Monster Bowling

This is a totally random post that I found from many months ago, that I never finished....my second cousin (I think that's how it works) Beth got me this game called Monster Bowling for Christmas. It...is...awesome.

The bowling pins are all little stuffed monsters, as is the bowling ball. You set up the Monsters in the same fashion as you'd set up bowling pins, and then you go ahead, and roll the ball-shaped monster at them in an attempt to knock them over....incredible...


These pictures were back from Christmas 2010 (Yeah...seriously) but they are still just as fun as they were then to look at! I got to play with my Uncle Mat which was super fun.


I still play Monster Bowling, setting the MonsterPins up in our hallway, and rocking out that way...

Though, sometimes, I just like to run and jump on the pins and knock them down that way...

To each his own, I say....

A+ Christmas gift, Second Cousin Beth....

NYC Winter 2011!

In keeping with my theme of "Catching Up", Mom, Dad and I got to go on one final New York City trip for the winter...and it rained the whole time.

This would get many people down, but not us. We still did some exploring of the city in the rain (Though there aren't pictures, as we didn't want to damage the camera) AND I got to play in the hotel room...A LOT.

As you can see from the leading picture, there was a lot of jumping on the bed...

And these two pictures right here, give away one of my favorite hiding places for our game of Hotel Hide and Seek.

Dad let me play with the camera, and I took this dashing self-portrait...

Plus, I also took notes for future endeavors. I like hotel rooms, since they always have pen and paper close by for when one has an idea...lately, I have been having lots of ideas (All of which I tell people about, even when I don't actually have an idea...) so it's always good to be able to jot them down at a moment's notice.

We got dinner from this cool NYC diner downstairs, and we WAY over-ordered, not realizing how big the portions were...no matter, it just meant that Mom and Dad had food for the next day, and also dessert. (Yes...we REALLY over-ordered)

So even when I'm stuck in a hotel room for the majority of a couple days...I will always find ways to have fun, by gum...it's a healthy way to live, really...

Easter 2011!

...Really...


...All I remember about Easter....


...Is that I was given an entire Cadbury Chocolate Egg before my nap...

...there was no nap....dinner was lovely...seeing Gramma Mindy and JustRichy were lovely....

....The rest is a sugar-induced blur...

TODDLER_TOUR_2011_LEG_1_AN_EARLY_EASTER

Jeez...was Easter really, like, almost a month ago? As you can see, it's taken some time to get back into the rhythm of posting blog entries...but let me take you back...

Since Dad had to make a pre-Easter trip to Connecticut, he decided to bring me with him, and make a weekend out of it.

Since it was a few days before Easter, I got to hang out with my Dad's side of the family and do a pre-game type of Easter with them!

Gramma Debbie had an Easter basket waiting for me, and it was wrapped up so nice!!

She helped me unwrap it to get at all the awesome gifts that awaited me inside!!

There was a sweet, fun card for me, some bubbles (which I have been enjoying, by the way...) lots of candy, some plastic Easter Eggs, and even a few bucks to put in my piggy bank!!!

I was so excited about the money, I got down to show Layla some of my haul. She seemed more interested in sniffing at the money than looking at it, but I suppose that's just her way of showing that she's excited about something.

Later in the day, Grandpa took me out to show me the work he was doing on his boat. He hopes to have it all pimped out so that he can take me out fishing on it when I get a little older. I am both excited and terrified at this prospect....

My cousins Braelynn and Nicholas were there (Nick was sleeping, so I don't have any pictures with him, but I did give him lots of kisses when he was in his baby travel bucket)

Braelynn and I got along really well! She had just started walking, so I was chasing her around, and letting her chase me!!

And get a load of that hair...how adorable is this kid? And that's coming from a super-adorable kid....

I even brought her a few toys without being prompted. I showed her how they worked, and we had fun playing together...

Auntie Steph gave me some new clothes (a shirt which I can't get enough of) for Easter, while Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy gave me a Toy Story baseball set....I had to open it immediately, and run outside to play with it! (Somewhere, there's some good video of me whacking Uncle Steve with the bat a few times...)

The set came with several balls, a bat, and a catcher's mitt. I went outside with Gramma Debbie and the kids that lived next door, and played for awhile...it was SOOOOO much fun...

One of the best parts of the weekend, was when Gramma Debbie was feeding me lunch, and she was having a hard time remembering something she had to do...while she was in the midst of searching for the right word, I finished her sentence, and she started cracking up...this got me going, and before long, we were both giggling messes in the kitchen. It was too funny!

Once again, everyone went their separate ways, and we got to chalk up yet another successful trip back to the MotherLand!

I am a Junior Firefighter!!

Last week, I had a very exciting run-in with some fire fighters!

Dad picked me up from daycare, and when he did, there was a fire truck waiting outside. As I am a huge fan of fire trucks, I asked if we could stick around and check it out. Dad obliged, and we got to look at all of the lights and equipment on the truck for a awhile. It was really cool! Dad tried to explain what stuff on the truck did (as far as his limited fire truck knowledge could take him, obviously) and I really enjoyed hanging out.

When it was time to go, we bumped into the fire fighters as they were exiting the building (Luckily, it didn't look like there was a real emergency, which is always nice)

And then, something extraordinary happened...they all stopped to talk to me. I didn't even have to ask! They were all giving me handshakes, and high-fives, and they totally made my day. I told them I really liked their truck, and one of them asked if I could walk back to the truck with them, because they had a present for me!

