Ben's Birthday and 1st Day of School!

Ben's fifth birthday started at 5:55am, when he leapt into our bed...



We opened some presents and then the day really got started...


Gail and Ben went with his friend Phillip (and his Mommy and very new little brother, Richard) to the Echo Center in Burlington VT...


Ben and Phillip did some archaeological excavating, in search of bones...


and Ben got a chance to peek up inside a tank full of fish...


and the Birthday-Boy even got to help out with a presentation on sturgeon...


They had a great time at the Echo Center, but Ben was really just as excited about the ferry ride...he loves being on the water and looking up and down Lake Champlain...


It's a perfect trip length on the water, and it was a great day for the ride...


Mommy made a beautiful cake for Ben {excuse the photo quality, the camera got a smudge on the lens at some point in the day...}...


Opening some more presents, Ben got lots of cool stuff, including these sweet boots and Spiderman-esque raincoat...


He also got a new backpack and water-bottle for school...


An educational game-boy clone was another big hit with Ben, as were the boots...he wanted to wear them to school...


Gail made some yum-tastic rice crispy treats for Ben to bring into school for his class...


Today was Ben's first day of school...he got up and got dressed...


As you can see, he looks very grown-up in his...to-school clothes...



Gail and Ben waited for the bus at the end of our driveway, and he got right on without any hesitation...


Ben was excited to get on, and sit with his friends...


Phillip's father took some pics of the boys arriving at Lake Clear Elementary...Ben apparently got off, thanked the driver, and walked with his buddies right into Kindergarten...


In this shot, you can see Ben and Phillip and Jacob...



Gail was waiting for Ben at Lori's (Ben's childcare provider for the last 4 years), which is where he'll get off until we're sure of his/my schedule...