Birthday Number 2

Today is Carter's 2nd birthday!  I can't believe that is has been two years already!  We celebrated last weekend with our friends Ryan and Kelly.  They got Carter his "game shirt" which he wants to wear everyday.  Steve LOVES this present.
This past weekend, we celebrated with family.  All grandparents and uncles were at our house to celebrate.  Carter got lots of Go, Diego, Go toys, a basketball hoop, and a tricycle.  I also made a Rescue Pack birthday cake, and Carter recognized it was a Rescue Pack :)

Today, we took Carter to Sea World.  He has been talking about "Shampoo" for about a month now.  He sat through both the sea otter and lion show and the Shamu show.  We also saw other animals around the park.  I love the off season because we made it through the whole park in 4 hours.  Then, it was time for ice cream at Friendly's!  All in all, a wonderful day!  Happy Birthday, Carter!

Saying Hi to Shamu.  Carter wouldn't get too close though. 

Feeding the dolphins with Mommy

Eating birthday ice cream at Friendly's

Passed out with his Rescue Pack

Quick Update

Well, we have been back to work for the past three weeks, and I feel completely swamped. I have kids at all different grade levels, and I feel like I am never caught up. But, we are trying to spend each moment we can with Carter. Starting next week, Steve starts working 4 nights after teaching and all day Saturday. It's going to be a rough three months with him gone so much. But, maybe I will have time to update you with pictures. :)

Carter turns 2 on the 22nd. We are planning just a family party with his new favorite show as the theme--"Go, Diego, Go!". Wow, he is obsessed. We have had to limit his Diego time to one show a day or else he would sit in front of the TV the entire time when he is home. He even has a Build-a-Bear that is "Baby Jaguar" that he takes with him everywhere.

Some adorable things he is doing now...
Each time we drive by a McDonald's he says "There's Old McDonalds"
Shamu's real name is "Shampoo"
He can throw a ball in the air and hit it with a bat (which is amazing!) but he can't take off his clothes, which is probably a good thing.
He tells us daily that "Carter's birthday coming up". We finally have him convinced that he is turning 2, not 3 or 4.
He is obsessed with baseball and has taught himself to slide across our living room.
He LOVES rocks, and keeps a bowl of rocks he collects to take to the boat to throw in the water.
He wants a bike, although he can't ride one yet. :)
He is growing up too fast....

I will post pictures soon, I promise.

The Beach

A few weeks ago (yes, I am a little behind again), Steve and I took Carter "to the boat" to see Grandma and Granddaddy. We decided to try the beach again. He was terrified of the waves the last time, but he LOVED it this time. His favorite party was running around in the fine sand because it made a squeaky noise as he ran. Carter wasn't too sure about the water yet. He doesn't like waves very much. I love the pictures with his daddy and his granddaddy...

Fourth of July Fun

We had a very busy Fourth of July weekend together. Carter is very reactive to everything going on around him, so it makes all our outings much more exciting. Our Fourth of July started off with us watching a children's bicycle parade in Winter Park. Carter is obsessed with bicycles (and motorcycles) right now, so he was enthralled. There was also a fire truck with sirens and lights. Talk about an child in shock! I'm not sure he thought fire trucks were real since he has only seen them in books. This festival also had free hot dogs, lemonade, music, and games. It was really neat!

Carter and Mommy at the parade.

This is a pom-pom that I made Carter from Target bags, a wooden dowel, and blue masking tape. The idea came from a mommy magazine I get. This is the only time he would wave the thing. Steve hated that I called it a pom-pom, but what else would you call it? A bag waver?


This was one of the games that was at the festival-carry a wooden egg on a wooden spoon. We tried hard to keep Carter away from the games, but it didn't work. So, Steve held the egg on the spoon, and Carter walked up and down the line. Then, about 20 minutes later, we went back to walk with a Frisbee on his head, which I held on his head the entire time.

