NC Trip - Day 3

On Sunday (October 17th) we went to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. This is another zoo that is part of the reciprocal program with the Knoxville Zoo so we got in free with our membership.

Luckily Rylan slept later (to 5:30 am) so we weren't so tired. However, he was nice enough to poop all over me right before we left. I had just finished feeding Rylan and had laid him on my lap with his head at my knees when I realized that my legs were wet. Rylan had shot tons of poop out the back of his diaper. There was so much that it was dripping down my legs when I stood up. It was very, very gross.

Once that was cleaned up, we were on our way! Brian's parents took their car since our family is now too large to all fit in just one of our cars with two additional adults. We left around 9:30 am and expected Carter to sleep on the hour drive, but he didn't. Carter knew we were going to the zoo and kept making his monkey sound the entire drive. It got a little annoying after awhile. Rylan slept the whole way though so that was nice.

The North Carolina Zoo was designed so that the animals found on each continent are grouped together. So far the zoo has only completed Africa and North America (they ran out of money a long time ago and I don't know if they are going to add more any time soon).

Here's a picture of Carter on the bridge to the zoo entrance ...


We did Africa first. The animals have huge habitats so there is a lot of walking between exhibits. We brought the BOB stroller, but I had Rylan in the Bjorn most of the time and Brian ended up carrying Carter a lot. Carter was very attached to Brian our entire trip and wouldn't let anyone else hold him most of the time.

We had great weather. Not too hot but super sunny. We actually had amazing weather our entire trip. I got out very little of the winter clothes I had packed.

Carter hanging with a chimp ...


Me with my boys ...


Another chimp ...


And finally a real chimp ...



This is how Carter tries to sit on Charlotte. He's only been successful once (she usually escapes before he can do anything like this) ...


Checking out the elephants ...


Rylan was really good the entire time we were at the zoo.



Carter got super excited when he saw the carousel so we had to let him take a ride. He kept saying "aahh, aahh" (his monkey sound) whenever he passed by me.


After lunch we did the North American animals. Most of the animals were out where we could see them, but most weren't very active.

A family photo ...


We stopped by the Garden Friends Playground to let Carter play for a little bit. He's getting really good at climbing ...




We finally headed out around 3 pm. Everyone was a little worn out from all the walking and Carter chasing, but we had made plans to meet up with some friends near Greensboro.

When I was little, my family lived across the street from Bob and Cathy and they have twin boys (Matthew and Steven) that are about a month older than me, as well as a girl (Jessica) a few years older than us. Matthew married a friend of mine (Kari) and they had a baby girl (Anna) on June 1st. None of them have ever met our boys so Bob, Cathy, Matthew, Kari, and Anna met us at Hagan Stone Park (link) in Pleasant Garden.

Carter slept on the drive to the park and Rylan screamed until he passed out from all the screaming. Rylan was unfortunately in a bad mood the rest of the day but Carter had fun playing.

Cathy and Bob with Anna and Rylan ...


Cathy, Kari, and me with Rylan, Anna, and Carter ...


Me and Matthew switching kids (notice how much bigger Rylan is compared to Anna!) ...


Carter had lots of fun playing with everyone. He took Cathy on a walk to the lake and they threw sticks into the water. His favorite person though was Matthew. They played on the playground for awhile. Carter even went down the slide a bunch (he's been very anti-slide lately).

Carter collected sticks for awhile too. This was his mac daddy find ...


After about an hour and a half, we all headed on home. Brian, the kids, and I stopped by Moe's on the way back to the house for dinner. The boys did great at dinner but Rylan was super fussy again in the car. He cried himself to sleep though eventually, again.

We got back to the house around 7:30 pm, let Carter play with the toy cars for a little bit, and then got the boys off to bed.

Target Withdrawal

I have been having some serious Target withdrawal. With having family here for a few weeks and then going to North Carolina for a week, I've only been there a couple of times in the last month. I usually go a few times a week. And I always do a quick run by of all the aisle ends to see what is on clearance. I know, I'm obsessed.

I finally made it to Target this afternoon and was super excited to find some great stuff for Carter at 75% off.

We are set on cool sidewalk chalk for next year ...



And I found a few fun activities for indoors this winter ...


Everything cost less than $4 - I love a deal!

Oak Ridge

I took the boys up to Oak Ridge for the morning.

I hadn't been back to my office since before I got pregnant with Rylan because they haven't had any part-time work for me to do (which I'm quite happy with). The office manager actually called me a couple of weeks ago to see how I was doing and I decided it was about time I introduced everyone to Rylan and showed off how much Carter has grown up.

We stayed about an hour and Carter had a great time showing off to everyone (someone found a ball and Carter was entertained for the hour). Rylan was in a great mood too and showed everyone his dimples and adorable laugh (which I still haven't gotten a video of because every time I get the camera out, he stops). Carter even gave everyone great big hugs when we left.

After my office, we headed over to the American Museum of Science and Energy. We have a membership there but this was the first time I have used it there. I have used it at a bunch of other museums that are part of the reciprocal program to get in for free, but never at the AMSE.

