Dear John Deere Corp.,

My son is very cute.  He is also smart and precocious.  He happens to love your tractors with all of his heart.  We went to a local retailer, Padula Brothers, and he was in heaven, sitting on all of your various models, including his favorite the 1025R utility tractor.  He has blue eyes and brown hair, looking very much like a young boy from a Norman Rockwell painting.  Though he typically does not sit still or like to have his picture taken, he will do both provided he is sitting on one of your products.  He can say John Deere very clearly, especially for a 3 year old.  He also recognizes your products' trademark green and yellow paint scheme and has been, on occasion, known to say, without prompting, "Nothing Runs Like a Deere."  If you are in need of an adorable kid to sell tractors, please contact me.  While at Padula Brothers, no less than three strangers approached us about how cute he looked at the wheel of a Deere.  I don't think this is coincidence.  He would make an excellent actor for a commercial or a spokesperson.  Really, most of your demographics are either Dads or Granddads and boy does he connect with those two groups of folks.  He could be paid in John Deere beep, beeps, and a kid sized classic John Deere hat.  I, as his agent, would probably need either a Gator or a 1025R as remunerations.

Sincerely,

Isaac's Dad

Until I was a parent I had no idea what a Touch a Truck was.  Since becoming a parent and learning the phrase I have become OBSESSED with finding one.  When Bianca informed me that there would be a Touch a Truck on the Saturday before Father's Day, I decided we'd go.  Then I-man got sick.  He ran a fever for three days straight, but on Saturday morning he seemed okay.  He also REALLY (or reatty, as he would say it) wanted to go.  So, Dad and Isaac ventured over to Townsend for the Touch a Truck.

There were a bunch of vehicles there--a ladder truck with the ladder all the way up, a dump truck, three pieces of construction equipment, a street sweeper (which was surprisingly cool), a special lawn mower designed for cemeteries, and an ambulance.  This was a free event and attracted a surprisingly large crowd of kids with parents in tow.  

Isaac decided to wear his hard hat he got for his birthday, so he was really looking the part when he got up into the cab of the dump truck.  He also liked the ambulance and the three diggers.  He thought the fire truck looked cool, but preferred to examine their equipment.  We spent probably 20 minutes looking at the massive hydraulic cutters and the jaws of life.  After that we went to the ambulance and thanked the EMTs.  I never realized how much of an ambulance was designed for...um...drainage.  Its like a big tub on wheels.  Yuck.  

Isaac was very good.  With so many kids there were lines at almost every vehicle (the senior citizen bus was completely ignored...it smelled funny).  Each time I would hoist Isaac up I would tell him "Let me know when your ready buddy.  Other little folks need their turn."  He would mess with the levers and the steering wheels and look around, then mess with them again.  Eventually he'd just motion for me to come get him and that would be it.  No crying, no whining.  All of this and still running a small temp.  He was, objectively speaking, the best kid at the entire Touch a Truck.  

Here is an action shot of him at the dump truck:

Okay, okay, so this one is a little late coming.  What with Nanna and P-Pa visiting, Isaac being under the weather, and Father's Day I haven't had time to upload videos and pictures.  That is all done now and there is a bunch of new content (Nanna and P-Pa, its called rationing).

Anyway, the third birthday was by far his best birthday yet (except of course for his ACTUAL day of birth).  This time Nanna and P-Pa were here and Isaac got a play set.  Colby and Myles (with parents in tow), GG, Uncle John and Katie, and Nanni and Poppa Dom all joined us for the celebration and we had a great time.  The theme was a mix of Dinosaur Train ("Once upon time, there was a Mom, her name was Mrs. Pteranodon....") and Dragons Love Tacos.

Mom made a stupendous train cake this year with eighteen (18!) cars.  Here is a shot as it comes down the tracks:

Here is a shot of the cake from the air:

The rest of the cars had to be served separately because the plywood cake plynth wasn't big enough.  When you make a cake too big for sheets of plywood, well, then you know your name is Bianca Rose.   Note the Giganotosaurus in the observation car, that was a little nod to Isaac's favorite show--Dinosaur Train. 

Knowing that I could not approach the awesomeness of the cake, I decided to go for pure firepower and brought in the second theme of the party--Dragons Love Tacos.  After some cutting and shaping and about 30 pieces of cardboard I arrived at this:

It was a pretty hot set up.  The nozzle of the torch was mounted just behind the mouth of the dragon and when viewed correctly it appeared as though the dragon was breathing fire.  It was, well, super kick butt.  There is video out there, I think P-Pa might have some, but I didn't take any because...um...I am a pyro.  We used it to light up the fire pit for 'Smores.  So that tells you a lot about how awesome the party was: 'Smores, fire breathing dragons, and fire pit....but there was more.

Isaac's big ticket item this year was his play set.  Here he is eating with his Nanna and P-Pa:

There are swings and the like and all three boys loved running up and down the ladder.  But there was another awesome use--as a pinata holder:



After all of this, we had the boys do some work on the backyard, after all this was not just for freeloaders:


Everyone brought their A game for gifts too, but Isaac's favorite gift was probably his weedwhacker, a gift that his cousin Myles thought of.  It was pretty awesome. 

As the day came to an end, we were all exhausted, but it was totally a good kind of tired.  Overall, it was one of the three or four best days I have ever had and I think I-man had a great day too (other than the horrific wagon accident caused by Dad).

Thanks for everyone.