Back to School

South Padre Island

Our sand castle village.

Boogie boarding was definately the activity of choice all weekend...and the waves were the best I have seen at Padre.

James loved going for rides on the boogie board.

The crew refueling.

Going for a walk on the beach at night.

I told Sherrie that I have always wanted to go parasailing, and she said, "Then let's do it"...and we did. Thanks for being my partner...it was so much fun. I can check that off my list.

So quiet and peaceful up there (about 300 feet above the ocean).

We went with the Lambs to South Padre for one last vacation before school started. The sand was powdery soft, the water was clear, and the waves were good (for the gulf). Super fun and relaxing. We love the beach!

Idaho

Rock climbing at Elephant Rock.

Yay for cousins!

The kids loved rock climbing and reppeling and they all did a great job!

Jared, Liz, Jeremy, Sara, and I went reppeling off a 200 foot cliff. We had so much fun together...hiking, climbing, reppeling and laughing (Liz is very entertaining!).

The kids practiced reppeling off the deck.

Hidden Lake at the sand dunes. Who knew there was warm water in Idaho?

Hot Air Balloon debacle

Grandma sent the kids on a treasure hunt. Here they are digging up the buried treasure...candy!

Christian has a special bond with his Great-Grandpa Craner.

We got together with Damon's family in July and had so much fun. We played, laughed, talked, relaxed, ate, and just enjoyed being all together. Thanks Mom and Dad...it was perfect!

Take me out to the ball game

We went with some friends to cheer on the San Antonio Missions. Davis got his name drawn to meet 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent and got an autographed ball.

Kid Pics

Davis started off the first week of summer with a broken leg. No: swimming, biking, walking, chores. Yes: strollers, books, movies, video games, popsicles, and cuddling with mom and dad. He is doing a good job focusing on the positive.

Aunt Sara threw a slumber party for all the girl cousins. They had a blast, which doesn't surprise me because she certainly knows how to party. :)

Emma with her newest cousin, Samantha (Tina and Chris's baby). She is such a good babysitter.

Lakehouse

James's favorite activity at the Lakehouse...riding in the bike trailer.

James's second favorite activity...being lulled to sleep on the boat.

Having fun with the fam at the Lakehouse. Welcome summer!

My Boys

Baseball season has begun...go Christian!

The Quadrangle

Best Buds

For our preschool fieldtrip we went to the Quadrangle on Fort Sam Houston where you can feed tame deer and birds. The kids were so amazed that the animals would walk right up to them. It's like another world. We all had a lot of fun.

Birthdays

Tina made this cute caterpillar cake for James's 1st birthday. It was fun watching all his cute expressions as he tryed to figure out what was going on.

Once he found out he could eat this creature in front of him, and that it tasted good, he was all smiles.

This "birthday" thing is not so bad!

Ready to party!


February and March are birthday months at the Benedict household. I didn't realize how bad I am at remembering to take pictures until I decided to update the blog. The parties were so much fun, I forgot to grab the camera. James had a caterpillar party, Davis a ball party, Emma a flower party and Christian a Nerf gun battle party.

Kids

I noticed I didn't have many pictures of James, so I pulled out the camera and started clicking away. Here are just a few of our happy boy at 11 months.

Damon stayed up until 2:30 one night painting Jordan's room. Emma stayed up with him...talking, following him around, and just spending time with him. Damon took this picture to remember their special night together.

Davis loves hats, which is good because he also like to cut his own hair.

Christian and Davis got nerf guns for Christmas. Since then our house and culdesac have become war zones. Here is the result of one of the battles. Needless to say, Damon was grateful for his glasses.