The museum is a bit old and the cool part is the section outlining the history of Oak Ridge (which is not designed for kids). But there is a small science section that has some interactive exhibits. Rylan fell asleep after about 15 minutes and Carter ran around from exhibit to exhibit. We stayed about 45 minutes and it was a bit of a stretch to keep Carter entertained that long.


This was Carter's favorite. He liked trying to catch the balls ...



Since Carter was too small for this bike, he pedaled it with his hand ...


There is a very small children's section with a few puzzles and a 2' x 4' barn ...


This is the one picture I took of Rylan (in the UV light section) ...


Outside of the museum ...


After the museum, we stopped by the UT Arboretum so I could try to take a few pictures of Carter. It was extremely windy and overcast so not ideal conditions for pictures. But here are some of my favorites.

NC Trip - Days 1 & 2

We drove to Raleigh on Friday, October 15th. I was nervous about the drive since this was the furthest we'd traveled with 2 kids (and a dog).

Brian was able to leave work early and we got on the road around 2 pm. I held off on putting Carter down for a nap and he fell asleep in the car almost immediately. He slept for an hour and then just chilled for an hour looking out the window. After that, Carter had some new toys that kept him entertained. And Rylan slept for the first three hours of the drive. It was SO NICE!

Rylan was fussy when he woke up so we stopped for dinner. We didn't want to waste too much time so we fed both boys while eating Chick-fil-A in the car. We gave Charlotte a pee break, got gas, and got back on the road.

After about 15 minutes, we hit some traffic because of a lane closure. It took us 45 minutes to go about 5 miles. Rylan was not happy about that at all. He screamed most of that time. We stopped at the next rest area after getting out of the traffic, fed Rylan again, walked the dog, and continued on.

Luckily Rylan fell asleep after that and slept the last 2 hours of the drive. Carter was a little harder to keep happy, but he wasn't too bad.

We got to Brian's parents' house in Cary around 9 pm. We unpacked the car as quickly as we could (we had a lot of stuff) and got the kids to bed by 10 pm.

It was awesome that Rylan slept so much in the car, but that meant that he was up early on Saturday. He was up for the day at 4:30 am. I let Brian get up with him because I was completely worn out and figured that since we were on vacation and Brian didn't have to work, we could share in the fun of Rylan's altered schedule.

Carter discovered the piano on Saturday morning ...


And this giant stuffed dog ...


After breakfast, we went to an amazing playground that is only a few minutes from Art and Cinda's house called Kids Together (link) at Marla Dorrel Park. This was the coolest playground we've ever been too. There were several distinct play areas separated by trees and bushes. The playground seemed to just blend into the landscape. The equipment was all in great condition and was fun.



Carter really liked playing in the sand with these scoops. I've never seen these before but they were everywhere we went in NC.



After playing, we took a short walk on the greenway that leaves the park.

Here's Art pushing the BOB ahead of us ...


The greenway crosses US-1 via a brand new pedestrian bridge. Carter enjoyed watching all the "go's" below us ...



Here's a picture of the bridge I took later in the day ...


Carter fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the car. He only took about a 10 minute nap but it was enough to mess up his schedule for the day.

We went back to Art and Cinda's house for lunch (which was hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes from Cookout - yummy!) and then we tried to put Carter down for a nap. It didn't work.

We didn't bring too many toys for Carter to play with when we weren't in the car, but Brian found a box of his old cars and Carter was content for our entire visit.


As soon as he got up or we came home from whatever we were doing, he'd go straight to that box and start playing.

On Saturday afternoon we went to The Streets at Southpoint, a mall in Durham. Carter finally took a nap on the drive out there. Brian's parents bought Carter his winter shoes - a pair of fur-lined Crocs. They had also bought Carter his red and orange Crocs that he wore all summer.

After shopping and a stop at the house, we went to dinner at Noodles. Rylan was great and slept through dinner which is always nice. The boys got baths when we got back to the house and we got them to bed at a descent time. Brian and I were worn out so we didn't stay up all that much later.

Exersaucer

I put Rylan in the exersaucer for the first time today. I have it set on the lowest of the three heights but I think I may need to raise it up. Rylan was pretty content in there. I still had to stuff a blanket around him to keep him from leaning too far in one direction and hitting his head on something. He didn't play with any of the toys yet, but he was looking at them.


Rylan loves chewing on his fingers right now ...




Carter showing Rylan what to do ...


I tried to get some pictures of Rylan outside during Carter's nap ...



Rylan's hair is still looking like it's a darker blond color ...


I have a ton of things I want to post about Rylan, but I'll try to put it all together in a post I do for his 4 month update!

Tough Guy

Carter got his flu shot today and did AWESOME. He has always cried as soon as he gets pricked (though he gets over it about 10 seconds after I pick him up). The last couple of times we were at the pediatrician's office Carter got all clingy as soon as we went into the exam room because he knew what was coming.

Today Carter followed the nurse right into the room as I carried Rylan in the carrier behind him. When we got in the room, Carter told the nurse "hi" a few times in his sweet voice. I put him on the table, and he laid down with a smile on his face. He didn't even squirm or complain as the nurse held onto his legs and I held his hands. He made a little grimace as he got pricked but smiled again almost immediately. The nurse even seemed surprised that he did so well. I'm so proud of him!

Carter was very pleased to also get a huge Handy Manny sticker!