Model Railroad Museum

As lame as a collection of toy trains (and trucks) sounds, it was a huge hit with Jonah!  He was in toddler heaven surrounded by model construction vehicles, airplanes, fire engines, and of course, trains!  They even had some interactive set-ups so he got to press buttons to make the engines go.  Mind blowing.

That's Smart.

Jonah was playing on the beach.  Each time a boat passed, he waved and called out, "Hi, Boat!"  A few didn't take any notice (and probably couldn't hear even Jonah's high-decibel shout over the load motor) but finally one captain waved back.  Jonah pointed to the boat and told us very matter-of-factly, "that's smart."  Then he went back to digging.

Waterfall!

Jonah loves waterfalls in any form, including the small spillway at the end of the street or ever water he pours over the bulkhead.  He was enthralled to go to a "big" waterfall where he could even swim!  Too bad to mountain stream was too frigid for his delicate sensibilities.  ;-)

Storyland!

Jonah has always been a little timid about moving rides, but we were eager to take him to Storyland anyway.  So while his cousins were up was the perfect time!  Jonah was very excited about the train, so we headed for that first.  Tame.  Still, he cried as soon as we boarded!  Yes, we were those parents that practically forced him onto the ride anyway.  And he loved it.  And the destination, which had a giant splash pad with a submarine!  This turned out to be a favorite and we spent lots of time in the sub turning the pedals to squirt the water cannon.

After that first ride, Jonah was ready to go.  He did a spinney flying whale ride with Aunt Pamela and she was ready with a thumbs down to get off early.  To our surprise, Jonah thought it was great, like riding a helicopter!  After that he was fearless - flying fish, balloon chase, tractor driving.  One of the highlights was driving an excavator.

Want to Ride Bikes Together?

Jonah received a new bike for Elliott's Baptism!  This trike is a lot larger than his fold-and-go, and he looks like such a big kid riding it.  He's really mastered the pedals and can even pedal himself up the (slight) hill on our street!

Now if only he can figure out how to maneuver backwards.  Jonah had an idea of exactly where to park his bike.  It was very frustrating to turn the bike 180deg and move it 1ft immediately to the left.

Zoo!

Why not go to the zoo on a random Tuesday?  So fun!

Up, Down, Up, Down

Caught in the Rain

The sky was darkening as Jonah was out riding his bike.  We stayed outside until we felt the first few drops, when we headed for home.  By the time we reached the driveway (literally 20ft away) we were caught in a deluge!  I told Jonah to go up and wait on the porch (meaning the covered front stoop) while I ran his bike into the garage.  Poor Jonah ran around the side of the house and wrestled to open the fence to reach the screened porch!  He was in tears when I found him and carried him inside.  It was dark and raining HARD.  Scary!  Elliott wasn't so happy either, as he was in the carrier this whole time.

Jonah and I were soaked, so we changed into boots and embraced the rain.  It took all the scary out of the storm and we had a blast stomping in the huge flash-flood puddles.

Next time I'll try harder to convince Jonah to wear sandals or water shoes... I had to pour the water out of his boots!

The perfect place to read a good book?