Pioneer children sang as they walked...

...and walked... and walked... and walked... :)

This weekend, Ashton, Grandpa T. and I dressed up and walked as pioneers in the San Bernardino Bicentennial city parade (actually, Ashton didn't walk, he got pulled in the cart... then held :). Lucky boy.

Thankfully, it was only a couple of blocks. I am amazed at those pioneers, I don't know if I would've made it.

Full steam ahead!

An old steam engine built in 1927 came into town today to celebrate the bicentennial of the San Bernardino Railroad. The whole day was a train celebration, but this train was making a grand entrance and only coming once. Andrew and Ashton stood only feet away as the train came chugging by...It's possible the whole city was there, incuding the mayor who rode in on the train. He came down to put on a skit recreating a little piece of 1920's history...

It was everything 2 train lovers could hope for.
For more information on this particular steam engine, you can go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_3751

why wouldn't you? :)

♫Who are the people♪ in your neighborhood?♫

♪They're the people ♫that you meet when you're walking down the street, ♪they're the people that♫ you meet....each day! ♫

-Sesame Street

Meet Darnell.

He makes Thursdays extra special in our neighborhood.

Thursday is TRASH DAY

...and Darnell happens to be the BEST trash truck driver in the land! :)

When we hear his truck coming up the street we run outside and Ashton waits for him. Darnell sees Ashton, waves and honks his giant horn!! He makes the experience extra magical for my truck obsessed two year old!

Thank you Darnell for making Thursday Ashton's favorite day of the week!

Money doesn't grow on trees...

...and toy cars don't grow in the water.

Lets not buy these "growing" water cars anymore.

They are the worst $1.00 purchase of all time.

Twice as nice...

Waking up everyday at the crack of sunlight, he immediately jumps out of bed and asks for soda... He loves Eggo waffles for breakfast and cheez-whiz for everyother meal.

He hates wearing pants, but loves wearing shoes and socks.

Some new words this week are: Alpaca, arm, Coral, broken, Santa and why?

He loves to be outside.

He loves helping Grandpa in his garden.

He falls asleep with a leg tickle and a verse or two of our special song.

The best part of his day is going "bye-bye" in the car with his daddy.

He loves pirates, carousels, guitars, trucks and balls.

He NEVER leaves home without a stuffed animal, preferably a tiger.

Affectionately known as "doot", "bunny", "buddy", "honey", "dootch", or "bubba",

he's our Ashton...

...and yesterday he turned two years old!

Happy 2nd birthday, Ashton!!!
He blew out 1 of his two birthday candles and he was thrilled to open his gifts! Squeals and jumps made it very clear that he loved all of his presents.
Of course my favorite gift was from his Grandma (Andrew's mom and artist extraordinaire)...

She picks a favorite photograph of each grandchild and draws their portrait for their birthdays!! Amazing, huh?!? :)


It was fun celebrating the birth of my adorable little boy...
I wish he could stay small forever.
BUT, since he can't, I just hope that the two's aren't too terrible!

We got our Audi back!

After a long 5 months without our beautiful luxury car, we finally got it back today! We drove home with the air blasting, the seats adjusted perfectly to our bodies and our amazing Bose sound system cranked up! Life is good...