Ben! Ben! Ben!

This is the Ben Blog Post!

Normally we don't post a lot about other people in order to maintain some privacy since this is a public blog. We never post last names when we do talk about people. Another reason we don't post a lot about other people is because we don't want people to be paranoid about whether or not we are going to blog our experience of hanging out with them.

However, Ben did ask, "Are you going to blog this?" when we saw him. And it wasn't in a paranoid sort of way, but more of a "Will I be immortalized on your blog?" sort of way. So, since he is one of our loyal readers, and an interesting guy, I thought I would post about the great time we had hanging out with him. I feel that us hanging out with Ben is proof that as new parents, we can still have fun hanging out with non-parents. Our social lives are not over!

Who is this Ben?

He wears trendy glasses.
He likes our baby.
He becomes quite tan.
He knows more about wine than anyone else I know (and made us buy an expensive, but tasty bottle on Valentine's Day 2003).
He looks kind of cute wearing a baseball cap backwards.
He used to work at a horse farm (and enjoys the occasional cigar).
He designed and prepared flower arrangements for my wedding.
He has a cool girlfriend.
He is very contemplative.
Sometimes he doesn't want to be seen in public with Robin.

You don't believe these things, you say? That's ok, as you may have suspected, I have photographic evidence.

Trendy Ben

Ha Ha! I hold the baby before Robin!

Tan Ben

Notice the Skillful Opening Job on this Bottle.
He is not even distracted by the super giant purple candle.

Ben in Baseball Cap with Coffees

Horsefarm at Sunset

Beautiful Flowers!

Holly and Ben

Holly and Ben (Holly bangs moved to other side)

Contemplating his Tan-ness

Contemplating the BOB menu
(or wondering... "Does the fact that I don't have
a boat exclude me from ordering?")

I have never seen that woman before.

Over the 4th of July holiday week, Dan, Will, and I met Ben and Holly at the Frederick Meijer Gardens. We enjoyed both the cultural enrichment that comes from viewing art and the invigorating wonder that comes from browsing an outdoor sculpture garden.

We like art with Peering Holes

Will was not invigorated

But we all got to pose next to the pretty pond and waterfall

Over the years, we have seen Ben in many random situations.

• For Robin's 21st birthday, we went to a German restaurant that had deep-fried, bacon-wrapped sausage and a Swing Dance club in the basement. (Ben-roommate Matt stepped on my foot when we tried swing-dancing.)
  
• One time we drove a Prius to a Prohibition-Era speakeasy.
• You saw proof of the cigar-smoking horse farm incident of 1999.
• And who could forget gourmet Thanksgiving dinner at Peter and Ben's apartment.
  

Actually, I can't recall a very normal situation that involves Ben. Perhaps he may have joined us once or twice to BBQ in Lowell, but other than that, it is always strange. But then again, we might say the same about many of our friends. Hmmm... maybe it is us...