2011 - Dylan's Firsts

I have declared that 2012 is the year to get stuff done!  Jim and I already completed one project each.  I'll blog about that soon.  But first, something else I want to get done... Dylan's 2011 firsts!  I did this last year and it was so much fun looking at it this year.

January - First snow fort

January - First science class

February - first Pittsburgh stage show - Madagascar Live (I won the tickets!)

 March - First fire station field trip

May - First time letterboxing

 May - First "big boy bike"

End of May? - stopped taking naps.  "Wanna play?  Ready to play?  When are we gonna play?"

 June - first Vacation Bible School (at my parent's church)

July - first movie in a theatre - "Winnie the Pooh"

 July - first private swim lessons (with Valerie).  First time floating and putting his head underwater!

July - First time driving golf balls (at Bills Golfland, my childhood hangout!)

July - First wave pool and water slides.  Also, first time he only went on "big kid rides". (Idlewild)

 August - first time at a beach and boardwalk.  First time in the ocean.  (Ocean City, Maryland)

September - first baseball game and first time running the bases on the field.

 October - first time he picked his own apples in an orchard.  (Triple B Farms)

 October - first time playing tennis.  (With Mommy, at Heritage Park)

October - first time to make and eat caramel apples.

 December - first carriage ride with Santa.

December - First time ice skating.  (Bladerunners in Harmarville)

He also learned to read this year, (Level 1 books),  add, subtract, multiply, and became completely fascinated with counting money.

 I'm excited to see what 2012 will bring!

The Farm

On Tuesday this week, my mom and I took Dylan to Round Hill Farm.  I love that place!  There are few places that make me so nostalgic.  I always think of the times my parents took me there as a kid, so being there with my mom and Dylan was magical.  It was a perfect fall day in October, the temperature in the upper 60's, the sun shining, the sky blue.

The ducks were hungry!

And aggressive!  Wait, this one will give you a better idea...

"Whoa!  GET BACK!  Hey!"  QUACK!!!

Of course, Dylan walked along the beam, just like I loved to do as a kid.

Of course, he ran along the wall (racing "Mi-Mi"),

and jumped off the wall.

(Psst...this is from LAST year!)

There was a very talkative turkey.  "Gobble... Gobble... Hey, kid!  Can you help me out?  They put me next to that rooster, and I cannot get a wink of sleep around here!... Oh, and can we talk about how delicious ham is?  You know... for Thanksgiving?"

I've noticed that I take very few pictures of the actual animals at the farm!  For me, it's more about the awesome scenery, and the photo ops.

(Psst... this is from LAST year...)

I tell you, every time I do this, I have to double check the date a few times, saying "This has to be from 2 years ago!"  Time flies, and I have the pictures to prove it.

Yep, so that was Tuesday.  This was Saturday...

Mother Nature, you have one sick sense of humor!

First Day of Vacation - Ohiopyle?!

On the day that was supposed to be our first day of vacation, Ocean City was under a mandatory evacuation.  We had no idea what was going to happen.  There was a chance we wouldn't get to go on a vacation at all.  But, instead of moping around about it, we decided to enjoy the day by going to one of our favorite places - Ohiopyle.  It WAS on our "Summer To Do List" after all!  (We crossed off 9 of the 12 items.  The list was "Learn to Swim (sort of), Go to the Science Center, Ride the Alpine Slide at Seven Springs, Go Letterboxing, Go to "Castle Park", Go to Idlewild, Go to Ohiopyle, and Go to the beach!)

It was the perfect day for Ohiopyle, and Dylan was really excited to hike, climb over rocks, go behind a waterfall, and of course, get ice cream like we always do!

Oh, and do you remember back in 2008, when I took this shot?

Well, I recreated it this time...

Glad to see that Dylan finally grew into that big head!  

Jim said I'll still be trying to recreate this shot when Dylan is in high school!  I'm not that bad, am I?  Don't answer that.