Carter turned one! I thought I'd post pictures of just him and his cake and on the next entry I'll catch you up on the awesome holiday we had.
This entry will be just about him. I'm going to copy Shally and list a few things he's learned and what I love about him this past year.
- The basics: how to eat, crawl, laugh, play peek-a-boo
- He learned he loves the cat food but hates the cat (she actually got moved to be an outside cat because she didn't like him either. Sorry, Zelda, the baby wins.)
- He loves to head-butt and thinks it is a form of affection.
- He learned if you crawl with one knee and one foot you can really haul.
- He LOVES to sing. Loudly. During church especially.
- He's learned he can make pretty much anybody laugh with his cheesy grin.
- His favorite food is fruit and bread with peanut butter and jam. He's also learned if you just lick off the jam and throw the rest on the floor the dog will eat it.
- He loves to crawl over your legs and over the dog. He thinks they are speed bumps.
- His first word was "uh-oh".
- He loves balls. He will hit it up and down the hall and chase after it.
- He loves taking naps in the car but will always wake up as soon as we get home.
- He adores his brother and sisters and can pretty much make them do what ever he wants.
- He loves when we go to the grocery store and the older ladies fawn over him.
I can't believe he's already one but I am so thankful he's in our family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!
It's hot here. Stupid hot as we like to say. 107 last week and is supposed to be 110+ this week. Hot enough that when somebody says, "Well, at least it's a dry heat" you want to punch them in the nose but are too hot to lift your arms. All you can do is give them a grumpy hateful look and even that needs a Popsicle to go with it. Having said that, when we were planning our vacation time this past January we had a couple extra days to use up. We decided to throw in a quick trip to the coast to cool off which happened last week. We packed the kids, the dog and the munchies and headed out for a trek to cool off. You have to understand we live in the middle of the North State. We are (as the crow flies) only about 60 miles to the coast. However, the road is more "over the river and through the woods" and takes us 3 hours because of the twists and turns. It usually takes us a lot longer because we have to stop multiple times for Ty who gets carsick at the word car. Also you have to understand at the coast in the North State it is ALWAYS cold. It's much like an Oregon beach since Oregon is just up the road. Back to our trip, we made it over with no puking (it was close but he made it). We grabbed lunch and headed to the beach. Since it was a Monday we had it all to ourselves and spent at least 5 hours there. My favorite beach is Trinidad with sand, tide pools, an arch, caves, SO beautiful. Carter loved the sand! 
The next day we didn't have our hotel to wash off in so we went to Patrick's Point which is a small hike and lookout off a bluff. It was incredible! We saw a whale (first time for me!), seals and pups lots of birds and tide pool creatures. The waves would crash against the rock and Ellie would clap, cheer and jump up and down. 
How about that outfit? After we went to the city park and hiked to a tree-slide we discovered a while ago. 
When we were sufficiently tuckered out we hopped in the car and headed home again. 
(That is red licorish on his face) We watched the thermostat on the car go from 62 to 105 and stopped a lot - especially when Tyler puked. Ah well. Each story - or vacation - must eventually come to an end.
