Benjamin's 5th Birthday

I'm having a really hard time getting pictures uploaded to Facebook, so I'll put the ones with people in them here. I have a bunch of fish pictures that I'll put in another post.

Standing in line waiting to get in. It rained hard all day. Dad and I were both white-knuckling it the whole way home and passed several accidents.

Fish near the front entrance:

Shark teeth:

Bubble tubes near the front. Although it looks like he's giving it a hug, he's actually trying to climb the tube.

John and Benjamin playing with the bubble tubes:

Obviously not a real shark:

Standing in line for the Dora & Diego 4D show:

Shark mask in the gift shop:

Frog mask in the gift shop:

The birthday boy back at Amanda's:

Seeing the cake Amanda made. I got several really good photos of him smiling at the cake. He was a very happy boy.

The cake:

Surrounded by his new stash of books. They're early readers that he'll be reading before bed.

The BIG gift. Once he opened it, the rest of us were forgotten.

Amanda and John goofing around:

We got the over-the-ear earbuds hoping they'd stay in better than regular earbuds. Unfortunately they're still too big. Oh well. He listened to his music the whole way home and had no problems.

Spring pictures

I've posted some recent flower pictures on Facebook. For some reason this year just seems extra colorful.

Snow!!

It finally snowed more than a dusting. I've promised sledding tomorrow.

Photos of the backyard on Facebook.

Ft. McHenry

John, Benjamin, and I met Amanda at Ft. McHenry last week. Even though it was cold and windy, we walked around quite a bit. Benjamin had fun posing with the cannons and cannon balls. I also managed to get both of my boys in jail for a picture.

The best part was Amanda getting a date with one of the guys in her group.

Photos on Facebook.

Christmas photos

I've been planning for weeks to take some formal Christmas photos of Benjamin. Because we've both been sick, it's been put off. We're both still coughing quite a bit, but I finally broke down and got it done. He was fairly cooperative. We did some in front of the Christmas tree then as a reward he was allowed to take the bears into the family room. I had sat down to download the pictures when he asked me to take some more pictures of him in front of the fireplace. My favorites are on Facebook.

Family Photo

A few weeks ago when Benjamin got his new church clothes we asked Dad to take a family picture for us. I've been experimenting with face swapping in Photoshop to get the best smile on Benjamin. Is it too obvious that this photo has been Photoshopped?

Visit with Santa

Today we braved the crowds and lines at the mall and took Benjamin to meet Santa. We've only done it once before (his first Christmas) and we figured this was the right year to do it. We stood in line for an hour and by the time we got to the front Benjamin was ready to go. It was hard to get a good smile. He was very hesitant to talk to the strange man, but eventually warmed up to him and looked to be telling him quite a story. When I went to retrieve him he was saying something about the guitar he wants for Christmas. I don't know what else he told him. We had discussed beforehand what he was going to ask for and both items he is getting, so I'm not worried.