Sandy Springs Park

Last night we drove over to Maryville to Sandy Springs Park to have a picnic. We used to run through this park every weekend when we ran on the Alcoa/Maryville Greenway when we were training for the Richmond Marathon.

We picked up sandwiches on the way and found a shady hill near the playsets (there were 3!). When we drove up and parked by the playsets, Carter made the same "ooohhhh" sound he made the day before when entering REI. Even though he's too small to do a lot on the playsets (and is anti-slide right now), he really likes them!

I forgot my camera at home but had my phone and took pictures with it. I think they turned out really good considering they were taken with my phone.


Rylan had been really fussy all day but didn't fuss once when laying on the blanket outside!



Carter loved these cars on the giant springs. He quickly figured out how to rock back-and-forth and side-to-side on them.



We stayed for about an hour and a half. Carter loved all the playsets and wandering around the beautiful park. There were a lot of people there, but it never felt too crowded. Brian and I took turns following Carter around and hanging out with Rylan on the picnic blanket. It was a gorgeous evening and we had a lot of fun. We're looking forward to going back soon.

Rylan's First Hike

We had another busy day yesterday!

We are trying to plan a couple of vacations for the fall and decided those trips are not going to happen until we got a box for the roof of the car (double strollers take up a lot of room!). REI has Yakama gear on sale right now so we decided to drive to Asheville to get the Skybox 16.

We got on the road around 8:45 am and everyone was happy until the last 20 minutes of the 2 hour drive when Rylan was fed up with the car. Unfortunately, being in REI didn't make him much happier - though Carter loved it. He was walking with Brian and as soon as he got in the door he just said "ooooohhhhhhh" (he's just like his mom and dad!). We walked around for a little bit but didn't see anything we really needed (though plenty of stuff we'd like). We can't wait until the boys are a little older and we can start doing more outdoor stuff with them.

I had called on Friday and put the Skybox on hold so it was waiting for us. Luckily they come fully assembled so we just had to take it out of the cardboard box and move the bars around on the car to get the Skybox in the right place. It was difficult though with 2 screaming kids that weren't happy about being in an unmoving stroller!


After REI, we went to the Western North Carolina Nature Center since we get in free with our Knoxville Zoo pass. Since it was lunchtime, we went to the Asheville Recreation Park first which is adjacent to the nature center to have a picnic. We set up by the playground and let Carter play some too while we ate.

So after lunch, we went into the nature center. We were really impressed by the exhibits and all the animals we saw. Most of the animals were active, and if not, were sleeping right next to the fence just a few feet away. All the exhibits were shallow but wide so the animals weren't really able to hide. We saw snakes, foxes, wolves, bobcats, bears, otters, sheep, goats, and a few others.

Carter liked all the foxes and wolves. He kept calling them dogs though.





Doesn't it sort of look like Carter is trying to get on a real fox in that last picture?

Whenever Carter saw a sleeping animal, he turned to us and said "sssshhhh" with his finger up to his lips. He also does this when he sees Rylan sleeping in his bouncer or carseat. Carter usually then proceeds to scream and laugh about it. We're really trying to break that habit.


Our cute bobcat ...


Carter's favorite animals were the bears. He loved watching them.



Right now when you ask Carter "how many" of something there are, he always answers "two". It's the only number he seems to know. Almost every exhibit had two animals though so he lucked out whenever we asked him how many of a type of animal he saw! Also, the only color he can say is "blue". So if you ask him "what color" something is, he'll answer blue. But if you ask him to point to something that is red, he'll point to something red (usually). So he knows more colors, he just doesn't say them.

I took Carter into a petting area to see some sheep and when we came out, we found Brian had made friends with some goats. Apparently Brian was just standing by the fence and they came up to him (probably thinking he had food for them).



When we were done at the nature center, we got back on the road and headed toward Tennessee. We got off of I-40 a few miles before the border and took gravel roads up to Max Patch to take Rylan on his first hike. Unfortunately Rylan cried almost the entire 30 minutes it took to get up to the bald.

Yesterday was our first cooler day (high in the lower 80s in Asheville) - it was really clear and beautiful. It was especially cool on top of the bald with a strong wind.

The boys hitched rides on us. Carter didn't want to get into the carrier at first. But once Brian picked him up in it and he remembered what it was, he was super excited. This was the first time we used the carrier this year - Carter is so much bigger now!


