This may be my most photo-laden post ever...just a heads-up!
The Greenies took a little road trip to Kansas to see the family for Easter. While sitting in the car for ~13 hours (each way!) isn't necessarily my most
ideal vacation, it
was nice to just hang with the boys and listen to some tunes. Carter did WONDERFULLY in the car (except he only napped for about 30 minutes each way) and we got a kick out of his love of seeing semi trucks, trains, and
A LOT (you have to scream it!) cows along the way to Kansas.
Even better was being able to spend a little time with my folks ("Grandma and Grandpa C" in this blog) and my brother (Jason), his wife (Katrina), and my nephew (Daniel). We took a ton of photos and I wanted to put them up here for posterity.
[Not sure if I've mentioned, but I had our blog published in two volumes - 2009 and 2010 - and gifted a copy to Grandma and Grandpa C for Mother's and Father's Day gifts. I had a second set made for me and I consider it my own little way of scrap-booking...minus the glue, stickers, and tape...]
So let me move on to the photo show... Up first, is a shot of the fam playing in the backyard - some badminton, some soccer, some stick hauling, etc. Remember you can click on any of these to make them bigger.
Some short soccer videos - playing with Grandpa C:
Carter's "big kick" (or something like that):
The net we brought for badminton was a total piece of poo, so we pretty much played without it...
Grandpa C showing off his badminton skills:
Not quite as awesome as me:
Carter tried to fix up the net:
"Sorry, Mommy, broken..."
Daniel played very well with Carter, too. This next pic cracks me up - sort of a "nu uh" look :)
My brother, Jason, and Daniel:
The boys had a fantastic time hunting for plastic Easter eggs (which Carter talked about afterward for about two weeks straight...):
Daniel received a sweet monster truck setup from his cousin, Carter:
Daniel even "shared" the egg finding with Carter (which was adorable - "Look, Carter, what's that?"):
Daniel found the "special golden egg" and was QUITE proud of his find:
Daniel gave Carter a fun basket of loot, including a fun football-shaped egg:
...and yes, there was A LOT of candy (chocolate-covered Peeps, blech):
The boys then had a second egg hunt outside:
Katrina and Carter (LOVE this pic!):
[complete with soccer balls and sticks...]
Some more badminton - family style:
Whoops, net down...again:
Not only was the net a hunk of junk, the rackets were also crappy. We broke about 3 of them, but Grandpa C was able to "fix" them with some sticks and duct tape:
We then moved inside to eat a tasty, tasty Easter meal. My mom sets the prettiest table for EVERY holiday, so I wanted to snap a couple photos to prove it:
...and every relish plate needs a goofy, tiny silver fork, right Jason?
Ellie (the Basset Hound) enjoyed feeding off of Carter's fingers, spills, etc. (Carter also talked ALL about Ellie all of the way home...maybe it's time for the Greenies to get a doggy?!):
The boys played a little piano (my old piano. *sigh Someday it will end up in MY house and I'll have to learn to play it all over again...):
We then took some family photos. Every time I look at these, they crack me up! Trying to get the entire gang to A) look at the camera, B) sit still, and C) smile at the same time was nearly impossible. And to prove it, I decided to put ALL of the shots here so you can have a chuckle too.
So let's start with Katrina and Jason:
Grandpa C:
The boys:
The girls and the boys (Carter is CLEARLY enjoying photo time, eh?):
Katrina gnawing on Daniel's toes...
And Carter's done...
...cuz, you know, he's got a string to play with...
The siblings:
And just a few more random shots:
And that's all folks! I hope you made it through this crazy long post! We had a great, great time in Kansas and when I look back at these, it makes me smile and be sad all at the same time. Sure wish we had more family nearby, but by having them so far away, it just makes it all the sweeter when we get to see them, eh?
Hope you had a fantastic Easter, too, and I hope you are finally off of your Easter candy high!
~kerrie
And with his new BFF, Sonia, in action:
Say it with me now, "Awwwwwww!"
The big CONGRATULATIONS goes to him for being such a big boy and seamlessly moving into the "three's class" at school! He comes home every day with a big smile on his face and he's learning more and more every day! We love you Carter!!
And my last congrats goes out to Matt's brother, John, and his new wife, Stephanie! They were married in a beautiful ceremony on Saturday! I'll actually have a separate post detailing Carter's first experience as a ring bearer. But here's to John and Stephanie!
Ok, as a teaser, here's a shot of my HANDSOME boys at the hotel before we left for the church (yes, Carter's playing with the thermostat - always into something!):
Congratulations all around! I'll have a second congrats post coming soon, since my SWE pal Stephanie is currently at the hospital delivering her boy/girl! And we have more weddings coming up to share with you!
Thanks to Katrina for sharing the picture with me, I hope your holidays were just as memorable and, well, perfect.
And another photo of Cousin Daniel with my brother (his dad), Jason - fishing, something they do really well (or they SHOULD do well, as I think Jason fishes every weekend with my dad...)!
