M&D recently surprised me with a new garbage truck!  It has a can in the back that you can fill up…

…and then dump into the back of the truck.

Then you can drive to the dump and dump out the whole load.  What a fun truck!  Thanks M&D!

Today is my first day as a Panda at BCC.  The Panda room has lots of neat toys and even has two small birds! I got to wear my special panda hat to orientation last week. Being a Panda is going to be fun!

Sometimes, the best naps are taken with best friends.

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!

The most fun thing to do and Grandpa and Nana’s is to clean the pool.  So that’s where I started.

After the pool was all cleaned up, I was ready for a nap.  But after that it was off to the park.  I spent the whole time on the swing.  I wanted to give Grandpa plenty of practice with his new camera.

I’d say he seems to have figured it out pretty well!  While I didn’t get to sit in a garbage truck this time, a fire engine and animal control truck did come by the park!  The park at Grandpa and Nana’s is always exciting!  Thanks for a great visit, Grandpa and Nana. And thanks for the yummy cookies, Nana!

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!

After the fun airplane ride and getting picked up at the airport by Ma and Pa, one of the next things I got to do was visit with Aunt Danee.  She brought me some great sand toys – just in time!  And she provided excellent training, including making sound effects.  It is really important to make the right sounds when dumping sand.  She also told stories about spending time in Balboa when she was younger.  Thanks, Danee, for helping me get ready to go to the beach!

Later, Ma wanted to take a family picture.  I wasn’t too keen on looking like everybody else, but in the end I decided to concede and join in.  M&D say I’ll treasure this in the future.  I dunno.

After the family picture, I had a great time playing with my cuz.  Avery and I were jumping and sliding like we were, well, 2 years old.

Now I was looking forward to hitting the beach.  But that will have to wait until the next installment!

It’s a lot of hard work, flattening the driveway is.  But I got my hat and boots on, and went to work.

Of course, it always helps if you keep a smile on your face while you’re working.  Lots of stomping in my boots helps, too.

After the driveway was totally flat, I took a well deserved rest when I stopped to smell the roses.

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?

After a couple of trips to Mary’s Pizza Shack where I got to watch the pros at work, it was time to try my hand at pizza making.

Mommy put me solely in charge of making the breadstick.  Here you can see me stretching it out to just the right length.  This takes a lot of concentration!

And here, I’m practicing sliding it off of the peel.  Easy!  (Daddy says it gets harder in the hot oven.)

And here, Mommy is showing me the finer points of adding the sauce and other ingredients.

I hope to help with this part next time.  Until then, I think we should go back to Mary’s so I can watch the pros some more!