Support needed

My dad collapsed at work today and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He's been unresponsive ever since. The dr. called tonight and said we should get there as soon as possible so we're planning on flying out in a few hours.

This was all very sudden and we are all shaken up.

Rides at the Penny Arcade

Our town has a fun penny arcade on the west side. It has a mix of super old games and brand new ones. Some of the games are still only a nickel. My dad used to take me there when I would come up and visit him for the weekend. We'd race each other in the horse derby and challenge each other on our favorite pinball machine. Some of the games are in buildings and some are outside by the river. We decided to take Preston there to ride some of the kiddie rides - he wasn't too sure of most of them, but he didn't seem scared. His favorites were the space shuttle and the firetruck. We had a blast and plan to go back when the weather is warmer. They had a TON of rides - here's pictures of a few of the ones he rode:

Electric Safari at the Zoo

We took Preston to the zoo for the first time right after Christmas. They decorate the zoo with animated animals displays and lots and lots of lights. It's beautiful to see and we usually go every year. It was so much different to go as a family of 3. I was more excited about his reaction and loved watching him take it all in. For the first 30 minutes, he just stared at everything and didn't make a noise - very unlike him!! It was a wonderful night and not too cold which made the experience even better.

Preston got to ride his first carousel. He wasn't too sure of it at first, but I think he enjoyed it. This was our first time on it too - it went fast!! His favorites were seeing the giraffes and the stinky, loud hippos. We all had a good time and I can't wait to take him back to see all the other animals.

Christmas 2011

We all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. It was pretty low key this year - not a lot of gifts or stress and lots of time spent with family eating way too much food. Santa was very good to Preston though. He had fun opening gifts and ripping the paper into confetti sized pieces. His favorite present was a plush rocking horse. He figured out quickly that if you press the ear, the horse makes galloping noises.

He's started doing a lot of new things lately. He does a 'happy dance' after he takes a bite of food. I didn't teach him that, but it's really cute! He's also learning how to dance. Right now, it's just a foot stomp, but he's got rhythm. Out of the blue, he started twirling around in circles. He spins really fast and will get dizzy and fall down. He knows where his nose is and instead of pointing to it, he'll inhale and exhale quickly. If you ask him to do 'muscles', he'll squeeze his hands and flex his arms - and he has a muscleman face to go with it. He's such a ham! And he just started saying 'hi'. It's usually when he sees one of our kitties. He'll wave and give a high pitched 'hi'!!

Happy New Year!