And that's it, folks. Two photos that make me smile every time I see them. I will be putting both of these in frames on our "family" wall, that's how great I think they are!
I've blogged about these crazy "attack" cows before, so you bet I was a little nervous that they were LICKING my car...
Yeah, LICKING my car. Apparently they like the taste of dust. Okay... Let's just move on, shall we?
From there, we visited Matt's good buddy, Wes, and had lunch with him and his girlfriend, Laurie. Here's a shot at the restaurant:
Couldn't resist stopping in to see another buddy of Matt's, Clay, and his wife, Jill, and their beautiful daughter, Charlotte (just LOOK at those eyes!!!). The kiddos played nicely together and enjoyed the indoor pool (ha!)!
All the travel wore Carter out and by nightfall, he crashed in the froggie position on his little aerobed:
The next morning Carter and Becky had some play time and a little breakfast while I packed up our gear:
Looks like the two of them had a very meaningful conversation and hopefully he was telling Becky what a wonderful time we had! I also hope he expressed his gratefulness for letting us crash at her place for the weekend!
[And for some reason, I didn't take any photos when Jamie came over for dinner... I MAY have deleted some photos from the memory card recently, because I'm lacking a significant number of photos from June and July. Whoops... Next time!))]
The adults had some catching up to do, so we all just lounged and took it easy:
More closet fun:
Hannah surprises me every time with her adorableness:
And yes, we kept Carter locked in the cabinet under the sink when we stayed at the Marriott (I kid, I kid):
On the night of the Fourth, we walked along the riverwalk and stopped to feed the ducks some of our leftover bread from our BBQ dinner. Carter LOVED it and had a blast when one of the ducks jumped right up beside him (scary!):
Matt tried to snap a photo from the other bank, but it was pretty hard to see:
From there, we headed back toward our hotel and set up our lawnchairs right along the bank. They shot fireworks off right in front of our hotel, so we couldn't have asked for a better view! Carter's STILL talking about the fireworks and how they looked like "stars!"
(To be fair, we both had bowling lessons when we were kids... I don't think it helped any, just look at these scores...)
GAME 4:
The rest of Jason's mini-vacation was spent hanging out around the house and back porch. I think he came for the coldest days of Spring, so it's a shame that he didn't get to see the great weather that we usually get. Oh well, next time...
(next one is a little fuzzy, but it's still a great pic!)
And a quick photo before I took Carter to school, Jason to the airport, and myself back to work:
Had a great time, Jason, let's do it again soon! Love ya, bro!
Some short soccer videos - playing with Grandpa C:
Grandpa C showing off his badminton skills:
Not quite as awesome as me:
Carter tried to fix up the net:
"Sorry, Mommy, broken..."
Daniel played very well with Carter, too. This next pic cracks me up - sort of a "nu uh" look :)
My brother, Jason, and Daniel:
The boys had a fantastic time hunting for plastic Easter eggs (which Carter talked about afterward for about two weeks straight...):
Daniel received a sweet monster truck setup from his cousin, Carter:
Daniel even "shared" the egg finding with Carter (which was adorable - "Look, Carter, what's that?"):
Daniel found the "special golden egg" and was QUITE proud of his find:
Daniel gave Carter a fun basket of loot, including a fun football-shaped egg:
...and yes, there was A LOT of candy (chocolate-covered Peeps, blech):
The boys then had a second egg hunt outside:
Katrina and Carter (LOVE this pic!):
[complete with soccer balls and sticks...]
Some more badminton - family style:
Whoops, net down...again:
We then moved inside to eat a tasty, tasty Easter meal. My mom sets the prettiest table for EVERY holiday, so I wanted to snap a couple photos to prove it:
...and every relish plate needs a goofy, tiny silver fork, right Jason?
Ellie (the Basset Hound) enjoyed feeding off of Carter's fingers, spills, etc. (Carter also talked ALL about Ellie all of the way home...maybe it's time for the Greenies to get a doggy?!):
The boys played a little piano (my old piano. *sigh Someday it will end up in MY house and I'll have to learn to play it all over again...):
We then took some family photos. Every time I look at these, they crack me up! Trying to get the entire gang to A) look at the camera, B) sit still, and C) smile at the same time was nearly impossible. And to prove it, I decided to put ALL of the shots here so you can have a chuckle too.
Grandpa C:
The boys:
The girls and the boys (Carter is CLEARLY enjoying photo time, eh?):
Katrina gnawing on Daniel's toes...
And Carter's done...
...cuz, you know, he's got a string to play with...
The siblings:
And just a few more random shots:
And that's all folks! I hope you made it through this crazy long post! We had a great, great time in Kansas and when I look back at these, it makes me smile and be sad all at the same time. Sure wish we had more family nearby, but by having them so far away, it just makes it all the sweeter when we get to see them, eh?
