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.

A little late, but here are pictures from our visit to the pumpkin patch. (Too bad there was a hail storm the previous week and had no pumpkins to pick. We had fin anyway, we met up with our friends Misty and Greg and their son Kaden who is a few months younger than Carter.





While at the pumpkin patch, we were able to ride tractors,go on a hayride, feed goats, play in corn, ride on a giant slide, and play on hay bales. Despite not getting a pumpkin, we had lots of fun.

Carter absolutely loves his Elmo. He has had a little Elmo for less than a year now. He wanted it when we bought a birthday gift for one of his classmates. I picked up the cheapest Elmo I could find for him. Little did I know Elmo would become his favorite comfort item. Elmo has taken medicine with Carter and even has had his teeth brushed. Over the summer, we bought Ernie to be Elmo's companion, but Elmo is still the most loved.

When we went to Atlanta, Elmo went with us, of course. Kevin made sure Elmo was packed in a bag before we left. When we were on the way home, Carter started asking for Elmo. We pulled over and searched the car for it.....no Elmo. We called Gammy and Poppa to see if maybe they had it by mistake.....no Elmo. The only thing we could think of was to stop at a Target and look for a new one.....no Elmo. When we got home, we searched our bags again..... no Elmo. I searched online and ordered one, hoping it was the right one.

I called the hotel the following day and left a message for housekeeping in the hopes they had it. The housekeeper returned my call, and told me he had found it, it was dirty, thought it was a dog toy, and threw it away. To which, I exclaimed, "it was dirty because it was well-loved!" The housekeeper explained he looked for it in the dumpster, found it, but it was too dirty. My dear husband and super dad set out on a search to find the correct replacement. In the meantime, he called the housekeeper back to ask him to mail it anyway. This time, he admitted, he had never found it in the dumpster.

Luckily, Kevin met up with a former coworker at Wal-Mart who said she had just stocked some at Kohl's. The new Elmo came with a see-and-say, but we didn't care at that point. We were afraid Carter would know it wasn't the original, but he wouldn't let go of it. Hopefully, he learned a lesson about not unpacking bags, but I doubt it!

When the ordered Elmo came in, it was the wrong one. I never understood why my parents would desperately help us search for lost items or drive an extra 45 minutes to go back and get my blanket I had forgotten to take to Grandma's house. Now, being a mom and knowing the importance of these comfort items, I realize that's just what parents do.

When Kevin's parents came for Thanksgiving, they brought him one they had found for him. It was the right size, but not the right fuzziness. We now, have a very large tickle-me-Elmo, a medium sized one, and two small ones. That little boy loves Elmo!

In early October, we drove down to Atlanta for me to run 13.1 Atlanta with my friend Anna. My parents met us there. For some reason, I really thought the race started at 7:13 (would make sense!). My dad dropped me off at Anna's house at dark thirty, and we headed to Oglethorpe for the race start. Anna had told me she was running a full marathon the following weekend, so she wouldn't be running very fast. I gave my parents a map of the course and wrote the times I expected to be at each mile split. I calculated 10 minute miles with a starting time of 7:13, so my parents could pick a spot to cheer us on. When we arrived at Oglethorpe, I realized I had no idea where I got that starting time. The race started at 7:00. The start was very slow. We even had to walk after crossing the starting line. Anna and I sped up to make up for our slow start. I don't think we ever slowed down. I finished the race in 2 hours 1 minute! Needless to say, my parents didn't even make it to the finish line in time. Part was my fault and part was the faulty directions they received to the MARTA station. Nonetheless, we had a great family weekend with much success on my part. As I am training, every race will be my last, but now, I am determined to finish one in less than two hours.

I was very proud of Carter when he learned to ride his tricycle. I would push him and let go when he was paying attention. I was very excited to share the news when Kevin got home from work. The only problem was Kevin told me he had been riding a tricycle at daycare. Too bad no one told me!

