethora of pies and forks at this place. Yum.

We spent that night with them, and then the next morning we drove to Sea World for a day of play. Since Rachelle's family has season passes, and Matt and I get in free once a year, we all went together and had a blast going to the shows, riding rides, and eating dip n' dots (a must at any amusement park.)

Bennett and Patton, ready to go in. Bennett is at the perfect Sea World age where everything is so magical and exciting. I loved watching his face whenever he saw something new. Priceless. And Patton was just his easy-going self and never complained at being towed around and sitting in splash zones all day.

Bennett feeding the dolphins. He was really excited/super scared to do this. Maybe he was so scared  because Matt made a joke to me (not thinking Bennett could hear him) about how dolphins can bite your hands right off. Whoops. We really need to talk quieter around him.

Trying to show Bennett that they really were nice. He believed us eventually, but only from a safe distance. (Notice how his hands are tucked protectively into his body? Poor boy.) This is something I absolutely love doing--despite the ridiculous amount of money these people charge for a tray of dead fish--so Bennett will be able to try again next year. Hopefully he'll just forget the scary hand comment...

 

Waiting in lines: a major part of the amusement park experience.

Bennett with his cousins in the aquarium. We spent a lot of time in here because Patton needed to eat, and what better place to discreetly feed a baby than in a dark, air-conditioned aquarium? We took advantage of the situation when we could.

Bennett actually didn't mind that we stayed here for awhile at all. In fact, he probably had a neck-ache the next day from doing this for so long. The boy loves fish.

Checking the map. I told Bennett he was in charge of the map and he took his job very seriously.

The aftermath of the Shamoo show, where we sat in the Splash Zone. Easily my favorite part of the day. Bennett is still talking about "That big whale, Shampoo, who made us taste like salt."

 I wish we had taken more still pictures of the day (we did take a lot of video), but we just had such a good time we forgot to pull the camera out anymore than this. Some other highlights included Bennett going on his first ever, honest-to-goodness roller coaster and LOVING it three times in a row, playing in the humongous splash park, and watching a sea lion show were I am sure Bennett only blinked twice the entire time. What a day!

That night we stayed in Matt's hotel, where Bennett got to sleep in his "special room" (aka: the closet.) Since it closely resembles a fort, however, he was thrilled at the idea, and out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow. We need to go to Sea World everyday.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church with Mary and Wayne and then spent the afternoon eating dinner and hanging out. The boys and I were supposed to drive home that night, but since we were having such a good time we stayed one more night in Matt's hotel (much to Bennett's delight) and left the next morning. This weekend Matt will drive up on his motorcycle to visit us, and I'm sure we will have another adventure just spending time together.

Because what can I say?
I love my family.