we're outta here!

we are about to depart on this year's annual BECKER FAMILY VACATION! a week in which we sit around and relax for days on end. nothing on the agenda accept for some games, campfires, golf, boating, and (of course) yummy food. we may be able to post once or twice, but if not, we will talk to you all next weekend! until then...

face plant

in keeping up with becoming a toddler, miles decided it was time for his first face plant. we were watching daddy's end-of-the-season jimmy johns softball game and all was going famously until...out of nowhere miles tipped over and bounced forehead first off the concrete. I'd like to report some funny, glamorous tale of how he was running to see daddy bat, but alas there is no such story. he simply went head first into the concrete from a standing still position. poor thing. kyle and another guy were sitting in the dugout and we all heard his head bounce. he screamed - that gasping for air sort of scream - and then buried his face in my shoulder. I expected a giant goose egg on his forehead, but not the bloody scraped nose. let's hope that comes out of my brand new white shirt.
he was happy and smiling within a few minutes and was more than pleased to stop at mcdonalds on the way home for some ice cream and french fries (is this my kid, or what!?) daddy's strawberry shake hit the spot and the piping hot n' salty fries made it all worth while. he snuggled into bed and we didn't hear a peep out of him for a good 11 hours.

I'm on a boat

disclaimer: the title of this post is at the request of kyle. if you're an SNL fan, you'll appreciate it...or so I'm told.
we were excited to be able to go "fishing" on the mississippi with grandpa kroening this weekend. (I say "fishing" because a pole was never cast) the weather was questionable at best when we put the boat in at the marina around 11am, but it turned out to be a great time. miles absolutely LOVED it and nearly wore out the horn during his time at the wheel. we went from wabasha up to pepin, wi and had lunch at the pickle factory before heading back to dry land. miles was exhausted and fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot. after a few hours on the water, I was ready for a little snack. SO we drove across the boarder for my bag of cheese curds and maple nut ice cream cone from the nelson cheese factory in nelson, wi. YUMM-O! poor miles missed out and made me feel guilty when we got back home. I opened up the back door, he woke up and signed ice cream...he REMEMBERED that I said we were going to get ice cream cones. I guess he'll have to wait until friday when we drive back through nelson on our way to the annual becker family vacation. what flavor should I get this time?!?

our little skipper (& junior lifeguard)

daddy and miles

favorite activity of the day: peeking through the window at grandpa

hey petey penguin is here!!

notice that petey had to help drive the boat too

the buzzing you hear throughout the video is the horn...such a fascinating red button!

what a zoo - part deux

as a followup to the previous post, this is a video of miles really enjoying himself on his first carnival ride at como town. robin and i weren't really sure how he'd handle himself once she set him in the car and walked away. you can see that he didn't seem to mind being left alone.
once he got ahold of the steering wheel, it squeaked so loud that no one could hear anything the ride worker was saying.