Santa, Reindeers and all that jazz

Ben and Santa

           Our little reindeer
         Merry Christmas!
This is a great family tradition.  Chris and J. continue to get there picture taken with Santa every year and give pictures to Grama.  I hope that Ben continues this as an adult.  

Family Traditions

Speaking of traditions.  We decided to paint our big picture window for Christmas.  So here is Snoopy right here in our living room.

1st Ginger Bread House

Decorating the cookie snowman

Yep.  He's licking the house! atta boy!
 Mommy thought she would start a new tradition of building a ginger bread house.  Needless to say this house never got eaten.  Now the frosting was very tasty.  But shortly after we assembled it the roof caved in.  I am sure Ben licking the house frosting did not help with its structural integrity.  But so it goes!  Merry Christmas

4 Years Old at Disneyland

Buzzlight year ride with dad

Meeting Buzz!!
Hugs with Mickey
We started the annual tradition last year when he turned 3 to go to Disneyland on his birthday. So even in the pouring down rain we made it there on his 4th birthday.   

Mystery Tree 2007

It's On! Mystery Tree 2007 is here. It began at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 5:34 p.m.! That is the joy of mystery tree shopping. For those of you who don't know, the mystery tree tradition was started by the Hunt family many years ago (over 8 years now) Every year we go together to our local home depot, walk proudly onto their parking lot tree farm and pick a tree that is all wrapped up with twine. It is a mystery of what it is going to look like until we get home and unwrap it. That is when we say "TA-DA!!!" And there it is......the beautiful mystery tree. Only one year have we come home with a charlie brown tree. The rest is mystery tree history! The 1st picture is the before and the 2nd is the after with my none to happy dog max who acts as though I have strapped reindeer antlers to his head instead of to sit in front of our beautiful christmas tree!

Priceless....

3 BOXES OF CAKE MIX...........$6.00
5 TUBS OF WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING.........$8.50
11 PLASTIC DUMP TRUCKS......$9.99
1 MOTOR CROSS DUDE.....$4.49

THE LOOK ON BEN'S FACE WHEN HE SAW HIS DOUBLE RAMP, HIGH FLYING DIRT BIKE DUDE JUMPING DUMPTRUCKS BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR THE FIRST TIME......................PRICELESS!

Surfing 101

“I am you; you are ME. You are the waves; I am the ocean. Know this and be free, be divine.”

--Sri Sathya Sai Baba
We have decided that this will be an annual picture of Ben next to the gigantor surfboard.

Moto Man

Another early birthday present. Since cousin Levi came down last February to take Ben to the Motor Cross he has been pretending to be Kevin Wyhndam (I am sure that is spelled wrong) but on with the story....Now his dream has come true. Levi and his posse sent Ben these incredibly cool moto cross gear thingys that he has to be wrestled to the ground or asleep to be removed.

Who's having more fun?

"So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us." ~Gaston Bachelard
Ben has been getting some early birthday presents and boy has he been excited. If you look at the picture I think you will see....well I am pretty darn excited myself. Ben got some Legos, and let me tell you how COOL! they are. I build stuff and then he plays with it and breaks it apart....I build something else, and he plays some more and this little scenario goes on for quite some time.

Laughter

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”
This is definatley the best way to live....
We were so lucky to have my sister Robyn here with her awesome kids Gabby and JoJo. We had lots of fun at the beach (as you can see) There was much laughter and fun for everyone!

Cousins

The unfortunate fires that hit San Diego drove Ben and I out of town but into the very good company of cousins.
We had a great time hanging out with Jack Jack and Levi.

Pumpkin time!

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. ~Henry David Thoreau

One of the things I love about Halloween is Pumpkins. Not the candy or costumes....but because my dad used to call me Pumpkin even when I was an adult. Here are some great pictures of Ben at the pumpkin patch and him and dad doing the traditional carving. And the finished product was an incredible skeleton pirate! Dad rocks!

I am standing upon the seashore....

“Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.”
Michelle Held

I had great fun taking some family pictures off the Hunt clan. One and a half hours and 310 pictures later
we were sure we got some great photos. Along the way, I snapped some pictures of Ben enjoying the beach.
This is about t-minus 2 minutes before he plowed face first into the ocean.....clothes and all!

Our Shining Star

"We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine." Dwight L. Moody

Well Ben was shining and he was chosen as star of the week at his preschool. These pictures
are of him sharing his All about Ben board and show and tell where daddy brought up his
Motorcycle and gear to share with the class. He had so much fun answering all of the questions
the kids had about it.

A boy's life

“There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure” Mark Twain

For me, my boys are my hidden treasure. And here they are diggin at the dump! Chris has had a great time (let's be honest...Ben has had a great time) hanging out on Monday and Tuedays with Ben. He has been doing all sorts of fun filled activities.....that any boy young or old would enjoy.

Firehouse Fun

Once again we went to the Poway Firehouse open house. You get to ride in a real firetruck, try on real fire gear and get a tour of the fire department. The coolest part was shooting the water out of the firehose. We even saw smokey the bear!

Can I take your picture?

I love my new camera! We were playing outside and I said "Hey Ben, can I take your picture?" "Sure mom"
Not once do I have to say smile, because he just looks....and gives me those beautiful eyes. Thanks Ben for
being such a great work of art!

Snips & Snails &....Caterpillers

Boys, Boys, I love boys!
"Mom?...Yes son....let's go on an adventure!!....O.k? What do you want to do?...........Let's go dig in the dirt and look for BUGS!!!
Hmmmm.....O.K!! Let's go Ben

These boys I love

One of my favorite things to do is watch my two boys play together. There is SO much love and admiration it just radiates from them. You can get energy just watching them be together. Last weekend we went to the pool and had a GREAT time....as you can see.

This precious face.

It is this precious face that makes everyday a joy and miracle.

Slippin Slide fun!

Are you hot? I'm hot! It has been soooo hot here in san diego all we want to do is be in the water. Ben loves the slippin slide....and so does his dad.

Climbing Adventures

Ben went Rock Climbing today for the first time in an indoor climbing gym. He had so much fun and did so well. He climbed for over an hour! He is great at trying new challenges and we are incredibly proud of him. He was a little upset that he didnt get all the way to the top (one of the workers promised him a big treat if he did) but he did get over half way up the wall and everyone in there was watching him climb. You can see in the picture how far over my head he is. It's good to be the king!

Going Home.

We were fortunate enought to take another quick trip up to S.L.O. home before we had to go back to work. We had such a great time with my family and friends. We went to a real small town carnival, with all those funny little games we used to do at our old school carnivals...ring the duck, go fish, stand up the bottle. The picture of Ben so happy is with his cousin Levi at this little carnival, they had a bounce house slide that they just kept going up and down on all afternoon. He also got to stay with Ms. Taya (his arranged marriage bride) and have a dinner party with her. Then of course there is the all exciting motorcycle riding! That's right, he got to ride Levi's real motorcycle all by himself....with training wheels of course! But lot's o' fun was had by all.

Scuba Boy!

Ben took his first official swim lessons! In the pool by himself with an instructor, mommy and daddy on the sidelines. He loved it. We were very lucky to have an incrdible coach for this first lesson. He started snorkeling in the bath tub, the week before the lessons started. This really helped with his enjoyment of the lessons! Yeah Ben!