Gobble Gobble

The Gladdings loaded up in the accord and made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Castro Valley to spend Thanksgiving at Aunt Lorrie and Uncle Steve's. The family were there in full force with 4 little ones and 14 or so adults.

Carter had a great time with his cousins Liam, Kaylin, and Erin. They were running up and down the stairs, frolicking on the lawn, eating some straw, harvesting red berries, and entertaining each other with giggles, smiles, and lots of laughter.


The adults without the small children kids very intelligently seated themselves at table separate from the parents and their children. Thus giving themselves a nice buffer from the hands in the cranberries, regurgitated mashed potatoes, and whining about trying a bite of the green beans. We fed the young ones and then shipped them off to the babysitter... aka "Little Einsteins.:


It was great getting to see the cousins, aunts, and uncles and letting the little ones play. We stayed the night, had a nice relaxing morning, and enjoyed some extra time to hang out with the McCoins.

The Mountains

Carter and Daddy took advantage of having Veterans day off and we headed to the Sierra Nevada's for the night. We stayed in Huntington Lake where the temperature was in the low 40's and the air had the fresh scent of the controlled burn that was posted about every 5 miles on the drive up.

When we woke up in the morning Carter began his favorite mountain ritual.... climing the stairs. The condo has two sets of stairs inside and one set of stairs outside. Carter loves to go up and down the stairs and, as it turns out, this was the most hiking he did on our trip.

I was originally hoping to do two short hikes with Carter but the cold temperatures and the temperamental two year old quickly put a halt on that idea. Carter and I took a short hike to Indian Pools where Carter proceeded to pick up every rock in the area and return them to the river.

The highlight of the hike was Carter learning to put his hands in his pockets. His little digits were cold so I shoved them in his vest pockets to his delight. He was smily happy when I realized that this was a first and I should snap a pic. As soon as the camera came out Carter tripped on a rock in the path and CRASH down went Carter. As I was dusting him off and calming him down he kept blubbering a word I couldn't make out. After he calmed down enough to get the word out I realized that he was saying "pockets" and he wanted me to show him how to put his hands in his pockets again. Which we did and this picture is from about 30 seconds later.

Halloween Turtle

For weeks Susan and I have been talking up Carter's turtle costume for Halloween. When the time finally came for him to put on the fabled costume he donned it with glee for about 3 seconds... just long enough for me to get his turtle head on. He was NOT a big fan of the turtle head and he spent the next 20 minutes or so while he and Susan were getting ready to go over to my sisters saying, "Wanna take it off."

Unfortunately my Halloween plans were sidetracked by a case of H1N1. So while Carter and Susan were out going door to door with a superwoman and three batman's I was holed up inside the house entertaining myself with "tricking" the kids at the door. I put a basket of candy right out front of the door that lured the kids into the small cramped entryway. I would wait for the tell tale chatter of glee with the cornucopia of candy laid out in front of them and then... WOOF WOOF WOOF. Oscar would bellow from 1 inch behind the door and about 10 inches from their heads. The chatter of glee turned into a louder chatter of surprise and expletives as they careened off of each other and the walls to get a candy and get out of there.

Carter and Susan had a great time going door to door. His slow deliberate movements gave him turtle like movements as well as a turtle like costume. Carter walked right up and said his "Trick or Treats" and "Thank Yous." Scattered reports from the trick or treaters confirmed that he got into his turtle character with his slow deliberate movements.

The next night he said "Wanna go trick or treat again!"