However, Benjamin, commonly known as Ben, Benny and Big Ben is tired of the background.
In typical male fashion, he is bold when not clinging to mommy, robust, big and ever so cute.
It's a good thing that this comes to you from an unbiased perspective. Should you not agree,
ask Jenni who is of course completely objective; she'll bear me out on this point.
We don't take Benny out as frequently as Ellie for a number of reasons. One might be that
he is far too tough for Jen and me to handle on our own. What do we know about kids anyway?
We didn't have mother Natalie to teach us . Actually, we did.
In fact the other day, we hiked up Mount Woodson and ran down as a warm up in preparation
for a few hours with the kids. Upon returning home after doing grandparents' favorite thing
(handing the little 'sweet things') back to the parents, we arrived at the following conclusion:
Woodson was less tiring.
It looks like a great start as Ellie leads Ben in big-sister fashion. Naturally, Ben has his aqua-bottle with him.
This will allow him to unscrew the cap off and back on at least a dozen times between activities. Apparently,
he is also a Chargers fan or maybe that's the parents.
We headed out for Chuck-e-Cheese as part of the afternoon's festivities. A nice aspect was
the camaraderie we developed with parents of kids at that madhouse. We gave each other
the rolling-of-eyes look together with encouraging smiles and kind words such as :
"It's only another two hours of bedlam to go."
Gaga looks in good shape (you owe me big time for that Jen), Ellie is a little off-center while Ben
is slightly apprehensive. The big question on everyone's mind was whether Ben would
regain his confidence. We could only wait and see. It was a nerve-wracking few moments.
It looks like the kid captured his usual form and in no time was driving both the car and his grandparents...
What we found interesting is that we are second generation Chuck-e people. By this we
mean that we took our children to this establishment many times and now we are again
visiting with the next generation. Naturally, we hope to be great-grandparents one day
but without wishing anyone harm, hope that Chuck-e-Cheese moves out of state.
A few more photographs lend some color to the afternoon's experience.
My favorite: Benny asking his buddy if he too feels something warm flowing down his leg.
Back to the table so we could continue the ritual: Unscrew the cap; screw the cap back on...
It seems universal these days: Ellie giving the Middle-East peace sign.
Chuck-e takes a far less controversial position.
In the meantime, the mature Ellie was beating her Papa in foozball.
At this stage, clearly without inhibitions as his behavior breaks all the rules
of the establishment. Proud grandparents try their best to coax him off but
end up hiding under the closest table while sending Ellie to sort out her brother.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
