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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Touch-A-Truck; a.k.a. Make a Toddler Ecstatically Happy

 a.k.a. Recipe for a Long Summer Nap.

The Nichols family had a wonderful day today.
This is what memories are made of - We went to the annual Touch-A-Truck event at a local park, and it was by far so much more than I expected. We spent nearly 2 hours at the park looking at construction vehicles, emergency rescue vehicles, school buses, cranes, and yes, even a helicopter. The local businesses and community resources had everything you could think of here, free, for everyone to come touch, honk, experience. It was so much fun, and I know this will be an annual event for us from here until Syd tells us he's too old.
 Here, Syd is in absolute shock. This is just as we get here. Kids are honking horns, laughing, screaming in delight. It was a lot of stimuli to which to acclimate. See the tractor in the background? That's a hay ride! Syd kept asking for the orange tractor, so we finished our day with a ride around the entire park.
 This is a beautiful, restored 1960-something car. I was rather shocked the owner allowed the kids to play in it. I also had a bit of difficulty convincing Syd he had to share. :-)
 Mommy and Syd waiting in line to sit in a jet. Yes, you heard me. They had the dual-globed cockpit of a jet for anyone who wished to crawl in to. He was unbelievably patient. We sang the theme song to Disney's Little Einstein as we waited.
 One of the highlights. He got to sit in the driver's seat of the digger, but was more interested in looking at the scoop!
 Syd was so excited to "drive" a fire truck! It was wide open and the kids could climb all over the inside, as well.
 After visiting the truck, he had no choice but to indulge in the pint-sized free helmets they had for little ones.
 You can tell the day was wearing on him by now - this is a blue tractor they had - brand spanking new.
 I didn't get a picture of him in the swing, because he wanted me with him, but you can see how they have huge burlap strips the crowd got to sit in and swing back and forth! It was a lot of fun, and the breeze was quite refreshing.
 On the hayride - family photo op! Syd remembered hayrides from the trip to the pumpkin patch last year and he was bouncing in his seat he was so excited. This makes me look forward to our trip to get pumpkins even more this year.
 I took pictures of the helicopter flying in, too. Here, it is on display for everyone to see.
Mommy and Syd on the way home! I don't think he ever went after his grahams so quickly!
Toddler self-portrait. He truly took this entirely on his own, after I showed him how to hold the camera backwards. My little photographer is getting quite skilled!

This was so much fun. I look forward to years more of playing with trucks, and eventually, to him being big enough to dive in to the fire men's soap bubble bath! Oh, and after we ate lunch at home, he took a 3 hour nap. What a wonderful end-of-July tradition for us to start this year, and a wonderful beginning to my birthday weekend!

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