Pictures!!

Hanging out with the locals!

Big Fred has Big Bears so he can always find his camp!












Building a fort in the bunk beds.

Tell me these aren't great teenage torture pictures!










Heading out on the boats! These kids are ready to catch some fish!












Jackson, Ben, Big Fred and Daddy fishing
















Mommy hanging out with her little fisherman














Goofing off with Big Fred on the golf cart





More fishing pictures to come as I get them from the other moms and dads.





T-Ball - The Maroon Pirates and The Grey Socks!

1st Practice

Waiting to be batted in - he's even paying attention!

We Survived!!

Don't call the Coast Guard! We ALL made it back!

What an awesome trip. Ben and 8 of his buddies and 10 VERY crazy adults had an awesome time fishing down in Delacroix. We got down there a little after 5pm Saturday. The kids were so excited to be there they ran in circles and all through the camp for about an hour! We broke out the marshmallow guns right away and they were a huge hit. I'm a little worried about how many marshmallows those birds are going to eat.

We fished from the dock a little, but had no bites. We ate diner and ran around till very late. I'm not going to tell you about how late the adults were up, or what they were chatting about - although it would make for some interesting reading hmmmm.

We got up early this morning and headed out. It took 4 boats and 4 very brave captains to take us all out. It was a little windy so it was some tough fishing to get a bite but most of the boats got a few nibbles. Captain Billy's boat and Captain Rodney's boat did the best, but we ALL had a fabulous time and thats what counts.

We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to our very good friend Big Fred. His camp was an absolutely perfect place for this camp out. Big Fred has always been one of Lil'Ben's favorite people. In Ben's eyes there is no better fisherman than Big Fred - whether Ben catches fish with him or not he always has a fabulous time and that makes him tops in Ben's eyes. Today after we came in, Ben and his buddy Jackson went for a ride on the golf cart with Big Fred to check out some other cool places around the island, and then we caught crabs from the dock. When the rest of the boats got in we had lunch and enjoyed hearing how everyone's fishing went. Then it was time to pack up and come home. We had such a good time I'm sure we are going to do it again.

Thank you to Mr Justin, and Mr Rodney for bringing their boats down and taking everyone out too. We were so happy we were able to get everyone out on boats at the same time. And no one fell in!!!!! We had such wonderful kids with us. They had a lot of fun and ran around A LOT, but they were also very well behaved. Thank you to all the parents who came out. We know how busy everyone is and it meant a lot for you all to take time out for the kids to have this great trip. Ben and I really enjoyed getting to know you all better, and boy do we know you better now! I say we do this again in a few weeks!

Special Thank you to Ms Melanie for keeping Shaun. He had a blast, of course! Maybe next time we will brave taking Shaun along.

Well I'm exhausted and the camera battery is dead, so I'll post pictures tomorrow - I promise!

We have a fun week ahead. T-ball practice for the Pirates on Tuesday, a field trip on Friday (I think) and probably a T-ball game this week (no schedule yet). We don't have to go to clinic this week -YEAH! Busy, Busy, Busy!

Night Night
Erin

Go Pirates!!!

Hello All!
Yesterday was a pretty good clinic day. Luckily we were the first ones there so it only took 3 1/2 hours!!! When we left the waiting room was standing room only - it was going to be a long day for some of those kids! We saw Anna, one of our special clinic friends. She had a present for Ben, a pirate color book. He absolutely loved it, he colored the whole time didn't even play his leapster or gameboy!! He has done a second round of maintenance chemo now and his counts are still fabulous, so we are very lucky. Low counts would mean no contact with the outside world, and no contact sports if our platelets drop - it would also mean transfusions and a lot more hospital / clinic time. We have way to much planned to have to deal with low counts. Ben's next MRI will be mid May, he is having a little trouble with energy level and eating. We give him protein shakes to help with that and it seems to be keeping him going. His coordination isn't where his peers are but he doesn't seem to notice and he give 100% all the time.

