Practice

Can you tell what major step toward big-boyhood is just around the corner?

He found his giggle box

Sometimes Ben thinks I'm funny:


And sometimes he thinks Daniel is funny:

Where has Ben been?

In general, Ben and I are homebodies.  I am quite content to stay holed up in my house for days, and, let's face it, Ben is pretty much stuck going (or not going) where I go.  But in the past couple of months, we have taken a break from our home-staying to travel all over the known universe. Or at least all over the country.

We started with a little jaunt to Daniel's parents' for Thanksgiving.

 

This was the first time we violated Ben's parole, taking him across the Colorado state line into (as you can see) New Mexico.

And then we hit up the Lone Star state.  This was our first road trip with a baby, and oh my did we ever learn a lot.  So we were much better prepared for all the miles we clocked on our Christmas journey.  An epic journey that included:

Kansas!  (My apologies for this terrible photo.  If you look at the sign on the overpass, you can confirm that we really did go to Kansas.)

And Oklahoma!  This is where the state-line picture thing fell apart because we crossed over into OK after dark.  But this picture with my great-aunt and uncle and their Tulsa license plate is a suitable substitute, no?

And then came Arkansas!

And Tennessee!  That would be the University if TN section of a Cracker Barrel, since we crossed this state line in the middle of a bridge over the Mississippi River.

And then Virginia!  Woot, woot!

And Kentucky!  (Yes, a gas station was the best we could do this time.)

And finally, Ohio!  Yay, buckeyes!  You are so very yummy :)

In case you lost track, Ben has been to 10 different states (when you count Colorado, which is not pictured here since it is his place of residence).  I have no idea how many road miles the little guy has traveled.  I do know that waaaay too many hours of his life have been spent in a car seat.  And just to keep things interesting, we threw in two separate journeys by plane:

Ben is a good traveling buddy, but I am super relieved to have our trips behind us and to revel in my homebodiness for a little while.  Many thanks to all of you who chauffeured us and gave us places to stay along the way.  We would love to return the favor and have you stay at our place sometime.  We'll be here :)

This one's for the lurkers

Then (September 2009):

And Now (Christmas 2009):

Look for more pictures of baby Ben and cousin Cale (along with all manner of other exciting subjects) in the near future.  We got back Saturday night from 3 1/2 weeks of travels, so there is much to show and tell!  But first I need to unpack and take down my Christmas tree.

During said travels, several of you told me that you read this blog, so I am demanding (or politely requesting, if you would prefer) that you give up your blog lurker status and comment on this post.  Please :)  Don't make me call you out by name.