Here's the big costume reveal. This was a group effort: I knit the sweater, Drew made the bulldozer, Patrick made the "Bugdozer Construction" logo, and Silas supplied a heaping dose of cuteness. "Bugdozer, by the way, is a character from the Richard Scarry books.
Last weekend, we went to the local fire station's pancake breakfast. Silas was very very excited, especially when they gave him is very own firefighter badge and helmet.
But the best part was definitely getting to ride on top of the fire truck. You can't tell from the picture below(it was pretty cramped up there and I wanted to enjoy the ride, so I quick snapped a picture, such as it is), but Silas is standing at the very top back of the truck, and he is having the time of his life. The truck took us around the neighborhood for about five minutes, with two firefighters hanging off of the back, totally old-school.
On our way home, we happened to be behind a firetruck carrying some families. One of the moms had asked the fireman to take a picture and he was balancing on the back with just the strap keeping him from falling off in order to take their picture (why didn't I think of that). For the rest of the afternoon, Silas kept climbing onto the back of one of our big chairs, pretending to take pictures, exclaiming "I'm a fireman!" It cracks us up that that's what he took away from his time at the fire station: Fireman = Photographer.
The last of the digger sweater photo shoots...
I love that our market basket matches his sweater.
There's an old front-end loader in a parking lot that Silas has been given permission to ride on whenever he wants. He's one very happy kid when he's riding that thing, let me tell you. 
A few more pictures are posted here.
As promised, here are a few pics from our weekend photo shoot. Silas always asks to go see the boats when we're downtown, so taking a walk to the marina, and the Waterfront Park, is pretty commonplace. Up above: Silas and I are at the end of one of the piers, next to a boat that's named, no joke, "The Knotty Nurse."
You probably can't tell from these shots, but this is the hull of a boat that's been planted in the ground and is used as a stage for events in the park.
Silas loves to run around on it. Clearly it's also a favorite of local graffiti artists.
We determined that the paint chipping looked like a bat. Silas now requests to see the "bat pictures."
The kid is looking none too pleased in this next image. But it's a decent picture of me, so whatever. I'm posting it.
And a couple more of the waterfront: People dock rowboats next to shore and then take them out to their houseboats, yachts, or even their houses across the harbor.
Out-of-service ferries in the distance (in service ferry is a bit beyond them, but not in view).
I will post a few more from the farmers market and whatnot some other time.
Introducing Planet Silas’ October 09 book of the month: Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell ; pictures by Lizzy Rockwell.
A little girl travels with her parents to a farm to pick a bushel of apples and to select the perfect pumpkin.
Silas has been requesting this book pretty steadily for just about as long as I can remember. While it is a delightful book to read any time of the year, it is undoubtedly the perfect pick for the October/Autumn/Halloween season. Young children (Silas included) relate to the little girl as she blissfully narrates her time on the farm with her parents, being followed by chickens and geese out to the orchard, picking just the right pumpkin and watching her dad cut it from the vine, etc. When they get home, the pumpkin is transformed into a jack-o-lantern and the (obviously health-conscious) parents pass the apples out for trick-or-treat.
This is a wonderful slice of life book that captures, both in words and pictures, the joys and traditions of this time of year. I trust that we will continue to read and enjoy this story for years to come.
We did several photo shoots this weekend featuring Silas and the digger sweater I recently finished for him (It will be part of his Halloween costume). I have a lot of pictures to sort through and will post more here and on my knitting blog soon. For now: The top pic is one of my favorites. How did I get such a golden, sunshine child? The bottom pic shows us killing time waiting for D...
Silas and I had a blast today at the Harvest Festival. We saw lots of friends and got to ride in a cart pulled by horses. Silas drove an old tractor...
And rode down the Land Slide (twice!). There he is, making his way down. I can't believe I captured this on film--they fly down so fast:
We listened to a lot of great music too. Next to the stage, they have an old carnival trailer from the 1920s. Isn't it beautiful?
The Harvest Festival is put on each year at Johnson Farm, which is a public farm run by the Trust for Working Landscapes. All the donations from this event go to this worthy organization, which promotes and supports local farms and farmers.
Silas helped me dig up the rest of the potatoes today. We also picked some beans. Both the beans and the potatoes went right into the potato and kale soup Drew cooked up for dinner. As you can see, Silas likes to help in the garden, loves to wear his gardening gloves (he has several pairs, in fact), and is not afraid to get covered in dirt. In fact, he spent a long time laying flat on the ground, patting the soil and exclaiming "I'm a mason!" (that would be the bricklaying-type of masons, not the Freemasons, with whom, as far as he's told us, he has no affiliation).
(Our friend O's trike, which she graciously loaned to Silas till she's big enough for it.)
Today is Silas' "half birthday." A book we were reading a while back (the name of which I now forget) suggested celebrating half birthdays with young children because they hit so many milestones and change so much in 6 months time. We decided to celebrate just a bit in order to share with Silas how proud we are of how far he's come since his birthday in March. I brought home a treat (cake truffle) from the bakery near my office which we all enjoyed for dessert. We let Silas pick our meal (hummus and pita with olives, cucumbers, and vegetable juice), and as you can see I took some pictures while we were playing outside. I took a video too, which I'll upload some other time.
Our little kitchen helper.