Today was Ben's first T-ball practice. Coaches Ms Jessica & Ms Michelle have quite a team. She had so many kids request her team they had to split up into two team!! So one of the dads, Mr Justin is coaching the other half with some other parents. But the kids had a GREAT practice tonight all together. It was fun for the parents to as most us knew each other. So Ben's team color is maroon and team name......You guessed it the Pirates!! Ben wasn't even the one to suggest it! The other team is grey, but I don't think they have a name yet! But we will be cheering for both! Lord help us when maroon plays grey, we may need extra security that game. The kids had a great time. BIG THANK YOU to the fabulous Coach Ms Jessica!! And all the other parents out there that kept the crazy kids under control. If there are any MLB scouts out there you need to come out to the next game or practice we have some awesome players out there!

We have big plans this weekend. Saturday is our buddy Patrick's birthday, so that should be lots of fun. And then we meet up Saturday evening for the big camping / fishing trip!! Ben asked us to take his whole class fishing, so thats what we are doing. We have made arrangements with our good friend Big Fred to take the kids (and their parent or parents - we aren't that crazy) down to his camp for the night. We have plans for fishing off the dock, marshmallow gun fights (we have assembled 25 of them), and lots more fun. Sunday morning if the seas are agreeable we have arranged with a few charter captains, our boat, and friends boats to take all the kids out fishing. It looks like the seas may be a bit to rough so we may have to fish from the dock, but that will be fun too, we will just have to wait and see. So if any of you parents are still interested in coming just let us know there is plenty of room and we are going to have a blast - just tell Ms Jessica or leave a message at the school and we will give you a call - if you have our number call us or post a message here. We don't want to leave anyone out.

If you don't know what a marshmallow gun is we will post a picture! They are a great time, and also a great rainy day activity. I've kept Shaun busy for hours shooting marshmallows, he hunts them down and eats them!!!!

So we need extra prayers that the seas are calm Sunday and the kids are calm Saturday and Sunday!!! We will post lots of pictures!

Thats it for now...if I make it back to land Sunday I'll post, if you don't hear from me call the Coast Guard!

Erin

Great Time in Phoenix

Hello All

Well we have had a great time in Phoenix! We have to leave today so I thought I would re-cap on all the fun things we did while I was here.

We have been playing A LOT - Grandma and Grandpa have lots of great toys for Shaun and I to play with. When we got here Thursday night we went to a really yummy BBQ restaurant called Town Talk II, my new friend Mr Chris was really happy to see me. He had a special fund raiser for me at his restaurant earlier in the week, even before he met me! He is really nice and I took my picture with him. Mr Chris also made some of the food for my party that I'll tell you about later. Thanks to Mr Chris and all my friends in Phoenix for making my fund raiser such a success.

Friday night we went to a place called Rawhide, its an old cowboy town. Shaun and I wore our cowboy hats. We got to play in the old cowboy town, there was a jail - we locked Shaun up but he escaped! We also went on a train ride there, we were going to get our picture taken in old west clothes but the picture place was closed. Mom and Dad got us cool harmonicas and I got a marble game to play with Grandpa.

Saturday it rained all day but we went to the park to meet up with all my Phoenix cousins. Its actually my mom's cousins and there kids but we will just call them my cousins because I don't know how that all works...2nd cousin? Anyway we got to play on the fun playground for a little while before it started to rain again, even though it rained we had a great time.

Easter was supper fun! We went to church and then when we got home the Easter bunny had been there. We got lots of games, toys and candy. And we found tons of Easter eggs in the back yard. Some of them had money in then, I love money! After our egg hunt we dyed Easter eggs and played baseball. Then we went to my other cousins house. Jill and Troy's house is really cool they always have giant sand piles in their backyard for us to play in. And we went swimming in their pool. All the grown ups said it was to cold to go swimming but Shaun and I did it anyway. They were right it was pretty cold, but it was fun too. We ate a yummy lunch and then went swimming in the hot tub! That was much better! Easter night my Uncle Mickey arrived from Colorado - I was asleep so I didn't actually see him till Monday, but Shaun did he snuck into bed with Aunt Mego and Uncle Mikey that night - haha!

