Here's a little piece of advice: don't ever do something once with a toddler unless you are willing to do it 1 million times.
This also applies to some dogs.
Also, my favorite sight of the summer is probably... summer dawn and dusk, something about the gradients in the sky, dim illumination, and transition from a quiet environment to a highly active one (and vice-versa) gets to me.
Very cool observations.
Nice catch about the dogs. I don't have one... but I have two kids so I can relate lol.