The Zoo

We took an adventure to the zoo today. We had a really great time. The highlights were feeding the giraffes, watching the jaguar sleep, singing the jaguar a song, seeing the animals Benjamin knows from Diego- pigmy marmoset and tapir, laughing at the sloth bear "play basketball," tickling the gorilla's toes through the glass, peering at the orangatang close-up, holding a feed stick for the birds to eat from, and buying a red-eyed tree frog as a souvenir. Here is a slideshow of our trip.

Farmer's Market

I have been looking at buying some outdoor play equipment. Benjamin asks me to outside all the time now, and we don't really have any toys to play with outside. I saw a listing on Craigslist for a garage sale that was selling a little playhouse. The listing said that no early birds and that it promptly started at 9am. We arrived at 9 sharp to see all the play equipment being loaded into a truck. I was disappointed, but as we drove home we saw a farmer's market. Stephen suggested that we stop. They had an amazing farmer's market in Ithaca that we loved to go to and since we for once had cash in our pockets with the hopes of buying the playhouse, we stopped. The produce was absolutely amazing. Huge ripe red tomatoes and peaches bigger than my fist. All the produce was $1 a pound. We bought a few peaches, a huge bunch of basil, a bunch of cilantro, beautiful tomatoes, a bunch of sweet onions, a bag of freshly picked green beans, two jalepenos (Stephen's 12 cent purchase) and one red apple that Benjamin decided he must have. I thought that Ithaca peaches were amazing, but these peaches were even better, so juicy and sweet. We regret not buying more to eat during the week as they are now all gone. We ate the tomatoes and basil last night for dinner over pasta and have made fresh salsa for dinner tonight. Stephen just kept saying how fantastic the pasta was even as leftovers today for lunch. The produce was truly amazing, but not the most amazing part. There were booths and booths of fresh cut flowers that were breathtaking. Buckets and buckets full of flower bouquets, some of them would require both arms to hold, filled the aisles. I hadn't ever seen anything like it. I bought one of the smaller bunches, still a large one to me, for a price of $6. The picture doesn't do it justice as I should have taken it from above for the full effect, but you can get the idea. We had a very fun morning at the farmer's market and have already planned a return trip for next Saturday!

The Jungle Room

I have been wanting to get Benjamin's jungle room done before Stephen has to return to work. It has been so nice to have had him home this summer. We were able to get settled in quickly and get the house in order-but that is another post in and of itself. So, I convinced Stephen to paint the day after we got back home. I fell in love with the color months ago, as we had a family home evening activity to look at paint samples for the new house. I am grateful for this since I am pretty indecisive about color choices. Paint to me just seems a bit permanent, yet others imply its impermanence with the phrase it can always be repainted. With all the work of painting, I just want to get it right the first time. If you would like a sample of my color quandaries just ask Stephen about what color our bedroom should be! Anyway, "Spiced Vinegar" is the name of the color and it is absolutely perfect, for a jungle room of course. We painted the walls and the Stephen free handed some jungle leaves on one wall near the ceiling. The original plan was to paint a tree on the wall and hang the stuffed animals on hooks from that, but I found a picture on the internet that had animals hanging from a rope that was suppose to be a vine. I made a more realistic looking vine and - viola Benjamin's jungle room.

Do you have fur?

Benjamin came down from his nap today and cuddled with me on the couch. After awhile of cuddling, he turned to me and asked, "Do you have fur?" I had to have him repeat the question because I wasn't sure that I heard him correctly. I replied that no I didn't have fur, I had skin. He then said to me, "Baby sloths have fur." Then later he told me, "I don't have fur. I have skin." I don't know where he comes up with these things. I would love to be able to see inside his little mind!

Benjamin-ism IV

Congratulations again to Rebecca!

Rebecca's college convocation was at 8am and was only an hour long, so we went out to breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa at IHOP after everything was done. As we were finishing up, out of the blue Benjamin says in a loud voice with his hand in the air, "Everyone who wants dessert, raise your hand!" Apparently, he thought he needed some ice cream after eating his french toast and syrup.

Graduation

It has been a great two days. Yesterday was university commencement which was followed by a delicious dinner with family- Thanks Maude and Van! This morning was the college graduation. I got permission for Stephen to sit on the stand. The original plan was for Stephen to just walk up when the degree was to be presented and be on the other side of me to take a picture. When Stephen got to commencement, the dean told him that he could hand me the diploma. Stephen looked important as he got to sit on the front row of the stage with all the faculty. It was a fun two days. Many thanks to those that came to support me! Here are some pictures of the events.

Benjamin's New Recipe

Benjamin has always been very interested in cooking. He loves to play with his "tiny kitchen," Grandma's play food, and his cousin Aaron's cooking toys. Lately when Rebecca or I are doing something in the kitchen, he will pull a chair over the counter and climb up so he can get a better look. Yesterday we were having dinner at Rebecca's sister's house. The menu included taco salad and watermelon. Rebecca got a plate for Benjamin. A few minutes later I looked over at Benjamin and he was very carefully sprinkling shredded cheddar cheese on top of his watermelon cubes. After all the watermelon was topped with cheese, he ate every piece with a fork. He seemed to to think it was pretty good, although I can't confirm it. Next time you have watermelon and cheddar cheese, you might want to try Benjamin's new recipe for yourself. :)

She Passed!

Rebecca passed her thesis defense this morning! I'm very proud of her. It's been a long road to get to this point. She actually was accepted to this program the day that we got engaged. Her program was interrupted for two years while I finished my degree. I went to campus today and waited for her to finish. I started to really worry after two hours had passed. I imagined her crying in her advisor's office because something had gone wrong. It turned out that one of the committee members had gone through her paper very thoroughly. She had lots of revisions to give to Rebecca. Thankfully that are all pretty minor. She will be able to walk in graduation next week. Congratulations Rebecca!

What does that say?

We flew to UT on Saturday and were waiting in the preboard area of Southwest. Benjamin is now at the 'what does that say?' stage and looked at the preboard sign and said "what does that say?" I said "you read it to me." He replied pointing in the air to read the words, "it says don't kick the pilot's seat!" What is even funnier is that fact that I was just about to have the conversation to set expectations for getting on the airplane like you have to stay in your carseat, your feet need to stay off of the seat in front of you, and we have to wait to turn on the movie until we hear the pilot tell us it is ok. I guess the thing that stuck out most from our last flight was not to kick the seat in front of him! So, here's Benjamin's advise to those traveling "Don't kick the pilot's seat!"