Sneak Peak for Mary

Photo shoot with George, Megan and Ansley Cairns

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I hope you like them Mary!

Meet Milo

We picked him up at the Humane Society on Saturday afternoon (the 8th of Nov.) for a one week trial. Milo is a stray that was brought in after someone witnessed him being dumped. So we don't know much about him. We had gone to visit him several times and we were back and forth and back and forth about adopting him. Then I asked about an at home trial which obviously they do so we brought him home. Things are going ok. On the plus side he is very good with Ben and he is about 95% house broken. On the negative side he is very high energy (more so than a normal dog that's 9-12 months I think) and he doesn't have much manners (he pulls hard on leash, jumps up when excited and bites/chews on your arm (or other part of your body) when he wants to play/attention.) alot of which is typical of a dog his age. Unfortunately we are very spoiled after 14.5 years with Peter and now 1.5 with no dog. On the plus side, he seems very smart, he seems willing to learn and he's definitely a people dog, loves to be with you every minute. But he will require some formal obedience training and lots of time and work. Is it worth it? I'm still debating. He thinks our bed is his already and he really is a nice dog most of the time. So I just thought I'd share some photos while we are in the deliberation phase. Let us know what you think and we'll let you know what we decide.

Happy Veterans Day

To all the men and women who are serving, have served and will serve our country, a big big thank you from the Seeley Family.

Thank you for your sacrifices to protect our country.

Thank you for providing us the freedom we enjoy everyday and thank you for continuing to protect those freedoms.

We appreciate you, we appreciate what you do for our country.

Thank you.

Major Milestone

Tonight for the very first time Ben peed ON THE POTTY!! He has been spending a little time lately sitting on the potty but all he has ever done has passed gas (well one night I caught him pooping in the tub and swung him over to the big toliet and a little bit made it in the toliet but I don't really count that time). Tonight he wanted to sit on the little potty chair before he got in the bath and he spent alot of time there but nothing came of it. Then after bath he asked to sit on the potty again and a few minutes later he got up and said to me "I did it Mom" I thought he meant passed gas again. I look down and there is PEE IN THE POTTY! I am so proud! We are finally making a little progress in the long process of potty training. WOOO HOO! I'm so excited and proud of him! Anyway, I just couldn't wait to post about it. Had to make sure I remembered the exact date and time and circumstances. And just because, here are some cute photos from bath the night before last. John took these because he thought the mohawk I gave Ben while washing his hair was really cute.

Riding with Krysta

Well, I did it! 6 posts for the month of Sept. I had hoped to make it seven by posting on Monday or Tuesday but I didn't quite make it. But now I can aim for 7 in October!

Anyway, back on Sept. 20th Ben and I drove up to New Haven to watch Krysta ride in a gymkhana. For the first time, Ben was very into riding with Krysta and I got some great photos. Here they are!

Krysta & Eric watching the events
This would be a great photo if the fence wasn't in the way! These next two were taken during the Simon Says class.
Ben is telling Krysta he wants to go ride in the "shop" (the indoor riding ring).

This one is my favorite!
He even rode a little while all by himself! Krysta led Abby and I walked next to him holding onto the back of his pants (just in case!)
All that riding makes a boy hungry for some "hambbaburger"!

We got to watch Krysta ride in Simon Says (she got 2nd place) and Keyhole (another 2nd place finish) and also Sit a Buck (no place in that one). Ben had a great time and it was fun to see Krysta ride at such a fun and relaxed event. So Krysta is talking about Leadline class for next summer! So I guess we'll see! That afternoon we also drove down to Castleton to watch the women's soccer team play. I don't have any photos because Katie wasn't playing. Her foot is still sore but we got to see her after the game. I also got to watch a little bit of the game (it's hard to watch with Ben running around everywhere) and they won 6-0. It was a fun day and beautiful weather. But Ben was very tired from all that activity and no nap.

Next time I'll have to post about Avery's 2nd birthday party and our August trip to Echo with Gramme. Til then...

That's my boy!

A couple of things to add, very late at night, because I just don't want to forget.

First, Ben has figured out that he can take his tiny little A&W mug and push the water dispenser on the refrig and fill it up. So now I'm just wanting for when he figures out how to push the ice dispenser and dispenses ice all over the floor! (I'll be sure to keep the camera handy the next couple of days!)

Second, Ben opened the refrig all by himself tonight. He took out his quart of 2% milk, unscrewed the cap and proceeded to lift it up to his mouth and drink out of it ALL BY HIMSELF. IT WAS HILARIOUS! John and I couldn't stop laughing! (Unfortunately no picture, I was in the middle of doing dinner stuff with messy hands and the camera was not close by. Bummer!) This provides certain proof that this pure male trait is not learned but ingrained in their genes! All smiles aside though, I think I'm gonna have to find a lock for the refrig door!

