Merry Christmas from the sleepy boy

After a late night "partying" on Christmas eve we heard Carter crying at about 4:00 am. His crying also roused Susan's sister Julie who had already scooped Carter up. As I plucked him out of Julie's hands he looked at me and said, "I want to watch TV." A quick reminder that it was far too early and he still needed to sleep was enough for Carter and he fell quickly asleep and didn't wake up until 9:30. Here's a Chrismas wish from him.

Let's Ride!

EJ, Olivia, Tracy, and Baby Piper came over to Susan's folks place for a little sled riding. The 10" of snow that fell last Thursday is still providing plenty of powder for the sledding run. Unfortunately on one of Olivia's first runs down the slope she had an tragic head on collision with a tree. This happened before I brought the camera out so what I ended up with are lots of pictures of EJ having a blast launching off of the jump we built at the bottom of the hill.

Carter's First Snowday

Thankfully we arrived in PA 1 day prior to the "shopper stopper" storm that hit the region on Saturday the 19th. Susan's sister Tracy brought over a snow suit and we put it to good use.

Grandpa Ed gave Carter and I a send off and whoosh off we went down the sledding hill in the backyard. Once was enough for Carter as he was not too enthusiastic about going again right away.

Susan suited herself up and made the trek up the hill to slide down with Carter. Grandpa gave them a push and off they went down the hill .... right toward the 4X4 post that holds up a birdfeeder. Susan, reacting to Grandpa shouting, "Bail, Bail, Bail", did indeed bail about 5 feet shy of the post. Unfortunately Carter took the brunt of the impact with a abrupt faceplant into the thankfully soft, fluffy, and forgiving snow.

Carter had enough of the hill and the family came down and frolicked in the freshly laid blanket of snow.

The snow accumulated in some of the oddest places... like Grandpa's eyebrows.

We couldn't even get into Chucky Cheese on Carter's birthday!

Carter turned 2 on Saturday December 5th. Susan had planned on the family getting together at Chucky Cheese's (the children's mecca of games, prizes, a large walking rodent, and cardboard pizza). Our plan was to meet at 4:30 before the place got too crazy. On our way there Carter was enjoying the mylar balloons that we got for him in the car.



We turned the corner to Chuck Cheese's and the first thing that that caught my eye was a line of about 10 people at the door.... not a good sign. Susan and I both let out a deep sigh when we saw that the line to get into the door actually snaked around to the side of the building. It was safe to say that it took about 15 seconds for Chucky Cheese's not to be an option for the party place. We saw Carter's cousin Jett inside in the mass of people waiting to get in and Susan jumped out to figure out another option. My sister, Jett, and my father were all inside in awe of the fact that Chucky Cheese was at capacity and it was at least an hour before we would even have been able to get in. My father was releived when we changed the location to a pizza place by our house. Jett jumped in the car with us to Carter's delight.



At the pizza place we had a great time. Carter and Jett went to town on the quarter machines and came out with all sorts of prizes and treats.


The pizza was great and everybody was happy. Carter and Sus had gone shopping for birthday supplies and Carter got to pick out what he wanted. He picked out a Micky Mouse cake, Cars napkins, and tractor paper for his presents. The cake was fantastic!


After cake Carter Jett and Grandpa had running races, climbed on the benches, laughed until they snorted, and generally had a blast. Carter's 2nd birthday was so much fun that he slept in until 8:00 the next morning. Now that is a sign of a happy 2 year old that had a big night.

Palm Springs Time!

Several weeks ago Susan and Carter accompanied me to the California Science Teachers Convention in Palm Springs. We had a great time! Here are some pictures.