b e n j a m i n f a l k e n b e r g

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We’re pleased to both announce and welcome into our home….Yoda!

He’s only 8 weeks old, fresh from the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee (picked him up July 13th). Very playful, very cuddly, very happy kitty. Benjamin and Zachary are going nuts with him so far, really enjoying him, and Yoda’s very interested in them, too.

The Yoda name, well… it was sort of thrown out there by Dad as a joke, but Benjamin (who knows nothing of Star Wars…yet!) latched onto it immediately and decided it was the perfect name.

For those that remember our last cat, it was a kitten Mom received at age 6 and a faithful companion and pet for her (and later Dad as well) for over 20 years.  She’s been gone now for about four years, and it’s only been in the last year or so that Mom’s felt ready again for another cat. The only requirement was that any new feline not look like or be named after her. Fair enough.

Soooo, Yoda makes…five, and our family continues to grow.

Didn’t really get a chance to mention it before, but for Christmas, Lyle and Vicki popped for all of the grandkids and their parents to go with them to Disney World in Florida.

We just got back on Thursday. It was a great trip! Really good experience for Benjamin; lots of socialization, lots of animals and sights and sounds for him to experience. He seemed to really enjoy himself!

We were really concerned that we might have some trouble with him as far as naps and food were concerned, but he managed to nap when he needed it, falling asleep and staying asleep during some louder show finales, for example. He ate well, and he slept well during the overnights. He handled the later evenings just fine, and loved all the attention and company, playing with his cousins, etc.

The most impressive aspect of the entire trip was how well he handled flying! While everyone else drove from WI down to FL, we ended up flying down, because 20 hours in a car seemed like a bad idea with an 11-month old. He was perfect on the plane in every way. Didn’t cry or become upset during takeoffs or landings, and lasted the entire flight with no trouble, despite being a lap passenger and not having a seat or an opportunity to get down and crawl around at all, being held the entire time, etc. He ate, he drank, he made faces and flirted with the stewardesses and other passengers…he is such a great social being!

We ended up with a few souvenirs from the trip, and a few pictures, too. We’ll try to post some of the pictures soon.

Last weekend it was Germanfest, and this weekend it was Wisconsin State Fair.

Pretty hot both days. Temperature today was much nicer than last weekend at Germanfest, but State Fair today was very humid, and at one point the sun came out and it got really hot on top of that. We ducked in and out of shade and various buildings today, so that worked out pretty well. It was more difficult at Germanfest last week; the Summerfest grounds don’t really offer a lot of shade unless you’re smoking and drinking in a bar area/tent.

Dad and Mom took turns today carrying Benjamin in his carrier, wearing him in the front, facing out, so he could see everything. He was having a pretty good time, but he didn’t like some of the crowds… There were some new piglets being born in the birthing barn as we were there, but Benjamin wasn’t terribly interested. He seemed to like looking at all the cows, though!

It’s not easy to find a place to breastfeed at the Fair; we finally hunkered down at a picnic table in what appeared to be a break area for the ambulance service, behind their office trailer. We were almost shooed away by a security guy until he saw what we were doing. Thank you, security guy.

We were there about three and a half hours; Benjamin finally managed to settle down enough from all the chaos around him into a nap, so we figured it was time to go. :)