And Rylan got to ride in the Bjorn.


This is the view of the bald from the parking area ...


We did the 1.4 mile short loop up to the top of the bald. The grass had been cut recently and baled.





When we got to the top, we took Carter out of the carrier. He immediately went to one of the hay bales, stood in front of it, and started saying "cheese" (I didn't even have my camera out yet). He's figuring me out!


Me with the boys ...


Some cute pictures of Carter ...



Our first family of four photo ...


We really like Max Patch. There are great views in every direction and it's just a great place to hang out for awhile.


Rylan did great the entire time we were on the hike. He even fell asleep as soon as we started heading back to the car.

The drive home was a little rough with the sun in everyone's eyes and Rylan fussing a lot (he'd been in the carseat a lot and I think he was just so over it). But we made it. We got home around 8pm (and remembered that we had the Skybox on the roof and didn't try to pull into the garage with it on!).

It was a long day, but it was an awesome day. We had so much fun!

Aquarium

I took the boys to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies today (by myself!). My season pass is still good for a couple of months and I wanted to get at least one more use out of it.

We went through the aquarium twice because Carter pretty much ran through it the first time. I brought the BOB stroller with us but since Rylan was awake when we got there, I put him in the Bjorn in an effort to let him see things too. I also had Carter out of the stroller and after about 10 minutes, I couldn't handle chasing after Carter, holding Rylan in the Bjorn so his head didn't tip over (since he still doesn't have 100% head control), and keep up with the stroller. It wasn't super crowded, but crowded enough that Carter would run ahead and I couldn't get by people with my giant stroller. So Rylan ended up in the stroller the rest of our time there (he slept until just before we left) and things were a lot more manageable.

Carter's favorite thing this time was the tunnel under the large tank. He loved when a shark, ray, or sawfish swam over us. We went through the tunnel a total of 3 times.



Rylan was awake at first because I had just taken him out of the Bjorn. He looked up at the fish a little bit before falling asleep.


Carter did a good job this time going into the tanks in the kids area and turning around for me to take his picture.




I really like the new penguin exhibit at the aquarium. Carter was somewhat interested in it, but his favorite thing about it is this giant fake penguin. I think Carter would hang out with him all day if I let him!




We spent about an hour and a half at the aquarium. On the way home I decided to stop at the outlet stores in Sevierville since it should be cooling down soon and I haven't started shopping for Carter for fall clothes.

I was really glad I stopped! Old Navy had everything in the store an extra 40% off and Carter's had everything an extra 20% off. I got several things at both as well as a few shirts for $1.99 each at The Children's Place for next year.

It wasn't the most pleasant shopping trip though. I only had the BOB stroller which does not fit very well around clothes racks. We went to Carter's first and I let Carter play with the toys for a few minutes while I looked around in the area. Carter decided to poop then and I decided it was time to go. He was not a big fan of getting into the stroller, but I could not maneuver it back to the front of the store and coax him to stay with me. So he screamed while we checked out quickly and made our way back to the car.

After a quick diaper change, we headed over to Old Navy. Carter passed out in the stroller because he hadn't napped yet and it was after 1 pm. Rylan then decided he'd had enough so I had to hold and bounce him around the whole time I was looking for clothes for Carter (he still screamed a lot). I absolutely had to try the jeans I found on Carter so I had to put down a screaming Rylan and wake up Carter. No one was happy about that. We made it through though and once outside, everyone chilled out.

Since everyone was happy enough, we ran into The Children's Place real quick, found a few things in clearance, and then headed for the car. I ended up getting Rylan five 9-month sized onesies (since the 6-month sized ones are getting small) and Carter 7 long sleeve shirts, a pair of jeans, 3 sets of pajamas, 4 shirts for next summer, a pair of swim trunks for next summer, and his Halloween costume for just over $100.

Carter finally passed out when we got close to home. It took extra long to get home since two lanes of the interstate were blocked one exit before ours and we took back roads home. This is how Carter slept as Rylan screamed.

Power Wheel

We didn't do much today. Rylan's fever from his shots got kind of high last night (over 101F) so I ditched my plan of going to the aquarium today (in case it got high again and we had to go to the doctor) and thus didn't really have anything planned for the day. Plus I caught Carter's cold and don't feel great.

