Well, Danee’s training helped, but I wasn’t really prepared for how much sand is on the beach.  My truck couldn’t even come close to holding it all!  That’s OK.  I quickly learned to fill, dump, and fill again.  And watch out for the water!

And then my cousins introduced me to some more serious sand piling efforts – Grandpa Harris’ challenge to build a sand castle taller than Lauren.  With some “creative interpretation of the rules” (Daddy’s phrase), we were able to meet the challenge!

Later, I went on my first ferry ride with Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Harris.  I had a great time sitting on the seat and watching all the other boats.

Later, we went back to the Fun Zone and took a ride on the Ferris wheel.  It goes up, and then down, and then up again!

The next day, M&D took me to the MERRY GO ROUND!  Wow!  As you can see, I queued up first in line!

I got to go on with Daddy (Mommy cheerfully volunteered for photographer duty – I wonder why?), and the look on my face says it all.

After the merry-go-round, we walked out on the pier and ordered french fries from this restaurant out there.

Very yummy.  You can see here that I’m taking care of the fries while Mommy takes care of the smiles.  Good job, Mommy!

A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Harris for inviting us to come stay with them.  M&D and I had a great time visiting!  Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in the OC adventure!

My friend Jack turned two recently (seems like this is happening to a lot of my friends, lately…).  He had a full-sized fire truck at his party, and we all got fireman hats to wear!

I got to sit up in the seat.  Did you know that fire trucks have lots of steps that you have to climb to get up into them?  They are way up off the ground!

There was also a bouncy house at Jack’s party.  Boy did I have fun bouncing and rolling around.  Maybe I can have one of these at my next birthday party.  Daddy?

I recently had my first bubble bath.  I think Daddy liked it more than I did.

(Ed. Note: Maybe we’ll try the bubble bath again later…)

After the visit to the farm, we stopped at this place called In-N-Out Burger for some chow.

Mommy was nice enough to split her yummy cheeseburger with me.  And those “french fry” thingies are really good, too.

When can we come back, M&D?

Yesterday, M&D took me on an adventure to see some cows!  We went to McClelland Dairy Farm, where they have lots and lots of them, and they offer tours.

At first, I was a little worried about what cows eat.  Turns out this young Jersey calf was just being friendly, and NOT trying to eat Daddy’s watch.  Phew!

Of course, then she started to go for Mommy’s pocket.  I kept a close eye on her after the watch incident.

Mr. George McClelland gave the tour, which included a chance to milk one of his prize show cows, Valentine.  At 1600 lbs, Valentine was a bit imposing, so I decided to leave the milking to the professionals.  Maybe next time.

And here are the professionals at work in the milking parlor:

(Ed. Note: Thanks to Laurie Proctor for the pictures (and for organizing the outing through SRMC). Daddy forgot his camera…)

• The cows can produce between 5 and 14 gallons of milk a day, depending on their diet (low protein grass yields lower milk production, high protein feed results in higher milk production).
• It takes 4 to 20 minutes for the cow to get milked in the parlor.  Each of their 800 cows are milked twice a day.
• Cows have a 9 month gestation period, and they live from 6 to 14 years.
• Cows are kept in individual stalls (as pictured above) for the first months after they are born so that the farmers can monitor their health and keep them away from other cows that might be sick.
• The milk from McClelland’s Dairy goes to Clover Stornetta, which is the brand of milk we buy!

Last weekend, Grandpa and Uncle David brought Grandpa’s race car up to the track by us to go racing!  M&D took me out to the track to see what this was all about.

The first order of business was getting to wear these big ear thingies, which was really the pits.  I mean, I had to wear them in the pits.

Of course, I got to experience the race just like Grandpa does: complete with Chips Ahoy cookies sitting in one of Grandpa comfy race chairs! Grandpa, you can invite me to the races anytime.

I quickly found my critical role as morale boostin’ high-fiver.  It’s just a good thing I was done with my cookies when it was time for Grandpa to go.  I got to give Grandpa the big good luck sign as he headed out to the track.

Then we went to the stands to watch.  Boy do those cars go fast.  When they weren’t driving by, I had fun climbing up and down the chairs.

And on the way back to Grandpa’s parking place, I found a car of my own to drive!  Somebody left this one unlocked with the keys in the ignition!  I got to turn the steering wheel and everything!

I can’t wait to come see Grandpa race next year!

I was in the Santa Rosa Rose Parade today!  My first parade – and I was in it!

I rolled with the Santa Rosa Mother’s Club.  Here we are before the start – getting psyched up, and of course having some snacks to take the edge off.  Notice the custom mods M&D made to my stroller – I’ve got roses everywhere.

Here’s the stroller’s eye view from inside the parade!  There were lots of people cheering and waving.  Wow!

One day, maybe M&D will have to take me to a parade that I can watch.

My favorite part of the day was seeing all of the fire trucks that were in the parade.  I also got to see my first marching band!

After the Marilyn Monroe incident, M&D decided that I needed a haircut – my first!

Here I am with my original curly locks:

And here I am now, with my “older kid” haircut.

Do I look 2 yet?

I recently got to go on a walk in the woods with my friend Zoey and her mom Harriet (and Daddy) (and Mommy).

Zoey was nice enough to hold my hand so that I wouldn’t get lost.

(Ed. Note: Sorry for the fuzzy cell-phone photo…)

Today I had my first visit to the hospital emergency room.  I got this cool bracelet souvenir!

I got a case of “Nursemaid’s elbow” when I tried to pick up a dirty candy wrapper in the street, but Daddy wouldn’t let go of my hand.  It was really ouchie, and it took M&D a while to figure out what was wrong because I couldn’t sign “ouchie” (Ed. Note: the ouchie sign takes two hands).  All is well now, as Dr. Mark fixed me right up.  He must have read the Wikipedia entry, because this is just what he did to fix my ouchie elbow.

Too bad M&D didn’t buy the extended warranty when they brought me home from the hospital, or this might have been a lot less expensive.  At least Dr. Mark at the ER was kind enough to show M&D how to fix my arm if it happens again.

My favorite part of the whole visit was getting to see an ambulance up close!  There was one parked outside the ER as we were leaving, and the driver was really friendly!