Third, we affectionately call our cat Nerwin "Tard" (short for r*t*rd) because he really is lacking in the brain department. Anyway, John, Ben and I were outside this afternoon playing ball together. Nerwin was hanging around us looking for loving while we were running around after the ball, throwing and kicking it. Out of the blue, Ben picks up the ball, aims for Nerwin and says "throw to Tard". It took him saying it 3 times for us to understand exactly what he was staying and then John and I just burst out laughing. Like roll on the ground, laughing out loud! He really hears and picks up on EVERYTHING we say! It was just hysterical!

I wish I had a video of us playing together this afternoon. It was such a priceless half an hour spent together. Ben would run so fast and laugh so hard while I pretended to chase him that he could barely breathe. It was just such a great time together. I just never want to forget it!

Never a dull moment when Ben's around! Oh and that's just stuff that happened today!

Maine was Great!!

Maine was great! Too short and of course not nearly enough time to fit in all we wanted to do but none the less, Great! We managed to leave about 12:45 on Friday afternoon in the rain. Ben was too excited to eat lunch before we left but fell asleep anyway in the truck about 40 minutes into the ride. But then only slept about 30 minutes and woke up starving. So we stopped at the Purmort exit on I-89 in NH and got sandwiches at the Subway in the truck stop. Ben ate almost an entire 6" sub by himself! We headed out again but by the time we got onto Route 4 headed East Ben was antsy. Traffic was bad and slow. I think partly being a Friday afternoon and partly a Loudon race weekend. Thankfully we made it to Kittery and stopped at the Kittery Trading post. Ben and I did a little walking around while John spent the entire time in the gun section. After about an hour or so we headed out again and went straight to the hotel. We stayed here. I was very impressed! I love having a separate bedroom, a full kitchen and a small living room. We didn't spend much time there but it was still comfortable! It rained all afternoon and evening Friday. We did go down to the beach and take a short walk in the dark and rain after we checked in and as expected Ben didn't think much of it. After that we headed to the Maineiacs for a late dinner. It was ok. John had prime rib, I had the seafood bake and Ben had (of course) a "hambbaburger". Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine! I was so excited! So we ate a quick breakfast and headed right down to the beach.

Beautiful Wells Beach (looking to the South)
We even got a parking place right down by the beach. Ben was very unsure about the beach at first (as he is with anything new). He didn't want to take off his sandals. He didn't want to walk in the water. But after a little while of John and I walking barefoot on the sand and in the water he gave it a try. We took hundreds of photos! Here are some of my favorites!











And by the time we left about 2.5 to 3 hours later he was running and splashing and screaming and laughing. It was so much fun! He was soaked and covered from head to toe with sand! We ate lunch at the little take out place right on the beach and then we headed back to get changed and cleaned up. Then we headed up the interstate about 20 minutes to Scarborough where the new Cabela's Store is. John really wanted to go (I wanted to stay on the beach in the sun). But it ended up being worth the trip! The store had a huge display of stuff animals in the center of the store. They also had smaller ones around the store.



They had a big fish tank and one of those laser target shooting galleries.


You point the gun at the target and if you hit it the object moves and/or makes noise or shoots water at you. And Ben absolutely loved it! That's all he wanted to do is "push the guns Mom, push the guns!" Thankfully the salesman John was buying a rangefinder from gave us a handful of tokens for free. Anyway, by the time we got out of the store it was all foggy along the coast and looked like rain. Ben needed a nap so we took our time and drove the slow coastal route back to Wells. This photo was taken in Kennebunkport I think at Pier 77.

We arrive back at dinner time and stopped to eat at the Bull and Claw. I had a twin lobster dinner and John had steak and lobster. Ben had spaghetti and meatballs and I even got him to try a couple of small pieces of lobster. He wasn't crazy about it but he tried it! On Sunday morning, it was pouring rain again. I mean absolutely pouring. John had to pack the truck in the pouring rain. After we packed and checked out, we headed to the Hayloft for breakfast and then drove down to Perkins Cove. We were able to park right down in the Cove because of the rain. We walked across the bridge and around a couple of shops with our raincoats and umbrellas.




Then we headed south. I tried to find Nubble Light but missed the turn (I always have trouble finding it) and by the time I realized it, we were too far south to head back. It probably would have been hard to see it in the rain and fog anyway. On the way back home we stopped to see the Oberheim Family in Hopkinton, NH for a couple of hours. We also stopped briefly at Colby-Sawyer College to see Mom and Katie who were there for a soccer game. Then we stopped in West Lebanon to see my favorite big pet store and have dinner and then we finally headed home. I think we finally made it home about 8 pm. So it was fast and furious but a lot of fun and great to get away for a few days.

Photos: Katie Playing Soccer, Ben at the game & Rainbow at the Kaufmann's

I should be in bed but just finished emailing my sister Holly and got the urge to post and share these photos. These were all taken on Saturday Aug 30. Ben and I went down to Castleton to see Katie play in her first home soccer game. I got a couple of good ones of Katie playing but I know she won't like them!





I also got a couple of cute ones of Ben running around.




After the game we headed to Patty's and Larry's house in Shoreham for dinner and while we were there a pretty intense thunderstorm went through. Then this....




Awesome!! The pictures definitely don't do it justice.
Off to bed for me and onto Wells, ME tomorrow for a litte weekend getaway!