We got back to the truck, and one of the fire fighters came out with a roll of stickers shaped like badges, and he stuck it on my shirt, making me an honorary Junior Firefighter with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase rescue squad. How amazing is that?! And then to top it all off, he gave me one of the little fire fighter hats that they keep in the truck for just such an occasion. I got to watch the truck drive off, which was really cool since I was so close to it while it drove away...

I was so happy, I couldn't contain myself, and have been wearing the hat pretty much every day (at least once a day) ever since...

In addition, on a side note, I finally got to take home the grass seeds that we have been growing in little cups at daycare....pretty cool, right? It's quite soft, and smells so good...like a fresh Spring day!

MY NEW TRICYCLE!

So, you may recall that over Christmas/My Birthday there was some pretty nasty weather that prevented everyone from being able to get out to my party. I had a lot of fun with Mom's family (we had a little snowed-in birthday party) but a lot of presents didn't make it to us...

When we went to Pennsylvania, Mom and Dad picked up the remaining presents from Gramma Debbie and Grandpa, and they have been slowly metering them out to me over the last few months. They

One thing they DIDN'T wait to give me was my long-awaited TRICYCLE!! When Dad opened the box I was SO excited, and couldn't wait to help put it together...

Gramma Debbie got this for me for my birthday as soon as she heard that I was riding them at daycare, and asking for my own! How cool is that?

I looked through the parts, and easily found the handlebars...I held on to them so that Dad could put them in last. I saw that the instructions had them listed as one of the last items to install and I didn't want them to get in Dad's way.

Dad trusted me to organize all the parts according to the manual, and once I did, he started assembling the front tire assembly.

He gave me the wrench and let me work on the seating assembly...I think I did pretty well considering my lack of experience...I'm glad Dad lets me do stuff like this, so that I can get better at it before I'm called upon to do this kind of stuff on my own.

Dad let me put the seat on, and even let me adjust it for the proper height. I obviously had a little bit of experience with how tall I am, so I think I did a pretty good job with it if I do say so myself.

Before long, everything was fully assembled, and I got to test it out inside one final time before we got ready to head outside for a full test run...

Can you tell I'm a little happy about it?

Somehow Dad managed to convince me to get out of my PJs and put some clothes on to go outside and ride my tricycle for the first time...

It took me awhile to get it down, since this is somewhat different than the tricycles I'm used to at daycare, but soon enough, I was cruising effortlessly...

I'm sure that there will be many more exploits with my tricycle! I can't tell you how awesome this is...

Thanks Gramma Debbie, and Grandpa! Wheeeee!!!!

A Huge Birthday Party!!

Last month, things worked out well enough with both location and planning that we decided to go up to Pennsylvania for a surprise birthday party for my second cousin.

At least I THINK he's my second cousin...he's Dad's first cousin, if that helps you figure it out.

So we all hopped in the car and drove up to a small town in Pennsylvania called Dilsburg, where some of our cousins live. In addition to that, because it was such a huge party, Dad's family from Connecticut was all coming! Uncle Steve, Aunt Amy, Uncle Brian and Auntie Steph, Braelynn, Nicholas, Gramma Debbie and Grandpa! I mean...that is a HUGE cast of characters!

It was actually the first time we were able to take a picture of all of us at once! How great was that?

In addition to all of our immediate family on Dad's side, and lots of extended family on my Dad's side, there were also so many friends and family that it was a little overwhelming, but it ended up being fun for all.

When it got a little too overwhelming for me, I took a walk with Gramma Debbie to relax a little, and get a look at their nice yard. It was fun, and definitely helped me get more comfortable with the event. Once we went on our little walk, it was a lot easier to go back into the party.

I was happy that I had that time to relax, because once I went back inside, I had SO much fun! I got to play with all of my cousins, and they were very welcoming!

I got to play some Rock Band with my cousins and some of their friends down in the basement. They let me use the black guitar, which was really really cool. The guitar was of a slightly different design than I am used to, but I did what I could. It was also a little big, but I think I rocked it pretty well.

And after all of that, I discovered that the house featured a kitty cat! He let me chase him around, and it was lots of fun! I don't know that I've ever had the chance to play with an orange kitty before...he was very pretty!

We had to go a little early, so that we could drive back home before my bedtime, but not before I got to jump on the couch with my cousin for a little while...

Mom asked us to get off the couch, because it isn't really polite to jump on other peoples' couches, but not before she snapped a picture of us having a blast...

It was so much fun....we had a nice, uneventful drive back home, and I got to sleep in the car for awhile. I hope we get to see that part of the family again this summer now that we know how close they actually are! It was only a couple hours, and it was SUCH a beautiful drive...They live in such a nice area...

Oh April...we hardly knew ya....

Well then...

My plan of rebooting the blog didn't quite start how I wanted it to....I unfortunately timed my reboot to a very busy month for my biographer. Dad was working on a live show which he acted in and helped write, and also spent the month writing his yearly screenplay. This of course monopolized his extra time and we weren't able to keep up with the blog.

We did however still spend a lot of quality time together with Mom, in addition to hanging out with lots of people...stick with me, and we'll get you all caught up on the last few weeks adventures.

To start with, I got a new haircut Friday, and for the first time I sat by myself in the chair without being on Mom or Dad's lap.

The stylist gave me a lollipop BEFORE the haircut, and so I got to hang out and eat it while she cut my hair, instead of having to wait until afterwards....

I managed to get myself a nice "Medium" haircut, which came out perfect! Mom and Dad both thought it came out really well! I felt very grown up sitting in the chair, chilling out with my lollipop, and getting so well taken care of. When I was done, Dad and I got to have lunch out and about, and go to the bicycle store where I made several tasteful choices for a future bicycle, once I get too big for my tricycle...keep an eye on this space for actual real updates....they're coming, folks!