Carter's oh-so-lovely smile. I made pretzels dipped in white chocolate and sugar crystals. I thought it would be a semi-healthy treat. However, Carter only ate off the white chocolate and gave the pretzel back for me to eat. Silly boy.

While I went to a dog agility competition, Carter and Daddy played in his new pool. Steve said he was terrified of it at first, but once he got in, he loved it. He only wanted to go down the "water slide" head first. Typical boy...


We decided not to attempt a fireworks show this year. Good thing too because Carter was done by 7:45. We attempted one sparkler, which he loved to watch (not hold).

On Sunday, we went to the Fourth of July celebration at the Central Florida Zoo. Once again, we tried the petting zoo, and Carter loved the sheep. Once he saw Steve feed them, he couldn't get enough. Big change since the last time we went.


After we saw the animals and the zoo and played in the mini splash park, we took Carter to the "choo choo train". He is taking Kindermusik this summer, and the theme is Zoo Time. You get a CD when you join the class, and there is a song and a book about a train called the "Alley-Alley-o". So Carter was really excited to ride the "Alley-Alley-o" train. When we pick Carter up from daycare, we ask him what he did that day. He has been telling us for the past few months that he rode the "choo choo train". Well, he never rode the train until today. The child was in awe!


He loved every second, and now tells me each night before he goes to bed- "ride choo-choo train tomorrow?" Guess we will have to go back soon.

Random Pictures from the Past Few Months

Being mischievous on the fireplace. All dressed up to go to the boat. Granddaddy bought these shoes before Carter was born, so we squeezed his chubby feet in the one time.

We took a vacation to Cedar Key a few weeks ago. Here are the pictures from there...
Playing at the beach

Digging for treasure at Manatee Springs

Watching the sunset and throwing rocks into the water

Taking a walk through the nature trail in 105 degree heat!

Daddy and Carter eating watermelon. Carter had watermelon juice from head to toe.

While at Cedar Key, we went searching for sand dollars. We took a boat trip across the inter coastal (hence the life jacket on Carter) to a sandbar off a natural bird sanctuary island. Then, we swished out feet through the sand in about knee deep water searching for sand dollars. We found six of them. Two of the sand dollars are about six inches across!

Daddy and Carter at Manatee Springs. This is the face Carter makes when we say "smile". Hopefully, this will fade by two year pictures :)

Too Much To Do

I have really been slacking on these posts, and I say I will try to do better. It is hard keeping up with this blog. Now that we are home for the summer, we are trying to get little things done around the house while keeping Carter engaged in fun activities. I will try to post some pictures by the end of this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Free Babysitters

Steve and I have been very busy these past two months, and Carter has spent three weekends with his grandparents Meeks. Here are the bad habits I have to undo when he returns...My parents feed him Chef Boy-r-dee out of the can and let him drink Diet Coke...Give him way too many Oreo cookies...
Take him to the toy store and get him addicted to $300 power cars (which they don't buy him)...

Put glasses on him, so now he wants his own pair....

And somehow, manage to have him fall asleep in his stroller-something Carter won't do for Steve and I anymore.

In all honesty, my parents are great babysitters, and do it all on their very tiny living space in the boat with three dogs running around. This is quite a task since Carter NEVER stops moving.

They do feed him on a plate, but he is addicted to Diet Coke thanks to Granddaddy. He only gets a couple cookies a day, but he drinks a lot of chocolate milk at their house. He is addicted to driving fast cars and has learned all the buttons on the Mercedes my parents drive. And, we can't find sunglasses to fit Carter's head because it's too big! Carter loves the boat, and we hear how he wants "Dada take big truck to boat" almost every day. I know he is completely spoiled with them, but that's what grandparents are for, I guess. :)

Gatorland

Over our Spring Break, we wanted to take Carter to Sea World. However, when we got close to the theme park, it took over ONE HOUR to drive half a mile, and we never even made it to the entrance. We could only imagine the amount of people that would be in the park that day, so we nixed the idea and headed to Gatorland.

