Daddy made a fort out of my crib and the butterfly blanket.  Wow!  I had a fun time playing and then napping very securely!

Next up on the trip was a return to Ma and Pa’s house where I got to hang out with my cuz Avery some more.  For some reason, M&D insisted that I put on my blue shirt and pose next to Avery for pictures.

On Saturday, we got to visit Uncle Tommy’s FIRE STATION!  WOW!  Uncle Tommy, being the professional that he is, had to lay down the ground rules when we got there.  Like no pushing buttons or starting engines.  But then we got to have fun!

I think my favorite part was sitting in the driver’s seat.  I got to sit in both engines and the ladder truck. And Uncle Tommy didn’t say anything about not turning the steering wheel!  Weeeeee!

Avery was my partner in crime fire station enjoyment.  I was ready to take her for a trip around the block, but I couldn’t reach the pedals!

Thanks Uncle Tommy for the great tour!

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?

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!

Our trip started with going to the airport, and getting on an airplane!

I got to sit right next to Daddy!  The plane ride was fun because I got to eat snacks for almost the entire time.

And watching the big fans go around and around was fun, too.

We went to visit Grandpa and Nanna, and when we went to lunch, we parked right next to a FIRE ENGINE!

The fireman that was there was very nice and let Daddy and me sit in the driver’s seat!  Wow!

Later, we went to the park and I had fun on the swings…

…and then I spotted a garbage truck rumbling by.  I persuaded Daddy to let me down from the swing so I could chase the truck.  We were in luck as we caught up to José on his break, and he was nice enough to let me up into the cab with him.  WOW!

And then I got to sit with Grandpa in his RACE CAR!  I can’t wait to see Grandpa driving his race car for real!

Later, at Aunt Danee and Uncle Tommy’s house, there was an Easter Egg hunt.  “Cuz” Avery and I found all the eggs in no time flat.  Check out Avery’s swell hat!

Ma got us some nice Easter baskets, and Aunt Danee and Aunt Carol got us bunnies to play with.  Thanks Ma!  And Aunt Danee and Aunt Carol are really Great Aunts.

Oh, and I got a new aunt this weekend, too.  M&D said that while Grandma was looking after me, Uncle Ryan got married to Aunt Liz.  If aunts give you stuff like Easter bunnies, I’m all for having as many aunts as I can!

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…)