The highlight of our September was going up to the North Caroline Transportation Museum to ride Thomas.


We started our day with a train ride:
On the train, Carter received a certificate.

After we walked around and met Sir Toppham Hat:

and climbed on a train we weren't supposed to:

(Type A Momma was floored at Kevin's blatant defiance)

After a long day, Carter was worn out:

Carter loves to cook. His cooking consists of mixing various spices in a bowl and playing with utensils. Over the summer while shopping with a friend, I found this adorable apron for him along with his own set of pots, pans, and utensils. He especially enjoys transferring his creation from bowl to bowl. "Cooking" can keep Carter entertained while I cook. If I don't feel like claning up after him, I have to be very careful about how I state I'm going to prepare dinner. He is like Pavlov's dog when I say, "cook." He responds, " I wan cook."

So, enjoy the pictures of him and ignore my messy countertops (Mom!).

We are so blessed to have such a happy child. Of course he has his stubborn streaks which he obviously inherited from his dad.

Carter is such a clown and is always performing. He reminds me of myself when he is laughing at himself before we can even laugh at him.

These pictures are of Carter wearing my lipstick. You can see how proud he is of his artwork.


He loves playing in my makeup. I have even given him my old powder compacts. We were in the car a few days ago, and Carter wanted my lipstick. I told him it wasn't for boys, so he asked for Daddy's lipstick. When I told him Dad didn't have any, he said, "Daddy's lipstick home."

Wow, I really need to buckle down and catch up. How embarrassing to look at my blog on election day and realize the most recent posts discussed Labor Day! So, for the 2 people reading this, let me catch up.

Part of our routine when we go to Wal-Mart or any place that might sell lawn mowers is for Carter to try them all out. Here he is at Lowe's taking one for a test drive:
Carter is very routine, so once we start something like trying out lawn mowers at a store, we have to do it every time we go. Maybe one day he'll convince Kevin to buy me a riding lawn mower, so my yard can look as good as my neighbor's.

Check me out:
http://500in2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/meet-challegers-natalie.html
(Just ignore the grammatical errors and the really bad picture)

Our night time routine is crazy. To minimize it, we have put some of Carter's books in his bed with him. He reads to his stuffed animals. I love listening to him on the monitor because I can often tell exactly what page he is on of his books. Here are some pictures of him falling asleep reading his firetruck book to "chomp chomp." (his alligator)






Recently, he has been wanting his "Bible stories." He fell asleep one night with his Bible on his chest. It's amazing how angelic he can look!

Out the back of our condo was a marsh. Here it is at high tide. I wish I would have gotten a picture at low tide. The extremes in the tide really amaze me. The beaches here seem very different than the beach in Gulf Shores where we went while growing up. Here are some more pictures of our wonderful trip.
My favorite part (other than sitting in my chair at the water):
We went to barefoot landing that has a wildlife exhibit. Visitors can pay $59 to take a picture with a monkey, baby lion, or baby tiger. There's a great viewing area. One of the photographers walked around with a monkey on his back. (Always makes me think of George Michael...right, mom?) Carter continuously told me, "I want to touch monkey." To which I replied, "I'm not paying that much." The guy let the monkey off his back. He ran by us and grabbed Carter's leg because Carter had it through the fence. He was thrilled by this, but no longer asked to touch the monkey!

We stayed in Cherry Grove just north of Myrtle Beach.
Here is a view of Cherry Grove from our condo:

I actually ran up and down all the streets to keep up with my training. When I returned, Kevin had taken this picture of the gorgeous sunrise:


This is a view of our condo from the beach. It was actually on the second row with its amenities all in a house on the beach:


Our view of the beach:

We took a family trip to the beach for Labor Day weekend. We actually stayed in the exact same condo my friend had rented.

Carter enjoyed taking our chairs:
He absolutely loved running on the beach. His favorite was chasing the birds across the beach.

Splashing in the water with Daddy: