Camping with the Boys

One of Caed's buddies had a birthday camp out at his grandparents' farm this past weekend and about 5 little boys (ages 2-3) and their daddies, including Caed and Brad, enjoyed a fun-filled night and day on the farm!

This was Caed's first camp out, so we starting prepping him early in the week as we had him watch Elmo goes Camping and had him try out his sleeping bag during naptime and bedtime on his bed. At first, he wasn't too keen on the idea of sleeping in a bag, but once his Elmo and Monkey tried it out and hid in the bottom, he warmed up to the idea pretty quickly. Plus, he even got to use his uncle Mark's Thermarest and tent so that was pretty cool for him. (He'd point to the mat and with a smile on his face say, "Uncle Mark." Thanks, Mark.)

When Friday rolled around, all Caed could talk about was going camping. Errands and everything else for the day were a bit tough because Caed thought he should be going camping. But thankfully, we made it through the day, and when 5pm hit and Brad got home from work, we woke Caed up from his nap and he was already to go. Backpack packed, complete with Elmo, Monkey, blanket and all.

I'm not too sure of all the details of the weekend, remember this was a guys-only trip, but I know that Friday evening consisted of roasting hotdogs and I'm sure trying to wrangle the boys into their tents for bed. Caed apparently did very well. Brad tried to lie down with him at first, but he didn't want to have anything to do with it, so Brad left him alone in the tent and after a few minutes, he was out like a light .... it was after 10pm, so I'm sure he was exhausted, but pretty impressive for his first night in a tent.
From what I can gather, the boys did most of their camping-related activities the next day, including roasting marshmallows, eating pop tarts, swiss cake rolls, cupcakes, etc. (no wonder they had soooo much energy to play), visited the goats, sheep and horses, fished (Caed waded up to his knees in the lake w/ his crocs and pants on :) and even had a hayride, thanks to Mr. Jay!

Interesting story about the hayride: Apparently as they were getting started and were heading uphill away from the lake, the trailer hitch on the tractor came loose and the trailer started rolling backward toward the lake. From what I can gather, they were still a ways off from the lake, but everyone got a bit nervous and Brad and Caed were the first ones to jump off the trailer and one of the dads even had to pass his kid off to another on the ground for fear of hitting the lake. Several boys were pretty upset over the event, and even though Caed was never really in harms way, once he saw the other boys crying, he started as well. (What a fun scene that must have been!)
Anyway, that's the story that I picked up from Caed's first camping trip. I'm sure there are many more stories and details I left out. After all, I was home ALONE and had the opportunity to grab dinner with a friend and go OUT to see a movie, so I was certainly not there to enjoy the fun. But I think that was the basic gist of the adventure.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Caed has grown very fond of reading alone in his room lately and it's the sweetest thing. He talks through what's happening on each page as if he's reading it and continues along. (I remember doing this when I was a kid.)

One of his favorite books right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so as he was reading it this morning I thought I'd try to catch him as he was "reading" and capture it on video for you to enjoy.

The batteries died 2 pages from the end and I unfortunately missed the part where he says, "Big Fat Caterpillar" and "Beautiful Butterfly." I'll try to capture this again sometime, but thought you'd enjoy regardless.

Caed's 2nd Birthday

My baby boy turned 2 August 25. How time flies! We've been so busy since then that I haven't had the chance to blog about it. But now that our schedule is winding down for the moment, here's a brief recap of his special week in pictures.














Birthday Morning w/ Special Dinosaur Pancake



















Caed in his birthday garb: NC State
Wolfpack t-shirt, Fire Truck PJs, and
Red, Converse One Stars















Mesmerized by his new train set!


Aslan-zilla taking over train city!



















Gazing at his long-awaited lemon-cupcakes.
(He actually blew the candle out all by himself!)



















Caed enjoying his yummy lemon cupcake!

Our Zoo Trip

Brad, GG and I took Caed to the zoo for the first time yesterday. It was in the high 80s, low 90s most of the day and despite a little more walking that we weren't planning to do, we had a GREAT time, and Caed was running non-stop from exhibit to exhibit all day. Caed is still talking about the zebra, giraffe and alligators that he saw. Here are some fun pictures and video of the day:














Caed getting a higher view of the chimpanzees from daddy's shoulders.















Caed watching the baby baboons wrestle and attempting to give them a high-five.















Ready for take-off dad?















Look at what just hatched?















GG and Caed during our picnic lunch.















The three of us while watching the bison roam.


Caed (& GG's) elephant impression.



Chomp, chomp, chomp

4th of July Weekend Fun!

July 4th weekend was jam-packed with fun activities: Mason's 2nd Birthday Party, Progress on our Deck, and a 4th of July Cookout on our Friend's Farm. Caed was battling that chest-congestion-cold-thing that has been floating around, but thankfully he was in good enough spirits to enjoy all the fun. Here are some pictures from the weekend:














Funny thing: Beginning last Tuesday, Caed grew so excited about Mason's party that he'd yell in excitement in the backseat of the car saying, "Mason party, Mason party ... hooray!" He was so excited to celebrate with his buddy!















Some friends of ours recently moved out to a farm in Creedmoor and we've had the luxury of enjoying some time out there with them. They have horses, sheep, goats, a cat with a crooked tail, named Bolt, and lots of fun toys and places for Caed to explore.















Caed loved this little playhouse. He would run in and out of it and stand at each window and call out to us.



















He also found this neat little lawn mower that he pushed around all over the place. I think this is a neat shot of him mowing in the shadow of the flag on the 4th of July.

Caed's First Movie-Going Experience

The cinema up at North Hills just began their free summer kids flick series today with the showing of Doogle and we decided to take part.

Up until about a month ago, Caed wouldn't even watch TV for more than a minute at a time, so the thought of taking him to a movie was completely ridiculous. However, within the last month, he's developed a strong liking for his GeoTrax train movie and can sit down on the couch for about 20-minute intervals to enjoy some trains. "Fix track," he says often, and "All board!"

Before we left the house, I stocked my purse with a few granola bars, a bag of Gold Fish, a cup of water and a diet coke for me ... thinking that these snacks would suffice until we returned home for lunch. Well, Caed did make it about 40 minutes into the movie, but that was with the distraction of 2 granola bars, water and several helpings of Gold Fish. He sat enjoyably at several minute intervals and stood in front of me, occasionally trying to get the kid's attention in front of us. He enjoyed verbally identifying all the animals and making the corresponding sounds. (It was a kids' movie specifically designated for kids ... 10am ... so I wasn't concerned about stopping him ... even though the mom to my right gave us a few hard looks.)

Overall, I think it was a positive experience. Heck, the movie was free so there's no better time to get your kid acquainted with the movie-going experience than during times like these. We'll probably try some other movies throughout the season and see how it goes.

Latest Pictures

Caed's first try with playdough. (The figures above were examples that mommy made, but Caed enjoyed making the snake and caterpillar slither around the table.)














Caed playing with his friend Adeline














A quick shot of Caed, Brad and Mason before Brad headed off for work and the boys ventured outside to 'work' in the mud.














Caed's first venture of the season in his turtle pool. What a difference a year makes in his interest in the pool. Last year he just stood on the side splashing or dabbled in the pool for a few minutes. Now, he loves to fill his buckets up and dump them all over himself and water all the plants around the pool. (thanks for the help bud!)