The dude loves all things mechanical, it’s been well-established. If it roars and moves, all the better. So when we visited Uncle Scott and his gigantic lawn, and when Uncle Scott was happy to show off his riding lawnmower, Nyan was in little boy heaven.
Pictures are great, but they don’t do it justice like video does. Roll tape:
Here we are with daddy:
Daddy again:
Daddy one more time:
Grandma and Grandpa have a cousin named Mark. Mark drives a pick-up truck, which Nyan got to ‘drive’ when we were in Iowa last year. This year, Grandma and Grandpa promised a special treat. Mark, you see, drives a big gasoline truck (a.k.a. petrol truck) as part of his job. And he was going to let Nyan drive it!
And sure enough, he did. Nyan was over the moon happy (and Mark was pretty pleased too). Nyan had an especially good time blowing the very loud air-horn. Thanks, Mark!
We’re back in Singapore after a two-month residency in the US, but we’re not done with photos from the trip – far from it.
To wit: Here is a random sampling of our boy during his massive Summer 2015 trip to Iowa. Enjoy.
Nyan got a lot of birthday gifts and wishes, including an excellent one from Uncle Mike, Aunt Sarah and cousin Mia: a tour of the Iowa City Fire Department’s headquarters! The little guy was over the moon happy (Mia was pretty glad to take the tour as well). The firefighters showed us the pole, their living quarters, the administrative offices… and of course, the fire trucks.
And yes, as you can see, they let him sit in the driver’s seat:
The highlight of the visit, though was when the speakers came to life and our tour guide said he had to go out on a call! Nyan got to watch them climb into the truck and take off:
It was just a medical call; someone fell and hit their head; the firefighters handed the victim off to the ambulance and returned to finish the tour. We hate to say we were lucky to see a call – someone was hurt, after all – but still.
BONUS: A few days later, Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy walked with Nyan to the neighborhood fire station. It was a hot summer day, and the firefighters there welcomed us inside and gave us yet another tour. This station is HQ for the county Hazardous Materials team, so Nyan not only got to sit inside a fire truck; he got to get behind the wheel of a huge HazMat truck too! Pure bliss for this four year old boy.
Oh, they gave him a souvenir fire helmet too.
The local airport held an air show of sorts: a group of guys owns some World War II-era planes, including fighter planes and a B-29 Superfortress bomber (same kind of plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, as it happens), and they bring them around to airports and let people check out the planes. They also offer flights in the planes themselves, but with prices ranging from $600 for a flight in the bowels of the B-29, to $2600 to soar in a Corsair, we thought it best to stick to the ground, which only cost $10 a head (and kids were free!)
The best part, Daddy thought, was the B-29. We stood inside one of the bomb bays, which was full of (defused, I assume) 500-pound bombs. Then we climbed a ladder to stand in the cockpit.
They also had that Corsair, which happens to be the same model as Skipper, one of the characters in Nyan’s second favorite movie, Planes: Fire and Rescue. (The most favorite being Penguins of Madagascar.)
We went on the second day, and only four planes were there – several more were to arrive on the weekend – and the B-29 was the only one we could go in. But it was still pretty cool, and it was a beautiful and very warm summer day. No complaints at all.
For Nyan, probably the best part was the toy WWII plane (it was a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Grandpa decided) that Daddy bought for him as a souvenir. No, that was definitely his favorite part. Kids today.
Mommy, Daddy and Nyan made a quick visit to Chicago to visit some friends in July. On our last day there, we had a few hours to kill before we had to hit the road, so we went downtown to check out some parks.
A popular draw along the Chicago waterfront is a sculpture called Cloud Gate, also known as ‘The Bean.’ It’s a huge bean-shaped mirror, and you can go underneath it, get up close to it, view it from far away… it makes all sorts of funky perspective, and kids (and adults too) love it. Here it is:
Nearby is a pretty new park area with a large playground. We couldn’t go on some of the things, because they were for slightly older kids. But Nyan had fun steering the pretend pirate ship:
He also had fun climbing into the mouth of the whale:
It was unfortunately a very quick trip, and a lot the people we wanted to see were out of town. But we enjoyed the time we spent with the friends we did get to see, and Nyan enjoyed himself, so it’s all good.
Mommy took Nyan down the street to Willow Creek Park, and shaped a ton of photos. It wasn’t intended to be a sort of modeling shoot, but that’s kinda what it ended up looking like!
One of Grandpa’s favorite activities is going fishing. We’re pretty sure he’s been planning fishing expeditions with Nyan since the day, four and a half years ago, when we announced we were having a boy. This trip to Iowa, Grandpa finally put those plans into motion, and the pair went fishing on three separate occasions. Nyan caught a fish pretty much the first time he cast his line in the water, and they celebrated with a picnic lunch. (No fish was served at the lunch, however, as the fish was too small and had to be thrown back.)
A couple weeks later they were back at the same place (a small lake at Kent Park, just west of Iowa City) for yet more fishing. They caught bluegill, catfish, maybe a trout? Of course, Nyan informed Daddy that he also caught a salmon and a tuna. Who knew those kinds of ocean fish had found their way to an Iowa pond?
Nyan has always proven himself to be ready to lend a hand when it comes to doing laundry, doing dishes, sweeping, etc., and he’s been no different on our sojourn in Iowa. Check out the lad here, earning his keep by helping out around the house. Which means using a vacuum, because it’s so much fun!
No matter the size of the vacuum, Nyan Thomas is your man:
In honor of Nyan’s recent breakthroughs in learning to swim, as you read about earlier, we dusted off some footage from mid 2014, soon after we’d moved into our apartment in Singapore, and before Nyan was entirely comfortable in the water. But he was obviously comfortable on shore, comfy enough to start to take off all his clothes as he stood there…
Want to see some videos from last July? Sure you do. Click Play:
Waling to the pool, carrying his inflatable seahorse:
Playing around, pants-less, outside the baby pool before finally dipping his toes:
Enjoying a pleasant swim with mommy and the inflatable seahorse:
And finally… showing off his new goggles!
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