Happy Halloweeeeen!

Carter had a very long, fun-filled Halloween weekend! He kicked it off Friday night when his grandparents took him to the church Trunk-or-Treat with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. He got to walk from car to car and got lots of candy (and Dave and I got a date night!)

On Sunday we went to my mom's house. She went crazy with the decorations--their house looked so awesome!

We had a  pumpkin carving party. My pumpkin was an owl, Jesse did the Dexter logo, Jenna did a skeleton and a kitty, and Suzi did a silly face... and of course, Carter's artistic Aunt Harmony decided to carve a pumpkin with a "Carter bat" on it!

Carter decided he wanted to be a dinosaur for Halloween--he has been practicing his roar all month! He was not a fan of wearing the dinosaur head but we did manage to get a few pictures:

Dave decided to wear the dino head instead and off we went trick or treating! My mom's neighbors have goats and Carter could not stop giggling when he looked at them! I'm not sure Carter actually cared too much about getting candy (especially since he can't eat any!) but he sure seemed to like walking up to people's houses and knocking on the doors. He laughed and smiled the whole way!

It was a wonderful Halloween and even though Carter won't remember it... I will!

OC Walk to Remember

Yesterday was the OC Walk to Remember, a 5K walk that raises money for hospitals and support groups to provide services to parents who have lost a child in infancy or pregnancy. Thank you to my wonderful friends and family who got up super early on a Saturday, braved the rain, and walked for a good cause. It was an emotionally difficult day and I couldn't have done it without you all.

Apple Picking and 11 Months Old

Sorry for the totally uninspiring/creative title. I have these pictures sitting on my computer so I thought I'd write a quick blog while Carter is napping so I can clean up my computer desktop!
On Saturday we went apple picking at Los Rios in Oak Glen. It didn't turn out quite the way we wanted--there was no cell phone service so we never managed to meet up with the two different groups of people that were also going, but nonetheless, we had a a fairly good time (at least Carter and I did! Dave was grumpy about various things--one being that I almost let my car run out of gas in the middle of nowhere--whoops!) We managed to not run out of gas, although we did pick up a nail in my tire somewhere on the drive which resulted in me having to get two new tires and thus negatively affecting my budget for the month. Oh well. With all that said, the highlights of the day were laying on a blanket on a grass hill under a tree and people watching while listening to a band play. Carter had his first sip of fresh apple cider which he promptly spit out all over his clothes. I packed us a picnic lunch and we sat and ate together. We picked some apples which I made into applesauce for Carter.

My tiny little baby boy is not so little anymore. At 11 months, he is extremely active and energetic and wiggly! He rolls all over the place and still is not too excited on crawling--he wants to walk everywhere (with assistance). Thankfully he has a nice Grandpa who holds his hands and lets him walk around all day. He went from having no teeth to FIVE teeth in a matter of weeks (poor guy). His mouth really seems to hurt but I love his toothy smile. He talks and babbles nonstop and loves to be tickled. His new favorite activity is going up and down the stairs. Here are some videos:

Rainy Days

There's nothing like warm pajamas and fun new toys on a rainy day.

Homemade Organic Baby Food

I have successfully been making my own baby food and am surprised at how easy, cheap, and yummy it is. I bought these little 2 oz containers that you can freeze, microwave, etc. They interlock so you can stack them in the freezer. It started when I tried to give Carter the Gerber Organic Peas. He spit it out as soon as I gave him a bite. I then tasted it, and realized why! It was awful. Tasted like grass. So I bought organic peas, blended them up, tasted it, and it tasted like... peas! And Carter loves them. So far I have made: pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, peaches... and then I have made some blends which he likes: avocado with banana, peaches with banana, peas with carrots, apples with banana... etc. We just started him on yogurt, so now I can make him smoothies. Our doctor said we can start him on meat... a little nervous to see how that is going to go, but I found some good recipes (chicken and apples, etc.) I even found a recipe for baby food "pumpkin pie" that I plan on making soon.

