Grandson Ben is 16!

Detailing Ben's truck~

This milestone is a huge one - both for Benjamin & for us!  It seems like yesterday - that bright January day when he was born!  Our first grandchild & first Grandson!  There was absolutely not a baby in the whole world any cuter!  :-)

Papa with Ben~

Ben lived close enough that we could see him several times a week.  It wasn't long before we had our weekly Thursday overnight stay.  Ben was so charismatic that when we took him to the local restaurants - he charmed the wait staff to the point that they had his appetizer; of black olives & mozzarella - ready by the time we walked in the door.  He learned all the animal sounds & entertained everyone by reciting them.   One of his first words was;  "Ball!" - he usually carried one with him & "Hi!" was a close second.

Ben & Jas 2001

 He was on Jas from the very first & she kept a close eye on her favorite boy!  I swear if he'd tried to fall off she would have caught him!  :-)

2002 - Ben operating the track hoe with Papa~

 He loved getting to operate the heavy equipment that Butch had on a job site :-)  There wasn't much of anything that he wasn't willing to tackle!

2003 - Ben & Grammy

 He's the apple of our eye - the eldest of our now excellent group of five Grand-kids!  The start of some of the happiest, busiest years of our lives!   As my friend Petra was so fond of saying;  "The gift of old age!"

To celebrate, we met with the Peters, in Mukilteo to race Go-Karts at Traxx!   Wow!  Did we have fun!  It was frigid cold in the building - I could have easily worn my thermals - so decided to take the pictures.

Here they come!  Ben, Uncle David & Papa

 Uncle David won the first heat, he's the video game Wizard & his driving skill was first rate!  Ben enjoyed sliding out on the turns & scaring me!  :-)  He also got the warning flag a couple times!

Ben sliding around the corner!

By his second race though - he had it down & took second place, even against some experienced racers that included his Aunt Courtney - always a lead foot!  :-)

Leaving home, Ben at the wheel

So...  It was a little bittersweet to get in the cab of our grandson's truck for my very first ride with Ben at the wheel!  I had to ask myself - where did those years go?  They seem to have flown by in the blink of an eye!  At least until today - when I looked back at some of the photos.  As many as I take - there are never enough to capture all the happiness we enjoy as Grandparents!

At the Diamond Knot Alehouse~

As we were sitting at the dinner table yesterday - I realized that not just Ben, but Mason & Cassidy too - are moving right into their teenage years!   Skyla & Josie are our second-generation of grand-kids & even though they are now farther away - we plan to continue to enjoy each & every year, each & every minute we can with all five of our Excellent Grand-kids!