Good News, Bad News

It's vacation time!

For over a month Carter has been asking us if he could go to Helen's house (sorry, dad, he wants to see you, too, but he's not so good with the "f" sounds yet). A few weeks ago, we finally broke down and decided to take him to Helen's house. And we figured, while he's there, we might as well take a little adults-only vacation. So, tomorrow, we're driving to Arkansas to spend a night and drop the boy off. On Sunday, Thomas and I are driving to New Orleans and then we will depart on a cruise on Monday to relive a little of our honeymoon fun from 6 years ago. We'll be meeting my parents in Mississippi the following Saturday to pick Carter up on the way back home.

So the good news: a Carter gets to see Mama Helen and Daddy Phil; we get a grown-up vacation.

The bad news: Carter is definitely coming down with something, and I think I'm starting to feel it, too. And, it's probably going to rain on us the whole time.

But, who cares? It's a week off, right?!

Birthday

Saturday was my birthday, and my boys treated me right. First, I was served a late breakfast in bed (cinnamon sugar doughnuts, strawberries and coffee - yum!). During my breakfast, Carter used a big hug to distract me while he surreptitiously crawled under the tray to share my breakfast. Then I took most of the day to myself to spa and shop. I had my first facial, which was partly heaven and partly like a trip to the dentist. In the evening, Thomas and I went out to dinner and had a few martinis to celebrate. It was a lovely day!

Food update

Thought it was about time for another log of what Carter is eating these days. We're pretty happy with how well he eats (knocking on all the wood I can find right now). In addition to all the classic preschooler favorites (hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, chicken fingers, fish sticks, pasta, cheese, etc), he also really likes:

cucumbers
radishes
beets
carrots
califlower
yellow squash
zucchini
broccoli
strawberries
beans (all kinds)
salad greens (including, but not limited to: romaine, mesclun, arugula)

Carter does not like:
onions
tomatoes
other greens (kale, chard, collards, etc)
fresh peaches

He eats meat, but isn't super excited about it -- unless it comes in "dog" form. In which case, he'll devour it.

We've recently started sitting down to eat as a family on a regular basis, which is really nice. It helps that I don't have to make much special food for Carter (he has a high tolerance for spicy, which helps!). It's also nice for us because it gives us more time to just relax after he goes to bed. Plus, we eat outside a lot these days, which minimizes the clean up, since we can leave it to the birds!

Cousin Time

We got to keep Anna for a while on Saturday. She and Carter had a big time together!

Potty Progress

Carter is really making progress on using the potty. He's waking up dry most mornings and using the potty pretty regularly at school. And tonight... we have achieved poop in the potty!

Is it really necessary to blast this news out into cyberspace? Let me assure you, it is.

Safety First

My favorite photos from last weekend. Care to provide a caption for these?

Philly Part 3 - 4th of July

Water play with friends

Carter's first experience with a motorized toy (wishing I had the picture of patrick on one of things so may years ago, the boy to car ratio was about the same for him)

Headed to see fireworks

Loving the glow sticks

Sparklers!

Philly Part 2 - Fun at Patrick & Kirstin's House

I'll do a few posts of our weekend in Philly. Here are some shots from hanging out at Patrick & Kirstin's terrific house.

Loving the stairs because this is where the dog can't reach him!

Carter and I had so much fun chasing fireflies one night. Here, he and Kirstin take a look at the ones we caught.

Morning cartoon time with early-rising Aunt Kir

Yep, Patrick is still taller...

Big sticks found on a walk around the neighborhood

Philly Part 1

In response to the call to challenge from the Stegaliu's, I will post the first round of pictures from our weekend of fun in Philly. Admittedly Patrick takes better pictures than me (even with his iPhone), but this is what I got. A great time was had by all.

Carter takes a snooze after the Please Touch day of fun.

Arm Painting at the neighborhood 4th of July carnival...sadly with no food, so our stay was limited since we were all starving!

Feeding goats at the farm. Well, watching mama feed goats at the farm.

Considering petting the horses at the farm.

Lots of fun at the farm lake with Aiden, including sticking feet in and looking for fish.

Once Carter and I got home from our delayed flight, the weekend caught up with him while I was making dinner.

More picture from the real camera to come....

Carter and Anna

Park posted come cute pictures of Anna and Carter from this past weekend here.