More boy bonding over building things...

Yep, the Bolger boys are at it again. Ben's big boy bed finally arrived so what better way to spend a weekday evening then a little quality father~son time over building Ben's big boy bed.

House Under Construction...

No, not our house. We are done with that for a while. But Ben and Jeff were very busy this past Sunday building Ben his own toy house.

The background to this story is that while we were at the Bussi's this past weekend, Maxine had the coolest kid-sized house and Ben loved it. When we asked where they bought it, Paul said he built it himself out of the moving boxes that used a few months back when they moved to San Rafael. BINGO! Now we know what to do with our moving boxes!

So, Ben and Jeff spent a good 2 hours Sunday morning and another hour or two Sunday afternoon building a play house for Ben out of some of our moving boxes. Talk about recycling! The house isn't quite done yet... the foundation and walls are up, some windows are cut but the decoration and painting still need to be done. Stay tuned for more pics when the house is completed. Let's just hope Ben loves the house... but even if he doesn't, he sure did have the best time building it with his Dad :)

Road Trip

Our friends, the Bussi family, just had baby Leo two weeks ago. So... us Bolgers made the 2ish hour trip up to San Rafael this past weekend to go see Paul, Nicole and Maxine and meet their newest addition, Leo. Leo is as cute as they come and Paul and Nicole are doing really well.

Ben and Maxine had tons of fun playing together and as the weather warmed up, Paul pulled out the big guns... ie the kiddie pool! The tots stripped down to their diapers and got drenched. Jeff and I were all for the kids running non stop while we were there because that ensured Ben took a nice long snooze on the way home. That, is what we call, strategy.

Big Boy Bed...

We're in the process of switching Ben from a crib to his (drum roll please)... Big Boy Bed! We have the 3rd bedroom that will be his big boy room and he loves going in and playing with his toys and helping Daddy measure and plan where the new furniture is going to be placed. According to Ben, everything (literally everything) measures a whopping 37 inches, whether it is a spec of dust or a football field. Not really sure where this came from but we're going with it.

Here, Ben is having fun 'working,' as he calls it, with Daddy in the big boy room. Pics will be posted once we have his big boy room all set up.

Just some cute pics from Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Ben loved having Grandpa read to him, especially when he read 'If You Give a Pig a Pancake...' one of Ben's favorites!

Grandma did an outstanding job of cooking and baking while here. Seriously... our fridge is stocked and it is sooo nice to know we don't have to cook and clean for a few days. Thank you, Grandma! Ben loved following Grandma while she was baking her apple pie. Someone should tell him a watched pot doesn't boil. Or rather, a watched pie doesn't bake!

Where the Wild Things Are

For Labor Day, we decided to go to Wild Things animal park a few miles from our house. Wild Things is this fantastic park that houses exotic animals that have been rescued from Circuses, kept as pets until they got too big or too unruly, who can no longer fend for themselves in the wild etc etc. They take you on an hour tour to see lions, tigers, elephants, cougars, aligators, kangaroos, foxes etc. We stayed a little longer after the tour ended so we could feed Buffy the elephant. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Oh, and of course, we started the afternoon with an awesome Mexican lunch... hence this top pic. Ole!

Greek Festival, Oopa!

Every Labor Day weekend in Monterey is the best festival of the year... that's right, the Greek Festival! Ben has been 3 years now... in utero, 1 year old and now 2 years old. Talk about devotion. Grandma and Grandpa scored big time by choosing to come during the fabulous Greek festival. We walked from Cannery Row to the Old Fisherman's Wharf where the festival was being held, ate tons of incredible Greek food (gyro, souvlaki, spanakopita, greek meatballs, baklava...) and listened to Greek music. Truly a perfect afternoon.

Ben had a great time running around the Greek band but was too shy to go dance since no one else was dancing.

 Here, Grandpa and Ben are taking a time out from the festival to look at the gardens of Custom House Plaza. Go figure, Ben is drawn to the fountain...

 On our way home, while Ben was napping, we stopped at Taste of Monterey and the Scheid Vineyard tasting rooms for a little wine tasting. Great way to cap off an awesome day! 

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit over Labor Day weekend and wow, what a jam packed weekend! We had so much fun and Ben was thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa all to himself. One of the days they were here, I had to hold an open house so Jeff, Ben, Grandma and Grandpa ventured to Gilroy Gardens. The choo choo ride was one of the highlights, as you can see Ben patiently waiting to board in the top picture. The water park was also open so the boys had fun splashing the other kids and spraying the water guns at the bigger boys.

Stay tuned for more pics from Grandma and Grandpa's visit!

The Fair!

The fair came to Monterey last week and I have never missed a year at the Monterey fair and purely by association, neither has our boy Ben! The Monterey fair is fabulous because it is so small town. There are tons of farm animals from cows to goats to ducks to pigs. The soft serve ice cream is world class (in my humble opinion... I'm not biased, or anything) and the rides and games are just good ol' fashioned fun.

Here, Ben is hanging with Idabelle, the lovely calf who, get this, was only 9 months old. Talk about needing to cut back on the formula. It is pretty obvious but Ben wasn't too sure about the lovely, and large, Idabelle... he was more partial to the ducks and goats... closer to his own size...

 A must when going to the fair is to OD on ice cream... and it must be soft serve. Ben and I started out sharing a waffle cone but Ben quickly commandeered the treat and left me with just the last few soggy bites.

And, last but not least, was the train ride with Papa... or as Ben called it... "Papa, Choo Choo!"

One Good Thing About Hurricane Irene...

Hurricane Irene did some pretty nasty stuff to the east coast 2-ish weeks ago and for our fabulous friends, the Goines family, it forced them to cancel their summer vacation. So... they made lemonade out of lemons and came to visit us for a night in the new house. We, of course, had so much fun with Jenny and Josh, as always, but Jake and Ben were like peas and carrots. They had the best time together playing with the toy cars, the water table, throwing apples in the back yard, singing with their guitars etc etc. Below are a few pics of their play time as well as the best bath EVER... Ben and Jake splashed the entire room from the walls to the floors to Jenny and I but boy, they sure had a good time. Now, poor Ben always asks if Jake is going to come for bath time and the look on his face when I tell him Jake is at his house is pure saddness.

A Whole New World...

We are a household of 2 boys and 2 girls... but one of the girls is a four legged terrier so really, Jen is the odd woman out. And it was never all that obvious until recently. Now that Ben talks and runs, he is ALL boy and his Dad loooooves it. It is pretty cute but I'm finding this "boy stuff" can be a bit scary as a parent. For example, we're on our Sunday hike. As you can see from this first picture, it was pretty cool landscape. So, rather than admiring the crags, my Bolger boys think it would be a fantastic idea to climb. Yep, climb. The kid is only two years old. Then we saw a snail. You can probably guess what happened next. Good thing I brought my antibacterial wipes.

Looks like I have a lot of learning to do (and gray hair to accumulate)...

(We wanted to stick this pic in the bunch because in the heart of that valley sits our new house. On our hikes, we go up from the valley floor to the top of the hills. Now that we live so close, Jeff is actually mountain biking these hills every other day.)

Arcade Fun

On Saturday night, we went to Ben's favorite pizzeria for dinner. Sure, he likes the pizza but if truth be told, all he really cares about is the arcade inside the pizzeria...