Monday Uncle Mikey, Grandpa, Daddy, Mommy, Shaun and I went to the Fire Truck museum. Its the biggest fire truck museum in the world. Its really cool, and I didn't fall off the fire truck this time....Shaun did! He's okay, he just cried a little. We got some cool fireman toys and I got a new Phoenix Fire Dept shirt because my old one was getting to small so now Shaun wears it. Monday night we got to ride the "light rail" a new train in Phoenix. It took us down to the Diamondbacks game. They played the Cardinals. My Uncle Mikey loves the Cardinals, I think its because he is from St Louis. I cheered for both teams. I also got to go up to the kids play area in center field, they have a batting cage up there and I hit the ball really good. Shaun and I were up there when they sang "take me out to the ball game" and the camera guys put us up on the Jumbo screen singing - Mego, Mikey, Mom and Dad all said they saw us up there!

Tuesday we had a big party planned up at St Gregory's (were my mommy went to grade school). It was great there were tons of people there, and lots of kids my age. There was a really cool playground, and lots of food. But the best part was all the people who came to to see me! I didn't know that many people in Phoenix knew who I was. Thank you to everyone who came to see me , and I guess my brother Shaun too! I am so happy you are all praying for me, I know its helping, because I am doing super good right now. I was on my Chemo the first 5 nights I was in Phoenix and I did great - I only threw up once!

Wednesday we tried to relax a little - we went and visited my grandma and grandpa's works and went to visit Mr Baron's 5th grade class at Baltz School. They have been writing to me so I went to visit them. That was fun they taught me a new game, Silent Ball. I don't think we will be able to play it at my school because we don't know how to be silent! Then that night we went and hung out with my moms friends Kelly and Mike and there kids. We watched movies and played it was fun.

Today we have to go home. I had so much fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa and Mego, playing on Ms Jeanie's putting green and the two tree houses in the neighborhood. I'm sad to leave all my friends here in Phoenix, and I'm going to miss my Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Mego, but I am excited to see Ms Jessica and all my friends again, and go to Brandy's birthday party!!

I have to go take a bath now so my mom is going to write a little!

Love you
Lil'Ben

Just a quick note from mom and dad! Ben Sr and I want to thank everyone in Phoenix (and everywhere else) one more time for all the love and support. Thank you never seems to be a big enough word. We are blessed to have you all in our lives and in Lil'Ben's corner.

On another note we wanted to let you all know that our dear friend ^Timmy^ earned his wings on Easter Sunday. ^Timmy^ is one of the amazing kids we have met on our cancer journey. Please pray for his family during this very difficult time. We love you ^Timmy^ we will miss you!

Much love
Ben and Erin

Time to party in Phoenix

Hi Phoenix friends, the Sarrat's are coming to town so its time to celebrate! We thought it would be nice to get all Ben's Phoenix friends together for some barbeque and fun.

Please join us at St. Gregory's playground
(19th ave. and Osborn)
Tuesday, April 14th
4-7pm

We will be serving barbeque from Town Talk II so bring a side dish or dessert to share and any beverages you choose.

We hope all of you can make it to have some fun and share some laughs.
See you there- Aunt Mego

Where in the world....are you?

Hi everyone- Aunt Mego here again. It's been awhile since I've posted but Ben has had so much to share that it is hard to get a word in.
So when I was in New Orleans a couple weeks back Lil Ben and I were talking about all the friends he has- and there are a lot of you. The thing is, he doesn't know exactly where you all are. So we got a map of the world, and that's where you come in. We were thinking it would be pretty cool if everyone could send Ben a postcard from the place you live- then he could look at the map and see where you are.
We thought it would be best for you to send the postcard to his school- that way he can share them with all of his friends. So send him a shout out with some news about you and your family, or the place you live. He doesn't care if you have terrible handwriting or you write in another language, just as long as he can make out your name. Here's the address:

Brighter Horizons
Pirate Ben and matee's
110 Barriere Rd #A
Belle Chasse, LA 70037

We hope to hear from you all!
Love Aunt Mego