Ben's Birthday & Uncle Dick's Winging

The Birthday Boy-ready to party!

Happy first birthday Ben!  We got to celebrate a tiny bit early, but Ben did not complain.  He loved being the center of attention (without having to shriek to get there).  We started with a little cookout:

He IS a year older, but still not old enough to leave the kids table...(or even sit there without a tray)

Then we moved on to chocolate cake.  Ben was so excited about this!  We had talked it up-told him how wonderful chocolate cake was, and how fun it was going to be to eat AND play with.   He's ready:

Yes.  We made him 'nekkid' to keep his shirt nice.  Futile effort...

The poor boy was horribly, horribly disappointed (see video two posts ago).  Evidently he is not our son...perhaps they switched babies at the hospital?  Because he hates chocolate.  He let us know this by flinging cake from one end of the living room to the other.  Chassie must have known what was coming because she stationed herself directly in the line of fire.

This was what was left after cakeflingfest:

The "1" candle escaped his wrath.  Barely. 

Then we moved on to presents.  In this, he was not disappointed.  He got some trucks, some much needed clothes, and some very special UGA attire:

The Hat.  Which Matthew promptly relieved him of:

And the polo:

All ready for football season!!

He also got a helicopter...with four colored balls...he loves it. 

So does Hannah...guess how often Ben gets to play with it??

The following weekend, we got to go to Uncle Dick's winging!!

Congratulations Uncle Dick!!  We are all so proud!  Ben is proud too, in spite of spending the entire ceremony shrieking for attention.

The Schroeders and the Learys and the Learys :)

Afterward we got to tour Dick's airplane.  Which is a P-3.  I think. 

Matthew was first up!

The big kids...in the big airplane

Trouble!! 

All the excitement wore Pea out! 

Afterward we went out for Mexican to celebrate.  What better way to celebrate than with Margaritas and Mexican??  Ben...well, by then he had had it.  He decided about five minutes into dinner that he wanted to go home...so he yelled, and wiggled, threw food and yelled some more.  The only thing that would make him stop was taking his picture.  Everytime I held the camera up to take his picture he would stop screaming and make this face:

Or this face:

I have about six more of these...they bought me 5 minutes to suck down my margarita and gobble my dinner.  I'm going to remember this trick!

After dinner, Ginny and Dick and Mr. & Mrs. Leary came back for the afterparty at our swingin' hotel room-

Mrs. Leary bonded with the big kids...especially Matthew, who tripped on the way in and scraped up knees and elbows.  Mrs. Leary knew just what he needed: A heavy dose of sympathy mixed with amazement at his bravery.  He was in love!

Pea found a captive audience in Mr. Leary.  And no, he did not get a word in edgewise:

Overall, the mini vacation was way too short.  We had so much fun though!!

Awwwwwww!