"WE WANT MORE BEN!!!!"

Just what I needed, Jules...a swift kick in the rear. I've been meaning to post for over a week now but time gets away from me when I'm with my son. I get lost in him for all of the same reasons that parents fall in love with their child. Those who have children will appreciate today's story.

I took this Thursday and Friday off...I wanted to take a few more days at home with Jenni and Ben before Jenni goes back to work. Thursday we just chilled at home. But Friday we decided to take Ben to the Zoo. Now, before all of you seasoned parents roll your eyes and laugh at our newness to being parents, I already knew that he wouldn't really get too much out of it. As expected, he actually spent most of the time we were there sleeping in his stroller. The truth is, the trip to the Zoo was really more for us. And we knew it. The first thing we did when we got through the front gate was go into the gift shop to look for something to buy our son. We didn't really discuss it, we just automatically headed straight for the entrance. We laughed at ourselves and talked about how long we've longed to do things like this...as a family. So we decided while we were in the gift shop to wait...maybe there would be something he would be entertained by and then we could decide based on that what souvenir to buy for his first trip to the zoo.

We didn't plan to stay long. We thought we walk around for a few hours, eat and then see where the day takes us. It was hot, though. So that was a factor. Jenni and I admired gorillas, peacocks, penguins and leopards while Ben snoozed away in his stroller. He woke up to eat while we were watching the Bonobos play. They are a personal favorite of mine so we sat down and fed him there. A thunderstorm came in shortly after that and we took refuge in the carousel building. The workers put down all of the doors so the horde of people that had congregated would stay dry in the downpour. Ben stayed happy by watching the older children ride the carousel. He was clearly amazed by all of the lights and sounds.

After the storm passed, we hit the Aquariums. I was particulary excited to see how he would react given all of the bright colors and fluid movements of the fish. I was right. This was obviously Ben's favorite part of the Zoo. We had the video camera with us, but he slept most of the day and it was too dark in the Aquarium buidings to get any good footage. But that's ok. I just enjoyed him enjoying the fish. His eyes were so wide. His excitement so real. The newness so surreal. He watched the Manatees and all of his fish friends. He watched a small hammerhead shark intently and for a pretty long period of time until a school of tropical fish caught his eye. And we watched him do all of this with more love in our hearts than I could ever explain.

So on the way out, we stopped back into the gift shop. We looked around for a bit before we settled on a stuffed hammerhead shark. Much cuter than a real one, but a perfect souvenir for our first trip to the Zoo. Something to remember his excitement by. It was a very cool moment buying that for him. I had a stuffed hammerhead shark when I was a small child. I didn't remember that until we were on our way home. Kinda cool. You think of things like that so much more when you are a parent. My stuffed hammy was much smaller, for the record! ;)

On with the pictures. Enjoy!

Jenni and Ben at a pigroast some guys at work had last weekend.
At the pigroast again...and no, I'm not talking about Ben. This kid is a tank!
Daddy showing Ben the Bonobos at the Columbus Zoo and Ben sleeping through it.
Can anyone say...Belushi?
Our neighbor's daughter, Kaitlynn feeding Ben. She is really good with him.
Great Grandma Breckenridge at our Father's Day picnic yesterday.
Another great photo by Jenni. She's really impressing!
Ben chillin' with Gracie...she is also very good with Ben. Lotsa sibling experience!
Seriously...don't you just want to squeeze the livin' daylights outta this kid?!This is what we see everyday. This is what we have been blessed with. We love him dearly and thank you all for your interest. Comment!

Love,
Jeff (and Jenni)