Benjamin's Story

Hmm... so that's what dirty looks like! Ben had a blast at Stinson Beach, crawling around, destroying sand towers. Funny guy!

Here are Jeanette and Ben (eating in my car!) hanging out in the TransAm on a day trip. We have taken a bunch of nice trips out from the apartment. This time we went out to the town of Bolinas (an odd little place), then down the coast to Stinson Beach. Lucas Valley Road, one of the curviest roads in Marin County is straight out from the apartment and it's a fun drive on a weekend.

A cute photo of Jeanette and Ben on the beach.

We went to Rodeo Beach and had a little picnic. All we had was this hat for him, which is a bit too small these days. Benjamin loves to sit on the sand, help us sort rocks, and see how everything tastes!

We took a nature walk through a very interesting area to the Barker Dam. The dam holds back a modest amount of water that was once used for an active ranch. The area seemed to have a great collection of most of the major cactus and yucca types that we saw in the park.

Here is Ben and Chris taking a break in a rock hollow on a little walk in Joshua Tree. Ben is a little nature boy.

Here are Jeanette and Ben under a Joshua Tree. We saw hundreds of them, but their habitat is pretty limited.

Here we are in the cactus garden in Joshua tree. We couldn't let Ben down because the cacti (cholla) were pretty dangerous.

Jeanette and Benjamin posed next to a huge Octillo in Joshua Tree National Park. The desert flowers were definitely in bloom.

Here's handsome young Benjamin at a pizza restaurant in downtown Palm Springs. He looooooves restaurants and is getting good at eating from a plate. Soon he'll be ordering for himself!

Here's a photo of Jeanette and Ben in the palm trees.

Here's a cute photo of Ben checking out a palm tree from up close. He was hot so we stripped him down a bit.

Benjamin makes sure that he has enough of a view from his seat so that he can follow the action.

We took a hike on an Indian reservation near Palm Springs. As you can see, even though it's desert, there was enough water here to grow many California fan palms. Benjamin was quite content to ride along in the backpack.

Benjamin was doing his best to captain the ship in the playground!

We took another road trip... this time way south to Palm Springs. On the way we stayed a night in Morro Bay. Here's Ben having some fun on a cute playground there.

Ben was ready for the pool and Jeanette was headed out for the afternoon. They looked cute posing together.

Here's Benjamin playing with Jeanette in the water. He loved showing us all the mud and rocks that he could find.

We drove down to a beach near Half Moon Bay and were unprepared for Ben's lust for the water. He insisted on getting into a small tidal stream, so we stripped him down and let him climb in. If his legs look blue, it's probably because the water was freezing!

Here's Ben playing with one of his ten million toys in his new room. It took him a week or so, but he seems to have settled in with no adverse effects of the move. After all, his bears and puppies still go to bed with him!

Ben's doing a lot of walking these days, though still with assistance. Here he is with some fancy new shoes on. He seems to love his shoes and still laughs when we put them on him.

Benjamin has finally graduated from scooting to crawling. Here's the handsome young man crawling his way through the apartment. He still scoots much of the time, but when he really wants something... he either crawls or yells!

Here are the three of us on the beach at Point Reyes, thanks to a helpful rock that held the camera!

Here's a nice picture of Ben and Chris on the beach. We had a lot of fun and it was warm as long as we sat in the sun with the log blocking some of the wind!

We took a drive out to Point Reyes on our first weekend in California. Benjamin was having fun playing in the sand. He's getting to the age where he doesn't necessarily put everything in his mouth all the time. He loves the beach!