Blessings for Benton: August Adventures

August was a month of adventures for the Bertram family. With Joe's parents leaving for the month to Japan, we were on our own with our little man. This gave us just the right excuse to do a stay-cation for awhile and check out the DC sites.

Our first stop was our friend Breton & Chris' pool which we made quite the routine over the month of August. At first Benton was not a fan of the pool but with a little encouragement and lot of toys in the baby pool he came around and eventually loved practicing walking back and forth in the water. Not only was this a fun outdoor activity but it was great exercise and practice to help him get strong enough to take his first steps.

Family portrait at the pool!

Loving the pool

Next stop was the Baltimore Aquarium which was so much fun. Benton loved riding in his new backpack and checking out all the fish and he even got to touch non-stinging jellyfish. We also took in a dolphin show - and man was Benton shocked when the dolphins jumped into the air! Finally we checked out the rain forest exhibit and saw lots of birds and bats.

First time at the Aquarium!

Waiting for the Dolphin Show to Start

Start of the Jellyfish World

Rain Forest Fun!

Third stop was the Delaware beaches for a quick day trip. It was Benton's first experience at the beach and boy was he ever overwhelmed. Not only did he HATE the sand and start crying and whining any time his feet went off the blanket but when we walked him down to the water's edge he started freaking out. Needless to say he spent most of the afternoon under the tent on a blanket, but with a little coaxing we were able to get him more acclimated by day's end. I see a lot of cajoling to get him to enjoy the beach in the future, but since I'm from Hawaii its kind of a prerequisite for my kid. :) These pictures are a few from when he wasn't freaking out at the beach:

Not so happy about the ocean

Getting a little bit happier at the beach

After our solo adventures my dad came into town to help us with Benton and spend some quality time with his grandson. Before heading back to work we checked out quite a few fun spots in DC. We had picnics at Lincoln Park, tried out the Georgetown splash park, checked out the National Museum of Art and went to Jazz in the Garden with friends. During all of these new adventures Benton was such a good sport and I think it was great for him to really start experiencing the outside world now that he is oxygen free.

Three generations at Lincoln Park

Love this little man

Playing with Grandpappy after Destroying our Picnic

Fun at the Splash Park

Playing at the Splash Park

Family fun at the National Museum of Art

Boys in the Thinker Pose

Jazz in the Garden with Friends

Benton loves Auntie Breton and Uncle Chris

Trying out walking at the Jazz in the Garden

For our final crazy outing we went to the National Building Museum's Beach exhibit. For those of you who don't know the Beach exhibit it is basically a giant ball pit for kids and adults that is mirrored to look like the beach with a shallow and deep end and even beach chairs for your viewing pleasure. This exhibit was such a trip! Benton was slightly overwhelmed by the number of people and the balls everywhere, but when Joe pushed me into the ball pit and I disappeared Benton got truly upset....seeming to say "Why would you do that to Mommy". The Beach exhibit was no joke, and my dad even had difficulty getting out of the ball pit at one point so Joe had to go in to retrieve him :)