New tricycle...

Dave and Dorothy's neighbor was nice enough to give them a hand-me-down tricycle for Carter to play with when he is visiting. After he accompanied me to some showings this afternoon, we swung by Dave and Dorothy's so Carter could try out his new tricycle. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the trike yet, but we know he'll get the hang of it soon...

Getting riding lessons from Papa

Carter discovered the horn and loved it!

Taking a ride with Nonnie's helpTaking a ride on Papa's motorcycle

Little boy...

I couldn't resist posting these pictures -- Carter is growing up so fast and is looking like such a toddler!

Yard work...

Since Carter had so much fun on the riding lawnmower with Kyle, I thought it would be fun for him to have his own push mower. He spent about an hour in the backyard pushing his new toy up and down, watching it blow bubbles and then chasing the bubbles. He's going to have so much fun with that this summer!

Vroom Vroom

With GREAT caution, I decided it was okay for Carter to take a ride on the lawnmower with Kyle and he absolutely loved it! Each time he sees the lawnmower in the garage now he says "Daddy, vroom vroom!!"

Its Cabin Season -- brrr...

We are thrilled that cabin season has finally arrived!! The past few years we have had our first full weekend at the cabin over Dorothy's birthday. This year was no different and we had a fabulous time, though the weather was quite chilly.

The captain at the wheel

Bundled-up and loving the view!

Loving the ride!

Dorothy's surprise: finding out that Dave was responsible for having people send her 84+ birthday cards from around the world throughout her entire birthday month!

Bumpy Ride

We had a chilly inaugural pontoon ride this year but we couldn't let the first full weekend at the cabin go by without a cruise around beautiful Spirit Lake. Carter was happy as long as he was sitting on Papa's lap driving the boat. It was a bit of a bumpy ride with Carter behind the wheel -- as you can see from the video below, we didn't maintain one speed the entire ride -- Carter loved going from full throttle to slow back to full throttle again...

Wink Wink

When Carter was eating breakfast this morning I gave him a little wink. He tried to imitate me but wasn't quite sure how to do it -- his attempts resulted in his eyes rolling back in his head -- pretty hilarious! I tried to capture this on film but it's a bit hard to see. Check it out...

Father and Son

Carter is so lucky to have such a great Dad to look up to!

My two favorite boys, enjoying some father-son bonding --what could be better?!

Day at the park - May 12, 2009

Our new favorite thing to do after picking Carter up from daycare is to head straight to the park. He loves the dinosaur and all of the slides. It was a bit windy today but we still got some good playtime in before dinner.

Carter's favorite "dinodaur"
Weeeeeee!

Carter often thinks he can climb like the big kids can -- usually with success after a couple of tries & our help
More climbing

Look at me, Mom!
Loving life!!

Mother's Day BBQ, Brunch and Outdoor Fun...

We had such a fun Mother's Day weekend with our families! On Saturday afternoon, my Mom, Dad, 2 of the 3 sisters and 1 of the 2 brothers-in-law came over for an early Mother's Day BBQ. The weather was questionable during the day, but we were lucky enough to have a beautiful evening to grill and play some bocce ball in the yard. I was too busy kicking-butt in bocce to take many photos, but there are a couple of Carter with his Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike. He had so much fun playing with everyone and loved being outside -- even though all he wanted to do was move the bocce balls while we were playing :)

Sunday morning started early with Carter greeting us at 6am -- I guess he just wanted to spend as much of my Mother's Day with me as he possibly could :) After a nice (but chilly) morning walk, we got ready for a late morning brunch with Dave, Dorothy, Grandma Jeanie (or "Gigi" to Carter) and Jillian. The food was delicious and Carter loved the pancakes (no surprise there). Carter must have been exhausted, because he took a nice, long 4 hour nap when we got home, allowing Kyle and I to do just what we wanted: relax! :)

Kyle surprised me by having his Mom and Dad come over to take Carter to the park that evening so he could take me to a nice Mother's Day dinner -- it was absolutely delicious and I was definitely surprised! Carter was still awake when we got home, so we were able to spend some more playtime together before bed.

Thank you for making this such a special Mother's Day!!

Carter and Grandma Mary (looking ready for bed!)
Carter with Grandpa Mike

Having a pre-brunch mimosa with Dorothy and Grandma Jeannie
(thanks for the beautiful flower ladies!!)

Carter joining the fun
Carter and I taking our annual outdoor Mother's Day picture on the bench

Happy Engagement Party!

With my sister-in-law's wedding coming up at the end of November, the celebrations and planning are well underway. On Friday night, Erik's aunt and uncle hosted a beautiful engagement party at their home near Lake of Isles in Minneapolis for Jillian and Erik. Everything about it was fabulous: the food, drink, location, people and conversation, but mostly the occasion for the celebration!

Congratulations Jills & Erik - let the countdown begin...or shall I say: let the countdown continue :)

The happy couple!

Jillian with the Opitz ladies and her future-mother-in law, Linda

The best sister-in-law a gal could ask for...

...actually, the best in-laws (and hubby of course!) a gal could ask for!! :)

Jillian with her "maids" -- what fun we'll have!

Sleeping sideways...

In the last couple of weeks, Carter has decided it's more comfortable for him to sleep sideways in his crib. When we went to check on him before our bedtime the other night, here is how we found him...

Tiger

Isn't this how Tiger Woods got his start...??

Hat = Dad

Carter is really starting to pick-up on every little detail these days and it is so much fun to hear the connections he makes. Most recently, he is associating hats with Dad, since Kyle often times wears some sort of baseball cap. Each time Carter sees a hat sitting around somewhere, he points at it and says "hat...Daddy...hat...Daddy".

When Carter heard the garage door open the other day and I said "Carter, who's home?", he said "Daddy", ran into the office, put on the MN Twins Stadium Hard Hat, and greeted Kyle in the kitchen like this...

Wearing a hat, just like Daddy