The second half of our trip took us to visit our North Carolina family. Grandma and Grandpa had lots of fun toys for Carter.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to Grandpa's house. He has tons of fun things to play with. Carter road the moped with Grandpa:

and took his cousins for a fun ride on the golf cart.

Carter really enjoyed hanging out with his House/Hagwood cousins.

Our trip wound down with helping Aunt Maranda make an herb garden.

The Ansleys arrived on the 26th, so we continued our Christmas celebration. Zach was very anxious to open his gifts, but we made him wait. He entertained himself by playing with the little kids.

They tried out Gammy's new twin beds:

Played with Easter eggs (what else would be more appropriate at Christmastime?)

And patiently waiting:


Carter enjoyed his Christmas with his Louisiana family and was rather exhausted by all the festivities:

SNOW DAY

Christmas was very busy for us.
We started with a flight from Charlotte to Baton Rouge. Carter was very excited about going on an airplane and didn't understand he had to wait a few days from when we started talking about it. In true Rabalais fashion, we arrived at the airport very early. Once at the airport, we had to wait our turn. It was all very confusing to him.

Once we landed in Baton Rouge, we met Aunt Kathy, Uncle P, and my cousin's daughter Katie for dinner.

We finally headed to Lafayette.

Carter was excited for Christmas, but I don't think he fully grasps the idea. He was able to tell me Santa was going to bring toys, and he wanted a truck. Santa left a few toys on Christmas morning.

Later, we started opening gifts. Carter seemed rather overwhelmed and opted to play with old toys. He told us he wanted to wait for his cousins to arrive to open the rest of his presents.