Fireman in Training

Like most li'l guys, Boden is a big fan of firemen and fire trucks.  He even wanted his room painted fire engine red (which we did) with a fiery scene painted on it (which we didn't do).  While most of October is spent counting down to his birthday (wish he had been born a little earlier in the month, because patience is limited), we are thankful for the diversion of fire safety and prevention month and the local activities that brings.  This year, Todd took him to the Victoria Fire Station Open House--I think they were there for about 2 hours looking at the rescue equipment, eating hot dogs, talking with the fireman and getting a ride on the brand new fire truck.  The highlight was watching the firemen in action as they put out a car fire as part of their demonstration.

The following week, for his class field trip, he visited the Chanhassen fire department.  He'd been there before with a friend and the previous year with his class.  He had fun but said it wasn't as good as his trip to the Victoria Fire Station...probably because there weren't any hot dogs.


Posing with the rescue boat

Love these prop boards

Boys and their toys



Oh, my God, I love snowmobiling!

 I've known Todd over 17 years and he has despised snowmobiles during all that time--hates the smell, the noise...etc.  Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when he came home with a snowmobile in December.  I thought it was a joke--like, maybe he was storing it for somebody or borrowing it.  Turns out it was really "ours" (though I won't be driving it anytime soon).  Boden really liked riding with his dad and going "super fast" (I don't know what that speed is and I'm not asking).  Apparently, snowmobiles multiply when they get wet (like Gremlins, I guess) or snowed on, because one day a  mini snowmobile appeared in the garage next to the big one.  Strange.  Boden immediately declared it his and has taken it out for a spin several times.  It looks hilarious because the speed is slow enough that I can jog next to him (in boots and snowpants!) but he looks like he thinks he's going 100 mph, tearing up the lake. 

Man-Lifts and Water Skis

Now it might seem, based on blog postings, that we didn't do anything in July, but I assure you we were quite busy...and quite hot.  The biggest news was that we got Boden up on the ski trainer and he did awesome--didn't want to stop and might have gone around the lake in circles indefinitely if Todd hadn't called a halt.  ( Note:  Please excuse my finger in the video!! I was a camera person doubling as the shore-start ski helper--I was more concerned about my second job duties :))

Secondly, Todd cut down some branches in our yard and Boden was more than happy to get out his construction gear and be part of the action.  See pics below:

Setting up the cones "so no one gets hurt"

"Helping" Dad in the man-lift

Bike Ready

Boden went bike-browsing with his dad yesterday at Freewheel Cycle.  He tried out scoot bikes, bikes without training wheels and bikes with training wheels.  Apparently, he's not what you'd call a natural so we'll definitely be getting a bike with training wheels and working on pedaling FORWARD.  Todd said there was another kid in the store about the same age, also there with his dad, who hopped on a bike and rode around the store...a little more advanced than our guy.  No purchase was made since it's not quite bike-ready outside, yet, so in preparation, he got an awesome helmet that has construction workers on it--makes me want to get a new cool helmet for myself.  I'm worried about skinned knees, broken fingers, and all kinds of road hazards, but I think I learned to ride my bike in the middle of a much busier street than I live on, so I'm sure he'll be fine.

Summer Construction

Todd helping Boden with the back ho

This summer will unfortunately be remembered as the "Year we did the landscaping project". Luckily, it all turned out in the end, but we had a muddy, muddy yard which led to a dirty, dirty house for most of the summer. 

The best part of the whole horrilble project was how excited Boden was about all the equipment--he got to "drive" the back hoe and the bobcat and thought that was awesome.  Everyday when we came home from school, he would get his play clothes and rubber boots on and head outdoors to climb in some piece of equipment and pretend to drive it.  It entertained him for hours.  Now that everything's done, he asks when we're getting another back-hoe...umm, never.

Down on the Farm

I'm feeding the baby cows!

Boden was in hog heaven at my mom's last weekend.  Top 5 Highlights of his visit:

6. Sit on a tractor
5.  Ride a four-wheeler with daddy
4. Trample through a hen house (much to the dismay of the resident hens and roosters)
3.  Feed baby calves their milk from a bottle
2. Visit cousins and meet great-grandparents (and eat cake!)
1. And, of course, the ultimate highlight--mow Grandma's lawn on the riding lawnmower.  A weekend wouldn't be complete without a little lawn mowing.

Josh, Jake 'the graduate', Michelle, Boden

The 3 1/2 hour ride home turned into 4 hours and an on-going battle with Boden who unbuckled himself from his carseat multiple times and he fought sleep the whole way.  We were certain (our fatal mistake) that he would fall asleep on the ride home because he skipped a nap fell asleep twice in the car while we were driving around to first my nephew's graduation party then "downtown" for a little shopping.  Todd and I placed our bets on when sleep would overtake him neither of us expecting him to make it much past 45 minutes in the car before zonking.  We were soooooo wrong:


He fought sleep and proceeded down the road to Crabbyville until we were 20 minutes from home. That's when our route changed-- we ended up running into a street concert smack dab in the road and had to detour (both of us cursing our luck) so it extended our car trip.  We of course sighed with relief and settled into silence for the last bit of the ride.  Then, out of the blue, 5 minutes from home, Boden opened his eyes wide and screamed and wriggled in his seat for a minute or two.  We tried unsuccessfully to comfort him and stop the crying.  Then, like someone snapped their fingers, he immediately fell back to sleep--pretty sure it was a night terror.  Todd and I looked at each other and started laughing (quietly)...omg, get us home! 

Farmer Boden had a farm,..eieio.

Snow is all gone!



You're right, this isn't "safe", mom.

Spring is finally springing in Minnesota and I'm willing to wager a bit of money that no one is more excited about this than Boden.  We started hearing about getting the mower out to cut grass a couple weeks ago, and it hasn't subsided.

"Snow is all gone.  Mow the grass!"  Hold your horses, li'l Buckaroo.  First the ground needs to dry up a bit so the mower doesn't sink, the grass needs to actually turn green from it's winter brown color, and, oh, yeah, it has to grow a few inches.  These details are lost on Boden who only knows that the mower is at Daddy's office and we better get it home "on the trailer" (smart kid) so we can get mowin'.

Shovel trucks

Looking like a big boy on the beach

Road construction started on our road last week with a convoy of "shovel trucks" (Boden's words and I don't know what they're really called, so we'll leave it at that.), pickup trucks and the occasional semi truck.  Boden loves all this male eye candy (yawn, from me).  When he plays with his own toy cars he now says "beep beep" when they back up--just like the big trucks.  He is all boy.