Benson is walking!

On the wall, none-the-less! Not really, you'll have to tilt your head to the side to see the video! He's still a little wobbly, but he's getting the hang of it! Check him out!

St. Louis! woo hoo!

Benson's first airplane ride... He was PUMPED! :)

Preparing for take-off...

Benson did AWESOME of the plane ride! He didn't cry and was very sweet.

We made it! Here we are at the St. Louis zoo...

We went to a cardinals game at Busch Stadium. It was my first major league baseball game. Benson's too.


with daddy and uncle Jo at the Cardinals game

How cute are they? (See the arch in the background?)




In the "dryer" on the way to the top of the St. Louis Arch...

We made it! How Cool!

Benson loved looking out of the windows at the top of the arch...

The Cardinals Stadium from the top of the St. Louis arch...


here we are at the top!



The whole crew in front of the St. Louis Arch... (click on the pic to see it bigger)

Family pic in front of the arch...

We saw some ducks in the park by the arch. Benson loved them!




Benson was a little more restless on the plane ride home... he wasn't crying or fussy, but he did NOT want to sit still... he wanted to stand...

sit on the little fold down table and play peek-a-boo...

pretend to sleep on the floor... (yuck, i know... i washed the blankets when we got home...)

peek over the chairs in front and back of us and laugh at the people who were sitting there :)

Summertime Travels...

I profusely apologize for the absence of "Benson Updates" as of late... please do forgive :). HOWEVER, I will greatly make up for it in the following post which encompass all of our last three weeks which have been very busy and FULL of firsts and lots of fun!!

Here we go...

We made our annual July Fourth voyage to the great Maggie Valley in North Carolina.
Below, you can see my favorite pics. CLICK HERE to view them all :)

I was worried about Benson being afraid of the fireworks. He um... wasn't.


Hannah was hilarious the whole time. She's such a girl. She loves shoes and playing dress up... I do hope the Lord blesses me with a little one of these one day. I just love her to pieces! And lets face it, you can't put a bow in Benson's hair! :)


Bathing suit over the PJ's with the bunny slippers.... priceless!

Poking her little tushy out...

Three monkeys...

Hannah was showing Will how to work his new toy...

She knows where her belly button is...

Blue eyed cutie Will...

Grandmama and the girls...

Bubble time!



Fireman Ryan

Mrs. Lula put together a "baby shower" for Susie while we were in the mountains. What a great idea! I have the most thoughtful mother-in-law in the world!!!

Hannah helping open presents...

Does this look like fun, or what?!




We had a snake in the little pond. Mrs. Lula took action. It was quite funny watching the commotion. They got it. It was gross.

They LOVED playing DOG all week with the dog leashes. Hannah's favorite time was when they actually attached a leash to a REAL dog and let her walk it around. Poor dogs...


Juice break...

There were three in the chair and the little one said... Move over!

We went on a "picnic" to Lake Joccassee. Well, we ended up only taking drinks, but it was fun nonetheless!

Hannah looks like a rapper.

On our walk... Pretty good for a self timer pic, huh?!

We looked a little cult-ish walking around in our all white and khaki...

Family pic at the lake...

Please mama, can I have some?

Cheerios rock my world...

Thomas, Susie, Hannah and Addie Grace

Christa, Will and Jason

Running through the sprinkler. They were all afraid of it. Maybe next year...

Silly girl...

Independent little thing...


The Ryan Five (plus parents)