‘Twas a balmy November afternoon, and I got my first chance to drive that fancy red number out in the side yard that I’ve been eyeballing all summer.

Beep beep!  <Smile>

I’m learning to park, too.

Big brother was very nice helping me to learn to drive.  He’s a pro!

This year I got to help with the Christmas cards.  I helped label, stamp, and sticker them.

I’m a good helper.

Well it was bound to happen.  Despite my best efforts, Daddy finally got a picture of my tooth, thus proving its existence to the world.  (He apparently knew about it after I bit him the other day.)

One down, twenty to go!

(Ed. Note: Welcome to the tooth-havers club, Andrew!)

We went to the Peter Pumpkin Patch last weekend.  We got there early when it was still foggy and cold.

They had a hay maze!  I figured out how to go through the maze forward and backward in no time at all.  Not bad for my first hay maze.

Then Uncle John, Aunt Heather, Avery, and Ollie arrived and it was time to ride to the pumpkin patch and pick the “perfect” pumpkin.

Boy were there a lot of pumpkins to choose from.  I mean, a LOT.  But for a while there, I had it almost all to myself.

After I found the perfect pumpkin, it was time to see some of the other stuff, like the old tractors…

…the newer tractors…

…the baby cows…

… and the old-timey wagon.  Boy was there a lot of stuff to see!

Later we had some ice cream and took some pictures all together.  It was fun showing Andrew the pumpkins.

I’m looking forward to carving my pumpkin for Halloween!

What do we have here?  A cave!  Let’s go!

Weeee!  I can do this!

Made it!

Check me out, Daddy!  Not only can I crawl, but I can crawl IN to stuff!

I’m starting to make some of my own lunches.

Here I’m making some salami and cheese sandwiches for school.  My other favorite kind of sandwich is peanut butter and jelly.  And I had a peanut butter and blueberry jam sandwich the other day that was quite yummy!

Last week we went to the zoo to see all the animals.   And when I say “all”, I mean we made a list of what we wanted to see and we went to see them.  The zoo had everything but hippos.  Oh well, maybe next time!

First, the giraffes!

Then the gorillas.

and flamingos…

Then we went to see the monkeys.

Can you see the monkeys in this picture?

There was a real steam train that you could ride in the zoo.  And we did!

We saw the bears – and this one was good for taking pictures.  Can you spot the bald eagle?

Next up, sea lions.

We also saw lemurs, penguins (not the ice kind), tigers, a rhino, kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, emus, ostriches, zebras, wart hogs, polar bears, pelicans, and koala bears.  Wow!

I think we’ll have to go back, though, since Andrew slept through most of it.

Today I went for a bike ride a Spring Lake!  This is my first ride outside the neighborhood.

We went around twice (Ed. Note: about 4.5 miles).  Along the way we stopped to have blackberries,

see the boat launch,

and see the kayak rental place.  We also saw lots of ducks and geese.

Daddy says I did a really good job not running into anyone and also passing slower people.

Daddy took me to see the big fireworks show at the fairgrounds.  I got to stay up waaaay past my bedtime but it was OK because I took a good nap at rest time.  I took my ear protectors and raccoon mask in case I needed them.  We waited and waited for it to get dark, and just when it was getting dark and I couldn’t wait any longer, the show started!

Boom! Boom! Boooom!!!

Wow!  And at the end, they do a whole bunch of them at once!  The whole sky lights up!

D-d-d-daddy!?  You’re n-n-not going to put me in th-th-that, are you??

(Ed. Note: Yes, Andrew.  Because you need it!)