Blogging is Back

Long time no blog!  For those of you that don't know, I go to school (finishing a bachelors degree), work full time and am a single parent.  Unfortunately, when something has to go, it's the blog! Even though they are few and far between, I really just get too busy to remember to do it.  Ben and I have been having fun and I have a bit of free time, so the blogging is back...for now.  Ben is getting older (now 9 1/2!) and getting ready to enter the 4th grade.  Along with that comes intelligence and questions.  Lots and lots...and LOTS of questions.  I thought it was bad when he was 2-3 in his "Why" phase, but that phase has nothing on him now.  Nearly every sentence starts with "I have a question...." However now the questions are more difficult to explain and I am having to Google (or "Doodle" as Ben used to say "Mom, if you don't know, Doodle it") his questions more and more. Ben is a very literal child, so I have to choose my words wisely.  So this has been my life for about the past year or so. 

Here is how our Father's Day weekend went: Months ago, Ben decided he wanted to go camping.  I got together with a few of my other single mom friends and we decided on a "family" trip.  With about 15 folks in tow, we went off to our favorite camping spot and set up camp.  Ben swam in a lake, played with other kids and while I let him take his Nintendo DS, he wasn't on it all day and night.  We had s'mores, hot dogs, brats and eggs over a fire.  Slept in a tent (on an air mattress, of course!), walked down the middle of a river and were tortured by raccoons and Ben loved every single minute of it.  I can't wait to do it again, hopefully next time we will choose a less hot weekend, but that's all part of making memories.   

Today is Father's Day.  I have always been a single mother.  Ben and I haven't ever "celebrated" Fathers Day.  On Friday, as we were getting ready to leave for our camping trip, Ben and I discussed that I am his only parent (we have this discussion about once every 3 months) and he "guesses" that he should celebrate me on Fathers Day this year (completely his decision).  We went on the fun camping trip with our friends but came home late last night instead of today.  So, this morning Ben woke me up after he made me breakfast (a piece of cheese and a piece of ham wrapped in a tortilla), snuggled with me and then decided he was going to cook a dinner of his choosing...nachos.  We bought all the stuff and came home to cook.  He (well, mostly me, but if you ask him, he did "almost all of it") cooked dinner and then he raved about what an excellent cook he was.  Whether or not he will want to continue this tradition remains to be seen, but I LOVED this Father's Day.  :)  Hope the father or father figure in your life did as well!

A hui hoa friends!