A Day at the Park

Carter lives to be outdoors. He loves nature, walks, the park, the beach, the pool, etc. He loves to climb up on furniture and gaze out the window. He will stand patiently forever at the sliding glass door and beg to go outside. "Peeeeze," he says. His grandpa takes him on a walk every morning that leads through a wilderness trail behind their neighborhood and ends with a stop at the park. Carter loves it. (I am not a fan as the only time I went it was at night and there were coyotes and bats on the trail!)


Today his grandma and I took him to the park to let him run around in the grass. When we realized he had a stinky diaper, I told him it was time to go home. Carter ran a few steps away from us, looked up, smiled, waved and said, "Bye Bye." And proceeded to happily run off through the field as though he could care less that we would be leaving him there. When/how did my baby grow up so fast? Seriously. Look at these pictures. He looks like a kid now!

Written By Dave...

While changing Carter's diaper before bed, I made the mistake of commenting that he didn't pee much since we changed him last. Almost immediately the flow of warmth on my arms began. Within 60 seconds of being peed on, Christy spotted a bug, or so I thought, on my neck and started laughing super hard. It turns out that a bat that flew overhead during our walk, the one I made fun of Christy for being afraid of, pooped on my neck. Christy almost went in to labor from laughing so hard. It was pretty funny but Christy thought it was much funnier than I did.

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Videos

Not much to post but I do have a few cute videos from the past week or so.

Carter's lazy rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes:



Attack of the bunny rabbit:



Reading to himself:

Concert in the Park

On Sunday we went to the free concert in the park at Central Park in Huntington Beach. The music was 1920s style and was really good. Dave was reluctant to go at first but ended up loving how relaxed and laid back the event was. It was great for families with kids and pets, etc. We brought food, drinks, and snacks and got to lay around on a blanket under the trees. We joined Harmony, Jesse, Aimee, and the adorable Wright family. Carter had a great time chasing Parker around and was fascinated by the pedals on Harmony and Jesse's bike. Once again, thanks to Jesse for taking these pictures. I have been lazy with my picture taking lately!



This face.... it doesn't get any cuter than this, right?



Lastly, here's my 20 week belly shot. I am halfway there!

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We went to my mom's house for the annual Trabuco Canyon parade. It is really fun and really... quaint? I guess that's a good word to describe it. It is very festive and is made up of the fire department and many of the neighbors and their animals. Here is an idea of the types of things you see:

Harmony and Jesse rode their very cool 2-person bike down the street after the parade but I think they should be part of the actual parade next year, as their bike was probably way cooler than a lot of the other parade action (minus the father and daughter riding unicycles!) My mom's very sweet next-door neighbors had us over for slushies and a BBQ lunch. There was even a pinata. Jesse took some cute pics of the day:

The Big 3-0

I am now 30. I can no longer act young and cute and say, "I'm in my 20s!" Ha. That's okay. I embrace this year of growing older and all the exciting adventures that are in store for me and my family. Our new house should close escrow in a few weeks and this new baby boy is growing bigger by the day and Carter is learning new things at lightning speed! I love my life.

To celebrate, we spent the night at the Tides Inn in Laguna Beach. For an affordable small inn, it was actually quite lovely--we even had a little kitchen and breakfast bar in our room and could see the ocean from the window. We began our day with the breakfast buffet at Las Brisas. Oh my.... anytime I can eat bacon and Eggs Benedict for breakfast, I am in heaven.

After breakfast we went for a walk down by the beach. It was a warm day but the cloud cover never managed to truly go away. Stupid June Gloom. Oh well, at least we weren't too hot which was nice. Carter was fascinated by the trail that we walked down and loved to stare out at the ocean.

After our walk, we checked into the hotel and had a quick nap.

Then the boys attempted to swim but the water was a bit chilly (at least for Dave and me! Carter would have happily gone all the way in.)

Then Grandma and Grandpa picked up Carter and Dave and I were all alone! We went to dinner at K'ya Bistro which was so yummy. I wish I would have taken pictures of our food! We had grilled ribeye steak, thai inspired fried calamari, grilled portabella burger, lobster mac and cheese, berry cheesecake, and a brownie sundae. Yes, we ordered six plates of food. They are considered tapas or small plates but actually they were quite large and we were sooo full. We took a walk through the main street and looked at a few art galleries, sat on the boardwalk and watched the sun set, and then watched Bridesmaids at the movie theater (which actually was a really funny movie!) Then we got to cuddle and sleep uninterrupted the whole night without a wiggly toddler between us! It was lovely. Happy birthday to me!

Happy Father's Day

Dave got to kick off his day by sleeping in... for those of you with kids, you know how precious sleeping in can be! He then woke up to Carter and I tickling his back (another cherished activity). Then he played with Carter and they went swimming while I helped his mom make dinner.

Carter bought his daddy a t-shirt about "Nothing" :

I am so thankful that Dave is such a good father...sometimes even a bit jealous when Carter runs to the door screaming "Daddy!" whenever Dave comes home. I don't think there is anyone in the world that Carter loves or enjoys more than his Daddy and I anticipate it will be this way forever. I get emotional at times when I realize how lucky I am to have found a man that is an awesome husband and a fantastic father. Not everyone in this world can even find someone to fit one of those categories. How did I get so lucky!? I can't wait for Dave to meet this new baby boy and start another lifelong relationship. Did I mention how excited I am to be having another boy? I love the boys in my life!

Here is Carter and his daddy, dancing the day away: