Air Force Ball

Before we left the house
After we met up with Kristen and Ben at their house

Were we even dancing? I think we just "posed"

We went to the Air Force Ball on Saturday - I haven't been to one since we've been here (either because I was pregnant or taking care of Ben) and Mario has been once. We had a good time for a few hours, but had to get home early because Ben wasn't feeling well.

Ben Flying

Mario was playing with Ben this afternoon and was throwing him in the air, which he loved. I got this picture of him mid air!

Hey, I'm flying!!!

Uncle Jim's Visit to Great Falls

Uncle Jim and Ben
Ben showing off his drum set!

Uncle Jim showing me how to spread dandelions! Ok, I'm ready when you are!
Ben giving Uncle Jim a goodnight kiss

Jim came to see while he was in town for business - Ben absolutely LOVED playing with him. He was such great entertainment. Ben crawled all over him and kept saying to him, "up" because he wanted him to hold him.

Serious Reading

I got this picture of Ben when he was in a very serious mood and was REALLY into his picture book. Doesn't he look like a school kid already?

Blueberry-Raspberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

I got this recipe from my friend, Kristen and they are so yummy! I thought I would share the recipe.

Topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped almonds
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 F and line muffin pan with paper liners. To make topping, combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs with the melted butter. Add the buttermilk and lemon zest and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir. Batter may be somewhat lumpy (don't overmix). Gently fold in blueberries and raspberries. Crumble the streusel topping over the muffins and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool and ENJOY!!

Fairmont Hot Springs Resort

Fairmont Hot Springs was a BLAST! We went with friends, Kristen, Ben and Avery. History has it that the Shoshone and Nez Perce Indians used to set up their tepees in the surrounding area and use the "medicine waters". Nevertheless, it sure was relaxing and exhausting all at the same time! We spent a lot of time swimming and the kids just loved it. We were even able to take them down the slide that started 5 stories up!! When the kids went to sleep, the adults were able to have some "big-kid" fun and really take advantage of that slide! While one stayed with the kids, the other 3 went down the slide and acted like we were 15 again! It was GREAT! During the day, they only allowed one at a time go down, but at night, you could go down together! We FLEW down that slide so fast that we still have friction burns on our backs!! What's that saying? Go big or go home! Well, we did it!

Ben and Avery, holding hands - CUTE!

Avery kissing Ben

Ave and Ben Ben trying to put on his life jacket because he was ready to go! And...he's sitting in Avery's little floaty! I think he was trying to tell us something!
Mario and Ben coming out the slide

The three of us in the pool

A picture of us right before we left the resort

Holter Lake Fun and I DO mean FUN!

We went to Holter Lake one last time before summer ends. We took the boat out and did some tubing and went down through Gates of the Mountains. We camped overnight (it was freezing!) and had a lot of fun. We made some s'mores (thanks, Kristen - we had such a good system going!) that night and sat around the fire. We had a lot of fun, almost died on the inner tube while Mario pulled us at about 50 mph across that lake, and did a lot of VERY COLD swimming. Ben loved the water, surprisingly. We let the kids play together, which they love to do. Oh, and we watched people jump off very high rocks into the lake (it was all very entertaining). We got a good laugh at Jeff the next morning because he was frozen and went to collect what we thought was "just a few pieces of wood" only to see him come back with a truck full of it - classic! Jeff was great entertainment, falling off the boat once and almost falling off a 2nd time! Thanks Brandy for taking all the GREAT pictures!

Brandy got this one just as Ben was ready to go in the frigid water (while she was holding him on the back of the boat!)Ben and Ave playing with the sand
Ben chilling in the chair Mario, taking his turn on the tube!

Kristen and Jen, after jumping off the boat

Kristen, Jen, and Brandy taking a VERY chilly dip!! Ben and Mario playing off the back of the boat Kristen and Jen getting "prepared" to tube (Mario in the back being goofy)Ok, this isn't what we thought it would be! At this point, we were holding on for dear life!! Ok, now we're just trying to LIVE through this adventure!! This is where we almost flipped
We're laughing, so I guess we were having fun!

Little Ben waving the "man-down" flag!

The beautiful sunset

New Words and Just News

We read "Jane's Animal Expedition" all the time and while we were reading it today, Ben pointed to the map and said "map" - we have been showing him that "map" for a while, but it still surprised me when he did it on his own. He loves books more than anything and really loves learning. Other new words are: banana (nana, or banan), see, book, light, fries (he LOVES them)surprise (prise), shoe, sock, cup, eyes, bike and plane! He is aquiring so many words each day that I really can't keep up with them all!! He tries to get himself dressed now, although he's not too good at it yet. He makes animal sounds for an owl, a dog, a snake (ssss), a tiger, an elephant, and he sticks his tongue in and out of his mouth for a lizard!! He learned the baby signs for banana, help, and share - baby signs have made our life much easier! He'll also sign more, please, thank you, drink, and milk.

We are winding down our summer. The weather has cooled off quite a bit lately. We tried to get as much out of our 2-month summer as possible. We traveled a lot during the last 2 weeks. After Spokane, we went camping and boating for 2 days and 1 night and then this past weekend, we went with some friends to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort and had a BLAST! I still need to post those pictures.

Ben jumped!

Ok, we had to blog about this! We were singing songs tonight and after we finished one, we asked Ben if he could jump....and he did! His little feet left the ground by only a little bit, but he still did it! We were so excited. And the best part is when we told him he jumped and he saw how excited we were, he said what sounded like - in his little baby voice - "I did". We're not sure if that's what he intended to say, but it was cute and made us laugh anyway. Until next time...