Collateral Damage

Patrick and Kirstin brought their dog, Maddie, with them to Arkansas.

Carter's stuffed animals have seen better days...

When Carter discovered the panda's injuries, he scooped it up in his arms, hugged it and said "It's okay! It's okay!"
We managed to get the crocodile fixed up before he even saw the damage, though it still looks a bit scarred from the experience!

Mama Helen & Daddy Phil's House

As per usual, we brought the rain to Arkansas. Sadly, most of our days have been rainy, limiting our outdoor activities, but we've been making the best of it. And Carter's been appreciating all the TV he gets to watch since we can't play outside.

Enjoying the fire pit on a rare, rain-free evening

Learning how to play toddler games on the iphone

Playing Super Why!

Napping boys

More Cabin Pics

Here are a few more shots from the cabin.

Driving the all-terrain-golf cart

Carter entertains himself while the grown-ups read (worked for, like, a whole 5 minutes)

Triominoes!

Kirstin and her incredible hand of mexican sweat (it's a two of a kind, it's a three of a kind, it's a full house - no! it's four of a kind! take that, Patrick!)

Carter at the Cabin

Carter specifically requested a blog post that contained pictures of "only me. Me ONLY!" So, per his request, here are some shots from the last four days that don't include any other people.

Carter in his new headlamp that his Daddy Phil bought him (pretty sure Daddy Phil actually got it for himself, but Carter will be keeping it...)

Carter fishing in the creek. He would "cast" his stick, but then actually use it as a spear to capture leaves.

Enjoying spaghetti dinner (if you look closely, you can see some discarded spaghetti on the back of his head).

Blowing out the candles on our pumpkins!

Hello from Arkansas

Sorry for being such a truly terrible blogger over the last few months. Things haven't been very blog-worthy/blogable. BUT, now we're on a family vacation, so that's definitely some good blog fodder. 

We're spending the week with my parents and Patrick and Kirstin (and their feisty fetus) in celebration of my parent's 40th wedding anniversary earlier this month. We've been at our cabin in northern Arkansas since Saturday.  We are headed back to my parent's house today, where we'll be through Sunday. We've been mostly without communications, but once we make it to my parent's house, I should be able to upload some pics of the first half of our week! 

Cart Cart's Birthday!

On Sunday evening, we hosted a family dinner for Cart Cart's _5th birthday. I had to smash two photos together to get everyone in the first one, so it looks a little funny! Once again, Carter required party hats. Sadly, there weren't enough hats to go around, so I didn't get to wear one! Darn. Anna probably wishes I'd stolen hers...

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday afternoon. Carter was so happy to have his friends Silvie and Anna along this year (and their grown-ups). Sadly, I forgot the real camera, so I only got a few cell phone shots. You may want to refer to last year's pumpkin patch post for better pictures!

It was on this water pump that Carter later whacked his face, giving him his first-ever black eye!

Girl Trip in Los Angeles

Last weekend, I went to Los Angeles to spend some time with my girlfriends, Joo, Aarti and Mandi. We arrived late Friday evening, so we just hit In-n-Out burger and a liquor store and spent the evening catching up at our hotel.

On Saturday afternoon, (following a yummy tofu-scramble and mimosa brunch), we went to Santa Monica pier

We had our fortunes told by Zoltar (mine, en espanol!)

We rode the baby roller coaster (and learned that Aarti is the biggest scaredy-cat of us all -- with the MOST ear-piercing scream)

We soaked up the sun on the pier while listening to hits from the 70s, and then took a stroll on the beach

We spent Saturday evening at Sally and Mikael's (adorable!) house where we got to meet sweet Henry

Sunday afternoon we finally experienced the wonder that is Father's Office (Aarti's been blogging it's praises for ages)

Apparently, it's okay to order any of their many, many beers, but you are only allowed to order the blue cheese burger to eat

Sunday afternoon, I got to catch up with Mike Kass. He made me drink my first-ever Appletini.

Sunday night was spent cooking and celebrating Mandi's 30th!

Aarti made an amazing dinner and an impressive cake that we all got to help construct

Aarti and Bren performed the sweetest song that they wrote together!

It was such a great trip!

Weekend

I spent the weekend in LA with my girlfriends, while Carter and Thomas hung out at home -- mostly with Park and Anna. While I'm waiting on Joo and Mandi to send me pics from our fun in LA, I'll direct you Park's post about the guys weekend.