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.