Silly Boys

Just a couple of odd shots of the boys for your Wednesday morning viewing pleasure.

Benji likes to hang out in his bumbo. 

Peter likes to 'decorate' Benji while he hangs out in the bumbo.

What do you do when you've got to carry your sword but aren't wearing pants with a proper holster? Or pants at all for that matter.
Spiderman underwear does the job nicely.

AV Fair

This past weekend we went to the Antelope Valley County Fair. We had a fantastic time even though it was scorching this past weekend. Here are some of Peter's favorite things.

Tell you the truth, I was quite impressed with this petting zoo. Besides the usual pigs, donkeys, sheep, goats, they had a couple of KANGAROOS, and even some baby deer. Petey kept trying to hold onto this one's tail for some reason.

Next Peter spent quite a while cleaning up the animal stalls and roping some bulls. He was pretty focused on both tasks.

Every year Pete's favorite part of the fair is this kids water pumping station. We probably could have stayed there all night long and he would have been just fine. In fact, I seem to remember a bit of a tantrum when it was time to move along.

(As for Petey's clothes, I know what you're thinking. Guess who dressed him that day?)

Benji did pretty good considering how hot it was - he sacked out a hour or so in and was pretty contented to just hang out in the stroller.

That's not to say, he wasn't a bit nervous for his big brother's big debut in Mutton Busting.

And here's the family - just after the fireworks, which Benji sat through just fine. The kid didn't even cry once! Amazing. Also notice Peter giving his patented stink-eye face. That kid has quite the little personality these days I tell ya.

Mutton Bustin'

Perhaps the most important part of this years' county fair attendance included Peter's foray into the world of Mutton Busting. Yes, we are one of those parents. Peter prepped for this occasion by watching numerous YouTube videos and getting rides from Daddy. I tell you, he was ready.

Here's our little man (he's in the tie-dye shirt) in the lineup of fear - awaiting his turn.

I tell you tempers were high and the adrenaline was pumping fast back here...mostly from the parents.

And here's our champion rider all decked out in his gear. Happy as can be. Little did he know...

Although Petey made the age limit this year (3 years) he was still a little skinny by the WRO standards and thus wasn't able to do a full hang-on-for-dear-life-ride. But don't tell him that because he loved every moment of his 1.5 second ride. You would have thought he'd just been crowned Rodeo Queen or something. Next year I'm sure he'll dominate.

And lastly, here's the ride that will live in our minds forever. At least until next year.

Let's just pack it all into one weekend

So with the new baby and all, we Millet's haven't really gotten out much this summer. But this past weekend we seemed to make up for this by planning a crazy whirlwind weekend which included going camping and the beach. Friday night we joined Travis' co-workers up Tehachapi Mountain and then drove down Saturday afternoon to meet our Utah friend Amber at Venice beach. Sunday we collapsed.

I was a bit nervous to take my baby who seldom sleeps for more than 2.5 hour stretches at night but I figured no one really sleeps while camping anyways so why not! 

Peter however was beyond thrilled to go camping. He'd been talking about it all week.

Here's Peter and Saida (a co-workers daughter) playing us some music while we had breakfast.

The happy family. A little sleep-deprived, but happy.

And no, that isn't our tent - we've outgrown our two-man tent - we've upgraded to a 6-person monstrosity which was awesome.

Peter has been begging us all summer to go to the beach. I really haven't wanted to deal with a newborn + sand + sun but some friends loaned us their umbrella so that made this trip easier. Peter had a ball though. He loved digging in the sand and going in the water with Daddy. He even got a nice mouthful of saltwater which he discovered doesn't taste quite the same as pool-water.

Surprisingly, Benji did really good too. Mostly he hung out on the blanket, in the shade, just giggling away. It was a wonderful weekend, but man, are we ever glad to be home (and for Sunday naps).

Apollo Park Outing

This past week I took the boys to Apollo Park. It's one of our favorite places to go because it is huge, has TREES (which is pretty rare out here in the desert), a playground and a large duck pond. Plus to get to it, you get to go down the Musical Road (it plays the Lone Ranger Theme song) which is Peter's favorite. I haven't ventured out much with Benji in tow just because it has been so hot but we left pretty early in the morning and had a great time.

Peter feeding the ducks

This fella was Peter's favorite. Once Petey saw its' feathers all fluffed up like this I think he laughed hysterically for like 10 minutes.

My cute man. There is a large walking trail that loops around the park and not 5 minutes after we started off, Pete took a dive and scraped up his knees and elbows. But he was a champ and soldiered on soon afterwards.

This my friends is MY newest friend. For my birthday I bought myself this lovely tandem stroller. Being a sit-n-stand, it makes it so much easier to be able to strap my crazy toddler in instead of trying to chase him down all the time. Plus, it's super light and I can put the car seat in the front or the back depending on where I want Peter to sit.

Benji hanging out in the shade. He was so good the entire trip.

After wandering around for a while, our good friend Emily and her kids met us at the playground but of course I forgot to take pictures then. We were just having too good of a time!