Birthday Pics

Please check Flickr for a bunch of pictures of Benjamin's birthday and the aftermath. We had a LOT of people in our little apartment. I was so focused on chatting with everyone that I didn't take out the camera until most of the presents were opened. If I'm counting correctly, it was a total of 22 people, although the Phalp contingent came an hour late and some people were getting ready to leave. Benjamin had mixed feelings about having all of those older kids in his room and playing with his stuff. He'd go from staring at them in confusion, to giggling at their antics. He was grouchy on and off through the whole thing, but I attribute that to his ear infection and being overwhelmed by so many people. The dogs were really well-behaved and soaked up all of the extra attention. Benjamin got a lot of toys, although some things he's not quite old enough for yet, so we'll put those away for now. We're going to do a thorough inventory of his toys before the move and figure out what's going to be packed away, donated to D.I., or kept.

Double Whammy!

Benjamin has been very sick the last couple days. He started by coughing and has moved on to not sleeping, not eating, rubbing his nose, vigorously rubbing his eyes (to the point where the skin around them is purple), sore throat, and just general crankiness.

After 2 sleepless nights and a miserable day yesterday, I decided to take him to the doctor. Turns out he has double "raging" ear infections. I'm so glad I took him in instead of assuming it was a nasty cold. At least now he can get some medicine in him and start getting better. We just have to endure a few more nasty days and nights.

Best of all--I don't have to cancel his birthday party on Saturday because he's not contagious. I was not looking forward to having to let everyone know not to come.

More house pics

Please go to Flickr to see more pictures of the house. These were taken by the landlady. They're not the best.

Goofin'

An alternative use for his bike.

Mommy had no idea when she moved those boxes that I'd find a fun use for them. WHEE! (we really need to get him a real slide for home)

St. George (from Ben's perspective)

We had to check out a couple of the parks in the area. Our realtor told us there isn't a house in the area that doesn't have some kind of park within 2 miles. The biggest park in St. George is Hidden Valley Park (just down the road from our house). It has what they call a splash-pad. I'm sure Benjamin is going to love it on those hot St. George days.

There's also a park on Bluff Street (near John's work) that is just Benjamin's size. It has a smaller slide and toddler swings. He got very mad at us when we had to leave to go to an appt.

Please look at the Map in the Links section to the left for a customized map of St. George.

Our New House

We spent the weekend in St. George checking out the area and finding a place to live. We found a perfect 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in a cute little neighborhood. There's a community pool that we'll be able to take Benjamin to. There's a fully fenced backyard, although the dogs will have to get used to the fact that there's no grass. I'm excited about the Corian countertops in the kitchen and the separate garden tub & shower in the master bedroom. We'll also have a 2-car garage to store all of our extra junk, so the 3rd bedroom will be a fully-functioning bedroom instead of just storage. We'll be able to offer a queen-sized bed to all visiting guests. We are officially declaring ourselves National Park Headquarters for SouthWestern Utah and Northern Arizona. We'll be touring as much as we can handle and would love to take any visitors anywhere they want to go. Below is a picture of the outside of the house (no, it does not come with police protection--that was the last resident). I'll send inside pictures after we move in. I was an idiot and left my camera in the car when we saw the house on Saturday.

Our Genius

Over the last few days Benjamin has pointed out and correctly identified the numbers 6 & 7 and the letters S & D.