Here is Aaron pulling his new backpack through the airport on our way to party with family at Lake Tahoe in August. This is the beginning of a set of pictures from that trip. Many of the pictures were taken by Marsha (with a few by others, with her camera) and I'm grateful to be able to include them here.

Laughing at the name tag on his shoe. We like to put a tag on him when we travel, just in case. This is the first time that he thought it was so hilarious.

On the way to the cabin from the airport, we saw a yak in the back of a pickup truck. Pretty strange.

Here's the whole adult Tahoe crew, minus John Durham (Ben's dad). Starting at the corner closest and going clockwise, we have Susa, Steve, Kourtney, Ben, Daniel, Phil, Diana, Marsha, Ruanne, and John Milton

Drawing in the ground

Just being cute

Dinner at the kids' table on the deck (Clockwise around the table, there's Aaron, Rex, Beau, Ricky, and Eden. Ricky and Rex are brothers, and Eden and Beau are siblings. They're all Ben's first cousins, which makes them Aaron's first cousins once removed but we forget the removal part and just call them Aaron's cousins.)

Wresting with tato

Wresting with tato

I got him!

Look at all those "tall, tall towers"

Asking to open the jacuzzi lid... One of Aaron's favorite places to be was in the warm jacuzzi, especially after a day in the cold lake water

Aaron at the beach running away from the coldy water

Hmm, I wonder where he gets it from?

Hiding (almost) in the cooler

Coming out

Playing billiards with the kids

Aaron joining in on the hand game fun with Eden and Kourtney

"That one for ME" he emphasizes as the popsicle-monster Grandpa John lurks close by

Two friends Aaron and Eden (Aaron adores Eden, and always wanted to play with her.)

Playing billiards with the kids

Kissing/Blurbling my eye

More silliness

Kissing Grandpa John's bum

Hiding (almost) in the cooler

Helping Ma make pie (with Great Grandma Ruanne watching, and BenTato busy cutting apples)

Playing in the water

Buried Beau (thanks to Ricky, Daniel, and Aaron)

Beau, Rex, and Ricky, after having buried Rex almost completely

Aaron teasing Rex while he's helpless

Aaron teasing Rex while he's helpless

Playing at a particularly dirty area of the beach

Hmm, I wonder where he gets it from?

Mama, Tato, and Uncle Daniel burying Aaron

All buried

Emerging!

Aaron doing a "dolphin dive," where he stands on our knees and dives in, head first

Getting warm / making a sand angel

Ben slowly coaxing me into the coldy water (he ended up "falling" and taking me with him)

Trying to get warm after the dunkage

Making a "big, big hole" (which was kind of a neverending process, and most thoroughly enjoyed by Ben for sure)

Tackle!

Guess I got what I deserved

Holding on tight

My mom graduated from college! Here she is dawning her robe, with her proud husband, on their way out the door to the ceremony

The ceremony group

After the ceremony, mom had a dinner at our house. Here is Aaron providing the pre-dinner entertainment with his new tools (given him by Aunt Kori). He loves fixing stuff, especially now that he has his own tools to do such. In fact, he gets frustrated when there's something broken that he can't fix. Says stuff like, "But Aaron have lots of tools! Aaron fix it!"