Chuga-Chuga-Choo-Choo!

On Sunday afternoon, while I was napping, Daddy built my train table! I'm sure you are all curious to see what it looks like. It took him about 4 hours to complete the job. Whew! It's 49.25x33x17 inches! Wowee!

Here's a bird's eye view. As you can see, we set it up on our upstairs landing.

Here's the view from the other side. Is this things awesome or what?
I got right to work having lots of fun with my trains. All aboard!

There are three engines and seven cars and everything is wooden. The trains are all self-propelled, meaning that I have to push them to make them go. There are several spots on the tracks that make train noises.

Let's take a quick tour of all the features, shall we...
Here's the passenger station, complete with a passenger and conductor.

Here's the gas station.

Here's the roundhouse. You can turn the engines around and even put the engines and cars inside to sleep at night.

There's even a mountain and tunnel.

And a work yard with a magnetic crane that lets you load lumber, containers and other neat stuff on the cars.

And finally, there's this really cool bridge that lights up when the cars go over it.

Here's a little video of the sights and sounds of my train table. I went around and around like this all evening and even insisted on having my dinner upstairs so I did not miss a thing.

At one point, I had all the trains attached together and going around the tracks without falling off. What a genius I am, huh?

So I am looking forward to many, many years with my train table. Thanks, Tutu and Sir, for this awesome gift and to Daddy for painstakingly putting it together for me.

Boxing Day Movie Madness!

On Sunday morning, Mommy and Daddy decided that I was old enough to go to the movies! I've watched many movies from the comfort of my own living room but never watched one in a real theater.

We decided to see "Yogi Bear" (seemed the best choice for a boy like me) and went to our local Regal Theater to watch it. Here are Daddy and I standing outside by the movie poster. Let's get in there...I am ready to go!

When we got inside, there was a huge "Yogi Bear" movie display. I had to pose in front of it.
Then we headed into the theater. It was pretty cozy and I sat next to Daddy AND Mommy.

"Yogi Bear" is a 3D flick so I had to wear special glasses during the film. They even had little ones for kiddies like me. Do I look cool or what?

And guess what? They have popcorn at the movies! Yummy! I got my own little box and I dug right in. Mommy brought me my own juice and fruit snacks.

So, I guess now you want to know how I did. I sat in my seat for the first 25 minutes of the movie and probably kept my glasses on for about 10 of those minutes. After that I got a bit restless and had to walk up and down the aisle, rearranging the cup holders on the row below ours. Good thing there was only one other family in the theater with us and they didn't seem to mind my movement. I did enjoy the movie, though, but I just couldn't sit still for the whole thing.

So first trip to the movies: I give it two thumbs up! Another milestone in this little life of mine. Yeah!

Christmas Day with the Dirstines

On Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Tutu and Sir's house to celebrate Christmas with all of the Dirstines. Here's a shot of their tree...spectacular, right?
As soon as we arrived, I dove right in and started opening presents. Here are some highlights!

My first gift was a dinosaur named Boris. He's a character from the show "Dinosaur Train."
He roars and chomps and talks. He's awesome!

Here's a little video of Boris in action. Cool, huh?

Then I opened a neato golf tee. When you hit the button a ball comes out and hovers in mid-air so you can hit it. Stay tuned for a future post of me playing with this toy.

Ella opened lots of gifts, too. Here's one she really enjoyed.

It's a Pixie Power Playset, complete with lots of fairies. So beautiful!

Then it was time for the big gift in the corner by the piano. And guess what? It was for me!

It's a train table complete with tracks and everything!

Daddy, can we set this up NOW? Since it weighed about 100 pounds, I agreed to fore go the set up until the next day. Stay tuned for a future post all about my train table.

And finally, I opened a neat game system called Mobigo.

Looks neat, huh?

I also got Legos from Aunt Marisa, Uncle Mike and Ella (see a future post on me playing with Legos soon) as well as a cool plate from Aunt Nora that let's you play with your food. OK, so it's got a face on it and let's you use your food to give the face hair and such. Very cool!