All those things in there are alligators. This is a normal scene from any lake near us. Well, maybe not as many, but we do see them all the time. For example, whenever we cross the Lake Jessup bridge, we count how many alligators we see in the lake and on shore. My highest count has

been 12.

This is what an alligator will do to you if you mess with it :) This was too cute for us to pass up. Carter and Daddy with the alligators. It was 68 degrees out that day, cold for Florida in April. However, the next day I was wearing shorts and it was around 80 degrees.

Carter is going to be an alligator wrestler one day. They actually have alligator wrestling at Gatorland, but Carter wasn't in the mood to watch it. I've seen the show before, and they do not tape their mouths shut. It's pretty wild.

Our family outside the original entrance. Carter climbed all over the teeth and had a meltdown when we moved him out of the way so other people could take pictures. Ahh, life with an 18 month old.

A Month of Strawberries

March has been the month of strawberries our family. In the beginning of March, we went to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. I have always wanted to go to this festival, so Steve took me for my birthday. It was not quite what I expected, but it was a fun (and cold) day. We started off at the 4-H show of cows. Once Carter got over his shock of how big the cows were, he loved listening to them "moo". Then, we went over to see the roosters and the rabbits. Carter perfected his rooster sound as he listened to all the roosters crow. He "cocka-do-do" all throughout the roosters and the rabbits.

Next, it was time for the "big truck", as Carter calls it. It amazes me how large those tractors are. He looks so tiny next to the wheel!

Grandaddy put Carter on one of the tractors. We had to pry him off of it so other kids could get on. Does he have farming in his future?

After we all filled up on corn dogs, strawberry shortcake, fried Snickers, fried Reese's Peanut butter Cups, fried Oreos, and bacon dipped in chocolate (yes, you read that correctly), we headed over to the pig races. These were a "snort"-pun intended. Carter liked watching them run around the track, and he especially liked watching them jump into the water and swim.

Finally, it was time for the concert. We saw Rodney Adkins perform. He was a great entertainer, but not great enough for Carter. I got to sit in my seat for about 5 minutes before Carter said "walk", and took off for another row. Luckily the concert was not sold out, so Carter and I sat in the very back and watched. Well, I tried to watch and keep Carter from eating rocks and falling off the chairs on his head.

Carter's opinion of the concert. Even food did not keep him occupied for long.



This weekend, we went strawberry picking about 45 minutes from our house in Sorrento. Steve and I have never done this, and it was really fun! We picked strawberries with Carter for about 20 minutes, when he decided that smashing them between his fingers was more exciting. I can't believe how big and juicy the strawberries were! We picked so many, I am making two desserts with them today, and we will still have some left over.

After picking strawberries, we cooked hot dogs over a fire on the property. Steve is the master hot dog cooker. Then, we gorged on a strawberry milkshakes and strawberry shortcake.

We are probably going to go strawberry picking one more time this month. The weather has turned nice again, between 70-80 degrees, so we are spending as much time outdoors as we can before it gets over 90 degrees. It was nice to be together as a family since Steve is working so much lately with umpiring baseball. I'll do my best to keep you updated more frequently.

Carter Being "Nice"

Right now, Carter is going through a hitting phase. One child at his daycare hits and kicks when she doesn't get her way, and so Carter is picking up on it. Fantastic! :( So, he has carried the hitting over to the dogs. Chance and Wrigley are very tolerant and patient with Carter. So, we are trying to teach Carter to be "nice" to the puppies. This is Carter being "nice". He gently pets the dogs and says "Nice" as he does it. It is rather cute, although the look on Wrigley's face is telling me that he doesn't have food so he shouldn't be touching me! Now, Carter is petting everything (including mom and dad) and saying "Nice". Maybe he will start being "nice" to the kids at daycare when he doesn't get his way :)