Yesterday Bennett turned four.

I still can't believe I have a four year old...so crazy!

We have been super busy and aren't slowing down til October, but I wanted to pop in and share Bennett's birthday parties before too much time went by.

Like last year I decided to have separate parties for friends and family,
which has worked out really well.

The friend party was a park close to our house, and the family party was the next day at our house. 

(it was awesome not having to clean up our house after one party to get ready for the next)

I have always loved these quirky dinosaur invites from Paperless Post, so I decided that I'd use them this year and make it a funky dinosaur party.

The friend party at the park was so fun. We had a few kid activities and everyone got to take home an awesome painted dinosaur:

Bennett helped us make a volcano to "erupt" at the party, and I made dirt dessert which went along nicely with the theme:

We hid "dinosaur eggs" around the playground and the kids ran around to find them:
(Bennett's best friend Avery and her dino egg...isn't she cute?)

After finding them, they smashed them on the pavement to get the dinosaurs out:
(I apparently baked them too long because the parents were needed to get these things apart)

Bennett and his loot:
(and dinosaur tail)

I love this picture of Bennett and his friends Hadley and Ezra:
(the difference between girls and boys!)

Opening presents:

The next day we did it all over again, but with family...and not so many kid activities:

For the kids' favors we painted dinosaurs with craft paint.
These were my favorite part about the party.
I was originally thinking of doing these but just painting them multiple coats was more than enough work! 

Dinosaur Bennett excited to open presents:

Four:

Blowing out the candle:

Happy Birthday little dude, we can't wait to see what four has in store for you!

More Bennett parties:
Bennett's 3rd birthday
Bennett's 2nd birthday
Bennett's 1st birthday

I put these together each month for Buck's first year and I think I ended up posting only a couple of them. So now that Buck is 15 months (and SO much bigger)...

And yes, he's still scooting at 15 months (which is when Bennett started walking), but he is standing and cruising around furniture so I think it's only a matter of time before my days get reeeaaallly crazy.
 Pray for me.

Last week we packed up the car and headed to go camp in a yurt at Fort Stevens State Park in the very north west part of Oregon. We haven't been since Bennett was Buck's age but we've looked forward to going again ever since. The yurts are so hard to get, they fill up quickly so you pretty much have to reserve 6 months in advance. We reserved ours in February!

All ready to go:

(and relieved that everything/everybody fit)

The boys are back there somewhere:

All settled in:

(just waiting for my sister, niece and nephew to arrive)

Our toys fit nicely inside:

We made him his own little play area:

(I think the big kids liked it better than he did)

Buck approved of this camping breakfast:

Chris and the kids:

My sister and Buck's stinkface:

Cousins:

Chris and Bennett at the remains of the Peter Iredale Shipwreck:

Buck mid-hop:

and eating the sand:

Dressed for Hawaii and playing in the sand:

Exploring Ft. Stevens:

(Fort Stevens was built where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean in 1864 and it served to protect the U.S. during the Civil War and WWII. It is actually the "only military installation in the continental US to receive hostile fire during WWII"...thanks wikipedia)

Totally looks like Africa...not that I've ever been there, 

but this is what I'd imagine it looks like:

I was surprised that Bennett wanted to sleep on the top bunk, and I was sure he would wake up scared in the middle of the night...that or just plain fall off, but he did great!

This was our view in the morning:

("mommy, daddy are you awake yet?")

Buck was teething multiple molars and had been waking up the nights leading up to camping, but he actually slept the whole night through all three nights (even with us all in the same little yurt!). I was nervous about how sleeping would work out but it worked out great...probably because we all just passed out once our heads hit the pillow!

Napping was a little more difficult since it was so bright in the yurt. We timed most of his naps so they coincided with a bike ride since he always falls asleep in the bike trailer, and it worked like a charm.

Sleepy, cranky (but cute) boy:

Yawning:

(or roaring)

Waiting for our ice cream on the last night:

As always, we had tons of fun and we're already looking forward to going a few times next year!

(I should probably get on reserving those)

Happy Friday Friends!