Labor Day Safari

Dave and I took Carter to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek over the Labor Day weekend. Binder Park Zoo is HUGE compared to John Ball Zoo and there are so many interesting and cool animals! We were there for a few hours and I don't think we saw everything there was to see. Our favorite part was the "African Safari," you take a tram to this huge grassland area where African animals are grazing and wandering all over the place. The animals obviously can't get to where you walk along a path, but the neat part was there were no cages or walls so it seemed like you were right there with them. There was a cool "giraffe lookout" point where you go into a treehouse type area and the giraffes are at eye level with you. We fed them biscuits, Carter squealed when they stuck out their super long tongues at us. Another favorite part was feeding the baby goats, it was quite a circus with the goats running all over place. Carter tried to pet them but they were very fast and didn't stick around long if you ran out of treats. Carter also loved the monkeys so at the end we stopped in the gift shop and got him a stuffed monkey, which he immediately hugged and kissed. We can't wait to go back next year when Carter can enjoy it even more!


Carter and Dave posing by a big bird as we walked into the zoo.

This was part of the African Safari area - the zebras were grazing all over the place.

Here is one of our giraffe friends, he was waiting for his biscuit.

Check out his tongue! They weren't kidding around when they wanted a biscuit!

We were trying to pet this one, but once he saw we were out of biscuits he left.

This was one of the monkeys Carter loved to watch, he came right up to the fence to say hi.

Here is Carter talking on his cell phone...he thought the monkeys were so cool he had to call someone.

This is Carter and I in the petting zoo area.

Here we are trying to feed the crazy baby goats. Carter just wanted to grab his nose.

On the way home...totally wiped out.

I'm ONE!!


Carter turned one on Tuesday, it's so hard to believe a whole year has gone by since his birth. To celebrate the big event, we had two parties for him last weekend. One party he shared with his cousin, Elsa, who turned one on Wednesday. His second party was for our friends and Dave's family.


Party 1: Elsa and Carter party. Aunt Lee did all the fun decorations for the Elsa / Carter party. She made really cute invitations (each baby had their own) with a fish and frog theme. For their cake we did fish and frog cupcakes - Lee did all the fun decorations for those as well! Grandma B. and Grandpa P. graciously hosted the party at their house. Other guests included Grandpa and Grandma J., Cheryl, Abby, Joey, Aunt Nancy, and Mary and Alan Jones. We had such a good time with both babies together, it is so special that they share such close birthdays!

I think the highlight of the party was of course cake eating time. Dave and I thought Carter would dig right in and get totally messy, we even stripped him down to his diaper to be ready...but Carter did not want anything to do with the cupcake once he tried it! Elsa on the other hand loved her cupcake and ate anything that didn't fall into her lap.

The wonderful party set-up. Thanks Aunt Lee for the awesome decorations!

The fish and frog cupcakes.



Carter testing out his new chair Aunt Lee and Uncle Bob found him in Milwaukee.

Elsa wearing her cute hat.

Present time!

Carter got this cool truck from Elsa, Aunt Lee, and Uncle Bob...it makes cool noises and lights up.

Dave and I bought Carter this "bounce and spin zebra" which he proudly showed off.

Here's Carter dumping off the zebra (his way of getting off) and Elsa giving it a try.

Carter also got tons of other cool presents that are not shown. Thank you to everyone for all the cool new toys, Carter loves them!!

Cake time!

The first pokes...

Spitting it out...

Trying a few more bites...as you can see Elsa is loving her cupcake.

Deciding cake is not all it's cracked up to be.

Party 2: Dinosaur party. I searched high and low for a bakery that would make me a 3-D dinosaur cake...but nothing ever panned out. So Dave and I took it upon ourselves to try our own cake. We found some hints on-line and Dave even drew the patterns on autocad before we actually started cutting and molding the cake. It wasn't a spectacular cake but we were pretty proud of ourselves and we had a lot of fun doing it the night before his party!

We had so many family and friends come to the party, it was a huge success and Carter was spoiled with all the attention and gobs of presents. Originally we wanted to have it outside on our deck, but it was a rainy day so we improvised and had it in our basement. The kids had fun playing with all the toys - Carter is lucky to have so many kids his age to play with already! We are so grateful for everyone who came and celebrated with us - thank you!

Drew and Kayley Burke with Carter.

Kayley helping Carter open some presents.

More presents!

Daddy putting together his cool new basketball hoop.

Cake again?

This time he ate a tiny bit but he's still not a fan.

Hmmm, nope, still don't like it...

Sean showing Carter how to put the balls into the animal's mouth.

Uncle Mark and Carter.

Uncle Josh and Carter.

Grandma Webb and Carter.

Carter received so many cool presents I can't even name them all. He loves everything and goes from toy to toy when he gets them all out to play. Below are some pictures of the Radio Flyer scooter that Meredith and Mike got him...he thought it was very cool when he figured out how to push himself around!

Thank you everyone for making Carter's first birthday so incredibly special.

Toy Box

Grandpa Don made Carter an awesome toy box a while back. We have been hesitating to bring it home because we thought we might be selling our house in this century and it seemed easier to just bring it home to the new house. But, since our house is selling as fast as every other house in Michigan, we decided we'd much rather have it now and make some good use of it!

Carter absolutely loves it! As you can see below, he loves to stand and open and close it about a hundred times. The best part (since he's obsessed with opening and closing it himself) is that it can't pinch little fingers - the top stays up and doesn't slam down plus even when it's all the way closed it has a little gap. It holds all his toys very nicely and we really love it. It's a beautiful piece of furniture that he will love for years and years to come.

Thanks Grandpa!!

This is pre-loading of all his toys...now we don't have to have that ugly bin in our family room!

The Bench

Ever since Dave brought home the bench that sits in our front window, the dogs have taken it over as their own. The bench is perfect height for them to look out our front window and survey everything going on in their territory. It also has two comfy cushions, one for each of them. Everything was right with the world...until Carter decided he wanted to climb up on the bench and claim it for himself. This happened last week and the dogs are still trying to understand when the power shifted in our family.

Carter has mastered the "bench climb" and LOVES to get up there every chance he can get. He's taken a couple spills off of it, but has quickly learned about gravity. Now he can sit up there for hours and play with toys or just look out the window. This is all much to the dogs' dismay. Shady especially gets quite annoyed with Carter when he butts into her area, she jumps down and hides under the dining room table to pout.

Working hard...

Almost there...

Ta da!

He would sit up there for hours if we would let him.

Here are the dogs trying to cope with their new neighbor...neither seem ecstatic. Maisy has lost her cushion completely.

Carter is eyeing Shady and her content position...

He decides he wants that cushion instead.

Playing nice...some of the time.