It's hard to recount the jam-packed fun week of summer we had at Grandma Zannah & Grandpa Chuck's house. First, picking tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden was pretty neat. Running across the big field was great, until you hit a big hole, and then the city boy in you came out and you wanted to run on the cement path.

The state fair was a highlight - first you got to watch horses jumping! when one horse balked at one of the gates and threw off his rider, we all got a bit nervous. When the next horse came out and went over the gate, you turned to grandma & mommy and said "He did it!". All the animal barns were great, and you were particularly proud of your oink hat. Later you recounted "goat said bahhhhhhh" with amazing tonal accuracy.

The next day we went to Como Town to ride the rides - and you amazed grandma and mommy by wanting to go on the super high fast swinging ride (mommy made grandma go too). You were too small for the mini roller coaster and you were disappointed. It was pure glee for the rest of the rides - particularly driving the fire truck.

And to top it all off, the grandparents came back to SF for more fun, and you rode next to them on the plane ride (you ordered juice!) while mommy got to relax in first class. Thanks Chuck!

August has flown by and we have some catching up to do. The second week in August we headed up to Northern Minnesota with the Himan/Masterson clan - thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Himan. We had an amazing time. Ben was truly gleeful running in and out of the water at the beach on the first night (and every day thereafter). And the other big discovery was the water slide. He watched his cousins go a couple of times and pointed to his daddy "I go up there" and then Daddy had to take him on the big! waterslide ten times in a row.

Bonding with his cousins was probably the best part. When Kyle and Zach paid him any attention Ben was happy, when Ian demanded a part of his travel train toy Ben was perturbed but consented with some parental encouragement, and when Emily adopted him as her own and led him around by the hand Ben was ecstatic. One night Pied Piper Grandma led a rousing lawn game of "red light, green light" and Ben lined up against the cabin wall every day thereafter, hoping to renew the game again.

The city boy also got some lessons in suburban and up north living: lawn mowers (especially the riding ones were of great interest), woods (upon passing a dense patch in the car he started looking for deer), and ice cream (OK, we have this one in the city too, but we don't have quite so much summer in the fog). Thanks to daily ice cream trips by the beach Ben now knows many different flavors, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and cookies and cream.

Whenever I am in the kitchen, or living room, and it gets suspiciously quiet when you are playing in your room, I know you're up to no good (most recently, climbing up the bookshelves and sitting on the dresser to open and close the shades by yourself). That's when I yell out "Ben, what are you doing?" before proceeding to investigate.

Today when I was changing Alex's diaper and out of sight you called out "Mommy, what are you doing?" - you learn fast!

This past week you perfected somersaults! You had been quite good at "downward dog" and frequently put your head down on the ground, but this week it was all about somersaults - even out on the patio, which mommy thought must have been a bit uncomfortable.

We've also gotten to go to the pool a couple of times lately. The first time you loved wearing your goggles and getting help from Robyn and Lexie in the kiddie pool while Mommy was helping a screaming Alex ("it's okay, Alex" you say). Today we went to visit CJ and you jumped in the deep pool and went under all by yourself, with Daddy's help. We can tell you really want to learn how to swim, and spend lots of time watching the adults swim laps.

Last week we started another go-around of potty training - but this time you get a jelly bean for each successful potty break. You learned quickly on the first morning "Drink more water. Go pee pee" and you are getting LOTs of jellies. You've also realized that the potty is one thing mommy might be flexible about at bedtime, and tonight after some stalling you said you had to go poo-poo. Mommy let you sit on the potty for 1/2 hour with a book before she realized it must have been a ruse and made you go to bed.