But we did manage to go out to dinner and stop by West Hills Park this evening. It wasn't too hot so we played on the playground for a little bit.

I thought it might be fun for Carter to take his Power Wheel on the greenway so we had brought it along. I think we carried it about as much as he rode it, but he seemed to have fun when he did want to ride it!

Lakeshore Park

Carter, Rylan, and I continued our tour of new playgrounds today. We went to Lakeshore Park.

I've walked there with Sarah and with Brian before. There is a nice 2.25 mile loop around the park. There are a few short but extremely steep hills though that aren't much fun.

The playset at Lakeshore is very similar to the one at West Hills so a lot of things are too big for Carter. He still had fun. Unfortunately we went at 1 pm though so it was HOT. The slides were way too hot to use and Carter was dripping sweat almost immediately.



It didn't seem too hot for Rylan under a tree with his fan on him.


Carter was mainly interested in playing with the rocks and his soccer ball. At least we got out though for a little while.

This afternoon I gave Rylan a bath. After his bath, I put him down for a little tummy time.


I was trying to interact with Rylan and get him to lift his head but Carter also wanted attention. When I turned my attention back to Rylan, he was asleep, on his tummy. Ever since he got his shots yesterday, Rylan has been super sleepy and passes out anywhere!

Random Stuff

We took the boys to the pool on Sunday night. We went after dinner and even though it was still in the upper 80s, the water was COLD! Carter didn't seem to notice. We saw a sign at the pool that said it isn't closing until September 22nd so we still have a few more weeks to enjoy it. We probably just need to go earlier in the day though so we don't freeze again.

Rylan fell asleep again while we were there on Sunday so both Brian and I got to get in with Carter again.


Carter still sits in his booster seat for meals and usually uses the tray that connects to it. I decided this week though to not use the tray and let Carter use the table like us. It's been a little messier doing this but Carter seems to like it.


Carter loves to sit at the computer in the office and hit keys on the keyboard and use the mouse. I decided today to look for some games for him to play on the computer. Amy had mentioned that Caitlyn likes the Sesame Street games so we started there. Carter liked the Old McDonald game. Actually, it's not really a game. As the song is sung, the animal that is being sung about pops up on the screen each time that the keyboard is hit.

2 Month Checkup

Rylan had his 2 month appointment today. He's healthy and huge!

Here are his measurements from today, last appointment, and some of Carter's measurements for comparison ...

Rylan's 2 month stats:

• Weight: 15 lbs, 12.5 oz (98th percentile)
• Length: 23.5 inches (66th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (81st percentile)

Rylan's 3 week stats:

• Weight: 10 lbs, 2.5 oz (81st percentile)
• Length: 21.25 inches (64th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 37.75 cm (59th percentile)

Carter's 2 month stats:

• Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz (45th percentile)
• Length: 22 inches (22nd percentile)
• Head Circumference: 40 cm

Carter's 6 month stats:

• Weight: 15 lbs, 6 oz (16th percentile) - LESS THAN RYLAN NOW!
  
• Length: 26 inches (36th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (72nd percentile)

The pediatrician wasn't concerned at all about his size. He said Rylan would probably thin down once he started transitioning to solids (that's when Carter really started to drop in the weight percentiles).

It's just weird to us that our boys are such different sizes. Rylan still acts and had the needs of a 2 month old, but he looks so much older (until you realize he's still lacking complete head control). The hardest part for us is that Rylan still needs us to hold him a lot and rock and bounce him around when he's fussy but he's HEAVY! By the end of the day my back and arms are so worn out!

Rylan got 3 shots and an oral vaccine today. He did good getting most of the oral vaccine down. He wasn't as happy about the shots. As soon as the nurse stuck him, he turned purple and started howling. He settled down about 10 seconds after I got to hold him but still had a mad expression on his face. Rylan then passed out about 5 minutes later for a good hour and a half.

A picture of Rylan's wounded legs ...


Overall, Rylan did great at his appointment. No fussing at all (other than when he got his shots). I took him by myself because Carter has a cold. Brian stayed home with Carter because we didn't want to spread any cold germs.

While we waited for the pediatrician, Rylan chilled out on the exam table and just smiled at me. It was nice to spend a little time alone with him with no distractions.

Strollers

Our garage is starting to resemble the stroller parking area outside of rides at Disney World ...