 1 We took malassadas, cupcakes and champagne (thanks to my friend, Leo!) out to the sandbar for Ben's big first birthday bash. He's actually 389 days old...Reminds me of something funny Sam asked when Ben had been home about two days: "Is Ben going to be with us for very many days?" |
 2 Getting ready - Dave and I are licensed to drive these boats, so we took two boats and 17 people. |
 3 Getting all the gear and peeps on board, including the paddleboard! |
 4 Holly has been Ben's babysitter almost the whole last year. She has been teaching Sam Japanese while Ben naps and I work, and then taking the boys to the playground for an hour while I finish up. She is wonderful with the boys! She is usually over once or twice a week for about two hours. |
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 6 He was lifting his shades up and down, peeking at Holly's dad, Rich. |
 7 I am pretty bad at steering. It's very easy to over-correct on these, so I drew a few S's on the way out. Don't check my wake!!! |
 8 Holly, Ben, Heidi (Holly's mom) and Charlie. These are two of Heidi and Rich's 4 kids. |
 9 There's Rich and girlfriend Danielle. |
 10 We're there! Riding the paddleboard is fun fun fun! That's Leo and Brendan, parents to Bridget (in middle of board) and Greta (holding onto mom). |
 11 Anneliese and Bridget show us how it's done! |
 12 Dave offloading coolers and loading up my sherpas - Rich, Brendan and Jon. |
 13 The whole crew in action, spotting the SUP-ers, offloading, photo-journaling... |
 14 Just to Leo's right it drops off steeply, but otherwise we had a patch of sand about the size of a football field to play on, and swim just off of. |
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 16 There's the sand. |
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 18 Cute big boy!!! I love you, my Ben! |
 19 Even with a cold, he's mister personality. Enjoyed having the big girls chase him. |
 20 Sam gearing up for adventure, with Ben, Kathy and Caleigh looking on. |
 21 Dickens crew relaxing :) |
 22 Ben played football with Richie! |
 23 And served Daddy some champagne. |
 24 Sam snorkeled for so long, some wondered if he was still breathing through it! Beautiful out there. |
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 26 Jon taking a look around. |
 27 See the sand on the little hands? |
 28 The grownups were beginning to take turns on the paddleboard while the rest of the kids played in the sand or swam around. |
 29 Mimosas and malassadas! that's me reaching...thanks Kathy for documenting! |
 30 And I looked like I've had one too many, but oh don't I wish that were the truth :) ha ha! |
 31 Wondering if Holly and Charlie would make it back! The current is pretty strong - easy on the way out but... |
 32 Cheers! My adventure buddy on trail and off (speaking of which - we're going horseback riding in two days with another friend of mine! With real Hawaiian cowboys, in the mountains behind Kathy.) |
 33 Heidi and Rich - 24 years married so I made them kiss for the cam...very embarrassing. Sorry! (Not really!) |
 34 Muggin' with my little man - look at his sand goatee! |
 35 Bridget snorkeling :) |
 36 Greta explaining something to me in great detail. We've known her since she was just about 4 months old. Caleigh, too, about the same age. Now they're 3!!! |
 37 Ben really takes to people pretty quickly. He's not shy. |
 38 I made Dave comply, too, and took this self-portrait (which we often do on summits - the summit smootch), but when I asked later why those lips were really not puckered he said "I had Diet Pepsi in my mouth!" |
 39 Bringing me a special rock. He turned my hand flat and put it in there. |
 40 Jon taking Anneliese for a ride. |
 41 And standing up, too! |
 42 Cupcakes in ice cream cones made for a zero-mess, zero trash party. I will have to remember how clever I was...ha ha! |
 43 Kids enjoying their ice cream cones :) |
 44 Come on, Ben! Time to sing! Dave is luring him with cupcake. |
 45 Finally, the celebrant is in the shot! He is coming to me to share his cone :) |
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 50 Team Jones! Kathy and I took the board out tandem - I can't believe we didn't tip it! We even both stood up! WOW! Can't wait until I get that picture from Kathy...(hee hee...Kathy offloads photos about once a year!) |
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 53 Ben was really pooped out on the way back in! |
 54 So while he napped at home, Sam and I tackled some sprucing in the backyard. I had some trouble fitting everything in the green waste bin, so Sam hopped in and hopped around to scrunch it down. Then he hid and Dave rolled it to the curb with Sam popping out to surprise us! |
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