Ben's ABCs

The "Elephant" at the "Circus"

Earlier this month we took Ben to a "circus" on family night at the community center at a nearby base.  It took him a few minutes to warm up.  Once he did, he ran and ran.

This was a huge blow-up maze.  Air was blasting out of this end as the kids piled in.

Ben finally got the courage to crawl in.  Unfortunately, he took off down one of the paths and couldn't find his way back and started to scream and cry.  Another kid found him, took him by the hand & led him out.  Ben got over his tears in about five seconds & tried to go back in (but we didn't let him).

Coloring a clown with MARKERS!!  He only gets crayons and pencils at home.  That green band on his right wrist bugged him the whole time.

Discovering the bean bag toss game.

He was thrilled to play with all these balls.  He didn't even care when he got konked on the head a few times.  Daddy helped him slam dunk, too.

And we're back to the bean bag toss.  Soon after this, someone announced that a special guest would be making an appearance....

...an ELEPHANT!!!  Ben was the first kid to run up to this poor guy.

But Ben wasn't the only little kid to swarm the elephant.

I should mention that it was really hot in this room.  Can't imagine how hot it was in that costume.  Notice which kid is front & center.

Ben was pointing and saying "elephant" over and over.

They announced that the elephant couldn't stay much longer but would be playing a game of tug-of-war with the kids before leaving.  We had to drag Ben away from the elephant.  We bribed him with pizza.

Ostend, Belgium

After visiting Brugge, we drove half an hour to the North Sea coast.  Mike got a great hotel for us (with air conditioning!) just a couple blocks from the beach.

Yep, Ben still loves the ocean.

Our hotel room was very nice, especially for a European hotel (rooms here can be quite small).  We had this huge shower stall AND a nice big bathtub.  There was a living room area with a fold-out couch that served as Ben's bed.

The boardwalk near the fish market had a bunch of food stands with a ton of great seafood.  There was also an ice cream stand - every day Ben got a cone.

This jungle gym was downtown just past a restaurant where we had a great lunch of fish I've never heard of.

Playing peekaboo with Daddy.

Hanging out at the hotel swimming pool.

I've never been in an indoor pool area this dark!  And it was just off the lobby.  Ben insisted on getting out of the pool just to go back down the pool steps over & over.

Walking around downtown, we found a waffle stand.  Oh, those delicious Belgian waffles.