Adventures in Bennionland

(Original post date April 26th, 2010)

It’s official. Our five year-old is now six. Crazy how time is moving!

Will was in MAJOR countdown this year until his birthday. I think we’ve hit a new chapter in understanding what birthdays are about. He had a theme picked out, had defined party expectations, and for the first time had a birthday wish list! Wowza!

Fortunately all – or most – of his request were easy ones to grant.

We had the traditional birthday chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast – his fave!

He got to open one present before going to school.

At school he got to wear the special birthday hat. Check out his face – this was a BIG deal. Mrs. M, his teacher, said that he wore the hat the entire class.

Plus he was *Star of the Week* so I got to bring in picture (boy was that a sob fest trying to pick ones out).

We had shooting star cupcakes (gluten-free of course!) with his class. Eric came over from work and so our whole family got to celebrate too. It was so cute to see him react to being the birthday star with his friends at school.

After school we had his – space themed – birthday party. He got to invite his closest friends over. We made planet pizzas, did astronaut training, opened presents, and had solar system cake (complete with six candlelit stars).

He was in his glory- and still is as he likes to remind everyone he is now SIX!

Six fun facts about Will:

* He is still fascinated by propellers. He can spot them anywhere.
* The kid is a dancing machine. Any music anywhere and he’s busting a groove. His style is a mix between the 80′s punk rock scene, break dancing and hip-hop. It’s hilarious to watch!
* When he is thinking about something he folds his hands into his lap or holds them close to his chest.
* He loves his veggies – especially edamame, green beans, broccoli, and artichokes. I’ll never forget the woman asking me if he was serious in the grocery store after he started spouting off all the veggies we had to buy because he “loves them so much!”.
* His current hobby is reading. He’s discovered how much he can find out from books and is so proud of himself for reading chapter books. Most nights he’s asleep with one on his face or chest.
* Will never shies away from some TLC. Each morning he finds one of us to pick him up and hug him. He’d stay like that for a hour if he could.

Happy birthday Will!

We are always looking for that next adventure around here. So after Shell and I ran our first race of the year. We loaded up our car and made our way to catch with Papa Paul and KK who had the boys and were on their way up to San Simeon. We arrived at the Elephant Seal Beach just before sunset and caught them particularily active. The boys had fun running up and down the viewing area to see the seals in action.

We spent the evening at a little lodge in San Simeon. The boys enjoyed hopping from our room to Papa and KK’s. They really enjoyed watching the Olympics cuddled up with Mom and Dad. Before they went to bed.

Next morning we walked down to the pebble beach to relax, explore, and watch the waves. We had a great time, the trip was exactly what all our little souls needed. I wonder where the next adventure will take us.

Pictures after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

We have had a wet winter here in SoCal.
I had been thinking about winter here in California and I realized that my boys have lived here for more of their life in CA than UT. That this is more of how they envision winter than the snowy landscapes that I remember. So, since I had President’s day off I decided that the boys and I needed a Snow Day. We packed some lunches and made the 1 hour trip to “The Village” at Big Bear Lake. We speant about 2 hours exploring in the snow. As we were leaving the boys aggresively requested skiing lessons… I think next winter we will learn to snowboard. Here are the images: Read the rest of this entry »