4th of July Weekend

We had a very special guest for the 4th of July weekend. We got to spend Saturday and Sunday with our Godson, Hayden. Our best friends, Corretta & Shannon Benton, wanted to get away for the weekend to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary. Ben was so happy to have his buddy with him for two days. The weather was rainy all weekend, so we played inside a lot. We had a couple hours of sun Saturday afternoon and we took full advantage. The boys played in the kiddie pool and did some swinging. We had lunch at Pizza Hut Sunday afternoon and took the boys to see fireworks Sunday night. Ben loved the fireworks! Jeremy and I were totally shocked! He had a death-grip on my neck at first, but started giggling and clapping after the first few. He has been saying, "fireworks kaboom!" all day today :)

I've posted pictures of our weekend below. Ben is starting to get tired of me always having the camera in his face. He's starting to squint his eyes every time I hold it up for a picture. Stinker!

He wanted to take his new backpack to the fireworks show

Squinty camera face #1

I love Hayden's face in this picture...cracks me up every time! (squinty face #2)

eating popsicles together (squinty face #3)

Ben is yawning and Hayden looks terrified!

So sleeeeeppppyyyyy!

"Save Energy....Take a Nap" t-shirt :)

Yay! A real smile!

He couldn't quite get the hang of sliding down the whale

Hayden loved sliding head first :)

Ben laying on top of the couch to watch daddy mowing outside

Ben's new backpack/diaper bag

Ben and Momma :)

Fun Summer Times

We've had another week full of summer fun! Ben has been going to his Aunt Joycie's in the mornings to play with the kids. He comes home and takes almost a two-hour nap, so I think he is having a good time when he's there :)
Jeremy and I took him back to Common Ground Park in Lakeland this past Saturday. We got there around 10:00 and it was brutally hot. The heat didn't seem to bother Ben, though. He had a blast sliding, climbing, and swinging. We headed over to the Lakeside Village after the park to have lunch at Crispers and shop a little. Ben loves to see the water fountain there and play with the train table in Books-A-Million.
We've been swinging and sliding at home a lot, too. We try to do that in the mornings or evenings when it's not so hot outside. I can't wait for a nice Fall breeze! I've posted tons of pictures below. The first few are of Ben building a tower of blocks. He's getting really good at it. Maybe he'll be a future architect :)

Our duck friends @ Clinch Lake. Ben loves to stop and try to pet them :)

Ben running around in Mr. Dawes' sprinklers

Having some fruit in the "big chair" :)

Playing with the trains @ Books-A-Million

Waving at the fountain

He crashed after the play park

Climbing up the rocks to get to the tunnel slide

He really wanted to climb this, but wasn't quite sure how