The adults got all kinds of fun stuff, too. Mommy got a cashmere sweater, a necklace and this lovely top. Ella loved it, too, so she had to try it on.

As you might remember from last year, Tutu has lots of electronic friends at her house during Christmas. I really enjoyed them this year and moved them all around the living room in order to fully experience them. They started out on the hearth, then I moved them to this chair.

Now how do I get them all going at once?

Here's a little video of the results. Enjoy!

Then I decided that they might be more comfortable on the floor.
Then I shared them with Ella.

And we danced all over the living room.

Here's a video of our dancing skills. Gotta love it!

Then it was time for dinner! Tutu cooked a big turkey with all the fixings. I got to sit in a big chair next to Sir and even got to use the good silver. Neat! Guess that means I'm growing up.

The rest of the evening was spent playing games, like Wii Bowling.

Excellent strike, Sir!

And the techie dudes played "Battleship" on their iPhones/iPods. Nerds!

And we attempted to take a family photo. I, however, would not let go of this reindeer and tried to get away. Oh, well, nice try.

Ella and her Mommy and Daddy had a bit more success.

Awww, baby kisses are the best!

Did I mention that Aunt Nora and Aaron were home visiting from the frozen north? They are surviving the Montana winter so far. No frostbite is a good thing!

As the night wound down, I played a bit of Peek-A-Boo Farm with Tutu.

Got in a few more hugs with my Aunt Nora.

And gave Cousin Ella a big kiss goodbye.

Thanks, Tutu and Sir, and everyone for such a great Christmas Day and for such excellent gifts! I love all of you so much!

So Christmas is over but we have so many wonderful memories (and gifts) to remind us of the season. Can't wait until next year...

Christmas Morning: Santa Came to Visit!

On Saturday, it was finally Christmas Day! And guess what? Santa came to my house! I guess all those "nice" reports from Charlie our Elf on the Shelf paid off. Here's a shot of all the presents! The ones from Santa are wrapped in special paper that says "from Santa" on it. Let's get to this!
The first gift I opened from Santa was this awesome "Goodnight Moon" floor puzzle.

It has big pieces.

I am really liking floor puzzles these days so I got right down to work on this new one.

Next, I opened a neat block puzzle. It has robots on it and is nine puzzles in one! Super cool!

Time to open more presents. I'm getting pretty good a the unwrapping part.

Ooh, it's a Toy Story magnet set. You open the box and there are two different scenes inside to put the magnets on. And you know how much I love magnets!

I also got this Color-Forms dinosaur play set. The dinos stick over and over and over. Mommy was shocked that they still had Color-Forms. I mean how retro can you get?

One of the coolest gifts from Santa was this "Tickle Monster" book and special tickle gloves. Here I am demonstrating on Mommy. Hee, hee!

Finally, I got this Christmas coloring book that let's you wipe off the markers and color over and over again. How very eco-friendly!

As part of our ongoing family tradition, we always get each other a new ornament for Christmas. I got this neat Noah's Ark one. Cool, that's my name!

Just a few more presents to go! I got the Why Writer from one of my favorite shows "Super Why" from Mommy and Daddy. Cool!

Daddy and I had to do the signature "put your hand in" from the show and then say "Super Readers to the rescue!" I guess you had to be there.

Mommy and Daddy also got me this cute book and stuffed friend set. The dog interacts when you read the story. It's pretty cool!

And finally, I opened Whyatt, the main character from "Super Why."

He says lots of things and his cap moves when you fly him around the room.

Here's a video of me demonstrating. Enjoy!

Here's one last photo of the wreckage of Christmas morning. What a great bunch of presents I got, huh? Thanks, Santa! And thanks, Mommy and Daddy, too!

Oh, by the way, here is a video of my trying out my new remote controlled race car from Mimi and Pop-Pop. It is pretty hilarious!

So we are off to Tutu and Sir's house for Christmas dinner and of course more presents. Stay tuned...