Our Wonderful Family Vacation

We just got back from a fabulous 6-day family vacation. Carter is fast asleep in bed, Dave is doing homework, so I thought, well, I might as well blog about our trip now, before reality sets in tomorrow. I had a lot of apprehension about this vacation because we would be spending a lot of time driving in the car and I wasn't sure how Carter would behave. Honestly, the most difficult part of the journey was before we left--I couldn't believe how long it took to pack and we BARELY fit everything into Dave's Altima. Is it possible that we need a  minivan as a family of three?! Our first part of the trip was spent in Mammoth. On the way up there, we stopped at a gas station to feed Carter. I said to Dave, "It would be really nice if there was a park where we could feed Carter." We looked across the street and lo and behold--a park!

We arrived in Mammoth and stayed at the Westin, which was lovely. There was NO ONE in Mammoth! It was completely dead which was actually kind of nice--everyone in the hotel was super nice to us and very attentive. The weather was beautiful and we walked around the village and ate a great Mexican dinner. We were only there for one night but kind of wished we could have spent more time there. Especially because the hotel was so great--we had a kitchen and a huge window seat. They put us on the top floor so the view was amazing. We loved cuddling as a family on the window seat.

This is the lobby of our hotel in Mammoth:

I had never been to Mammoth and just fell in love with it. I am already planning future vacations there! From Mammoth, we drove to South Lake Tahoe. It was SO beautiful! Dave had never been to Tahoe and I haven't been since I was a little kid (and I think it was during the winter). We went for a walk when we got there and realized how out of shape we both are as we huffed and puffed our way back up the hill (in our defense, the altitude there was much different than what we are used to!)

We spent a lot of time relaxing in the room. Dave and I managed to watch the entire season 2 of Dexter! Our room had two huge jacuzzis right in the middle of the room. Carter was in heaven when we filled the tub and let him play with his toys in the water. Dave was in heaven when he got to watch football on the big flatscreen TV while relaxing in the jacuzzi! We went to Harrah's casino for their buffet one night (I felt funny pushing a stroller through a casino!) and walked around the shops. We also took a big river boat called the Tahoe Queen around the lake. The boat was amazing and it was a wonderful ride (although it was 2 1/2 hours long, which we were not aware of until we boarded!) Thankfully Carter behaved--he loved looking out at the water and he even took a nap on the boat!

Our last day in Lake Tahoe was spent walking around the historic district where we got to walk down to the beach. Believe it or not, it was Carter's first time on a beach! It was so amazing... the scenery was so perfect it almost felt like we were walking through a painting.

We left Lake Tahoe and stopped at June Lake, where my family used to vacation when I was a kid. We used to eat at a place called the Tiger Bar (I even had a T-shirt from there) so I thought it would be fun to take Dave and Carter. We stopped for lunch and had a nice break.

 (I have no idea why this picture will not load vertically and am too tired to mess with it.)

We spent last night in Bishop, just to break up the drive a little bit. We stayed at a Best Western because it was cheap and we were in Bishop and basically just needed a place to stay for the night. We were so surprised! It was a great hotel! They had drinks and really good cookies when we arrived. We were right next door to a famous bakery (and brought home lots of treats!) They had a continental breakfast which was very yummy (fresh waffles, orange juice, and coffee.... my ideal breakfast!). The hotel had a creek that ran along the side of the hotel and there were fish and ducks and all sorts of stuff to look at:

The drive home today was the hardest--Carter was not happy to be in his carseat during playtime and Dave and I took turns sitting in the backseat trying to entertain him. And then we came home to over 100 degree weather when we had just spent a week in breezy, beautiful high 70s.... oh well. I guess it is back to reality for us. I loved the past week. It was great to spend time alone with my two favorite boys. Having Carter in our lives has made trips like this much different than our little weekend getaways as a couple but definitely just as enjoyable! He is such a sweet, happy, and silly little boy and everywhere we go, he is bombarded by people who are just enchanted by him. He is a little charmer.