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JANUARY - January - Sammy helps mommy celebrate her birthday
with a big cake and some nice dinner. January was a nice quiet month for Sammy and Mommy.
We mostly did chores around the house and kept inside because it has been very cold. The weather
has been very dry so Sammy has had some very fly-away, bad hair days this month. |
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FEBRUARY - Sammy is Mommy's sweetest angel. We had a very quiet
February and we mainly stayed inside out of the cold dry weather. Sam made Mommy a very nice
Valentine at school and himself a fetching hat! |
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MARCH - Sam had some exciting times this month. There were
some big snow storms finally and he went out to build a snowman. Then his cousins visited him
over spring break. He spent most of his time trying to get them to play with him in a very loud
voice. Then Sam went to see Toy Story II on Ice by Disney at the World Arena. This was a
great production and we would love to go see another! Sam also attended the annual St.
Patrick's Day parade in Old Colorado City. He loved seeing all the fire trucks and animals.
This was a very long parade and lasted nearly an hour. It was beautiful warm day and the
street was packed. However, Sam turned down the free sample of Irish Cream fudge from
the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
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APRIL - Sam had a wonderful April. He was able so see the Easter
Bunny and was not afraid to sit on his lap. Then on Easter he had two egg hunts. One at his
house and a giant outdoors one at Grammy's. Sam collected many chocolate eggs and Matchbox
eggs full of cars. This year was also Sam's 3rd Birthday. He decided to have his party at
Gymboree and invited several of his friends to join him (Osian, from next door, Shelby,
who lives next door to Grammy and Grampy, DJ and Kiera from school and Tristan, ShaeLyn
and Cody from Mommy's work). The theme of Sam's birthday this year was Bob the Builder.
Sam loved sharing his birthday with all of his friends and received some AWESOME gifts. |
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MAY - May was a great month for Sam. He celebrated Mother's
Day with mommy and Grammy by taking them out to dinner. Then he went to the Colorado Springs Air
Show at the old airport. We saw parachutists, old WWII planes, aerial acrobat planes, gliders,
helicopters, etc. Sam also participated in his dance class finale. He was awarded a special
certificate for completing the class and performing for all the parents. Finally, Sam
attended Territory Days in Old Colorado City. There were Indians dancers, birds of prey
on display, and a balloon twister (Sam asked for a pink snake, how hard was that to make?) |
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JUNE - Sammy helped celebrated mommy's birthday at the beginning of the
month with a nice cake, and a trip to the Pueblo Riverwalk. Sammy's also had a good time celebrating
Father's day taking a luncheon ride on the Canon City Rio Grande train ride that goes below the
. Near the end of the month
his cousins came down for a visit and they all had fun at the new outdoor water recreation pool
at Wilson Ranch. |
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JULY - We spent the morning
at a wonderful kid's parade on one of the downtown streets of our neighborhood. Then, we
spent a VERY hot day at the White House Ranch old-tyme festival. Unfortunately we never found any
fireworks so Sam had to make do with some New Year's Eves noise-makers. Sam also went to the
Larkspur Renaissance Festival for the first time. He had a blast on all the rides, seeing the animals,
riding an elephant, a camel, and a llama, seeing the knights joust and the king and his court
parade through the grounds. July is Grampy's birthday. Cousins Haley and Seth came down to
celebrate the event and we went to the Bug Museum down near Crystola. The big bugs were appropriately
gross and disgusting. Finally, Sam began swim lessons at the YMCA with teacher Jamie in preparation
for his trip to IN the next month. He did a great job and by the end was a veritable fish! |
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AUGUST - Sam went on his second bi airplane ride to visit his relatives
in IN. First he went to visit Aunt Wanda and Uncle Martin in New Albany. We had a wonderful time
visiting the Huber Farm and Ohio Falls River exhibit. Next Sam stopped in Shelbyville to visit
the grave of his ancestor John Derrickson who moved to IN from NJ in the 1820's. Finally, Sam spent
a few days with his Gigi at the lake cottage. Unfortunately Lake George is on the border of IN and
MI and Sam's visit was affected by the rolling-black-out that took out most of the Eastern seaboard
and Midwest states power. The IN half of the lake was not affected. Sam toughed it out and had a
wonderful time swimming in the lake. |
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SEPTEMBER - This year Sam attended the Scarecrow Farm at Palmer
Park where we made a scarecrow together. This is a fundraiser for therapeutic horse-back riding
for the disabled. I think our scarecrow is very handsome! Sam also attended mommy's friend Jason's son
Tristan's birthday party at Chucky Cheese. Who doesn't like Chucky Cheese? Later in the month we went
on a drive in the mountains. We went to 11-Mile Canyon lake and then the back way into Cripple
Creek. The aspen color this year was astounding. I'd never seen it so nice. In Cripple Creek we
stopped to see the fire department which had many fine trucks to view. Grandpa has introduced Sam
to The Lone Ranger TV shows and movies from the 50's and he just loves them. He has this outfit
which he wears constantly. Now he wants chaps, a lasso, and oh ya, a pony!! We also managed to
rake up bags and bags of leaves in our own yard. |
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OCTOBER - First thing this month Sam attended another birthday party for
Ms. Shealyn (Mommy's friend at work Amy's daughter). She had a wonderful magician show with magic
animals. Mid-month Sam went to Erie, CO to the corn maze. It turned out to be an entire farm experience with lots of hay, small
animals, a home-made train ride, 3 HUGE corn mazes and a pumpkin patch. We had a wonderful time.
Finally, at the end of the month, Sam took his mommy to visit in California for the first time. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in the Bonita Towers
on the 7th floor. We swam in the Neverland Pool, rode King Arthur's Carousel about 3 times a day, spun
in the teacups at least once a day, and even tried the Matterhorn...twice! Sam had at least 2-3 three-year old
meltdowns a day due to hunger or being tired but we managed very well together on our first trip alone
together. For more pictures please .
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NOVEMBER - Sam hosted Thanskgiving dinner at his home this year. He
invited Grammy, Grampy, his Great-Aunt Julie, and Miss Josephine (his dog) to dinner. This was a simple
affair and everyone brought something yummy to share.
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DECEMBER - December began with Grammy and Grampy having to leave
for IN to take care of the family lake cottage. They were gone during the first week of December
which is usually the annual X-mas parade in downtown COS. Mommy had not planned on going without
re-enforcements and it turned out to be one of the warmest parade evenings on-record! Sam also
went to Auntie's house for his annual present swap (Haley and Seth received the long-awaited for
PS2!) We also attended the Flying "W" Christmas show. Sam was very excited this year and
dressed himself up as a cowboy. For his immense cuteness he received two CD for free! Finally
Santa visited the Derrickson home and it was definitely a cowboy X-mas. Santa brought Sam
the three things he asked for: a REAL cowboy suit (with chaps), and pony (the plastic, rocking kind),
and a big batman (from Auntie). He was a very happy camper. |
| More miscellaneous pictures of Sam in 2003:
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