Ben's Adventures!

You may not have heard... WE ARE HAVING A BABY IN 8 WEEKS!! 

:) 

Ben is taking a quarter off from his MBA program for the month before and two months after the baby is born, and we have something scheduled EVERY. SINGLE. WEEKEND. from June to mid-July to prepare for the little guy. So we have been trying to "fit in" all the fun things we still want to do before our schedule get super-tight and our lives completely change.

For Ben, that meant {finally} using the one-hour flight lesson I bought him for Father's Day LAST year.

He had a total blast and came home with a plan for how long and how much $$ it would take for him to get his pilot's license. It does seem easier and cheaper in the long run for him to rent a plane to fly our family around instead of the $$ and time to fly with a commercial airline! What can I say, we are travel enthusiasts! And you can't argue with logic :)

The next weekend he spent the Saturday at the National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. I got Ben interested in kayaking when we met, he bought a whitewater kayak (mine is a sit-on-top flat water kayak) and has been talking about going to the USNWC for a lesson ever since. 

I've been there a couple time for whitewater rafting, and, I have to admit, the center really bothers me! I don't like that you can see the concrete, man-made water tunnels instead of a natural river, and all the buildings nearby. It is busy and large, and I much prefer the solitude and beauty of being in nature! Ben agrees, but he still really enjoyed that this one area offers two different kayaking/ whitewater rafting routes, a mountain bike trail, rock climbing, and other adventure attractions. I guess you can't argue with convenience! 

Unfortunately, he didn't think to put on sunscreen before his 4-hour water adventure :(

Ouch!

Ben dropped me off at the outlet super-mall Concord Mills while he was kayaking.  He told me I had free reign with his credit card to amuse myself, which sounds great, but is more pressure than I am used to! I went to a movie {ALONE... how luxurious!}, walked around the entire mall a couple of times, bought a pretzel, then got so tired I plopped down in one of their lounge chairs and read a book for the rest of the afternoon!

When he finished we went to IKEA together. It was my first time going to the legendary store, and my tired/ sore body immediately perked up-- that place is AMAZING! 

The trip turned into a second baby registering adventure, almost. We spent a couple of hours walking around and talking about how to re-arrange the furniture in a couple of rooms to dedicate one bedroom as the nursery, and bought or made plans for some furniture and storage supplies we think we'll need. It was great to hear Ben's input on some nursery decor items, and talk about the more practical side of baby's arrival- like where the desk will go when the crib replaces it :)

Oh, and we got these Chocolate Covered Oat Balls! 

Have you had any before? Ben had them for the first time in Denmark, and just loves them! We bought a pack at Ikea and I've since looked up the recipe :) They seem pretty easy to make, and are so delicious!

Ikea Oat Balls Recipe

I am so excited {and already tired} thinking of all the changes we are about to make. Our house will look totally different after we re-arrange the rooms, and I am finally excited to put his nursery together with the great items we picked out!