Worms

Carter has been obsessed with compost all day today.  He went outside and put some dirt in a bucket and then dug through our trash to find any fruits/veggies/eggshells, etc. to add to it.  He is currently outside looking for worms to add to his compost heap.  Looks like we'll be googling about compost so we can at least make it useful with all the landscaping Nate's been doing.  What is it about little boys and worms?  He was so excited to show me the first worm he found in his compost.  I'm happy he is entertaining himself, even if it is with dirt.  He pretty much needs a bath everyday now that spring and summer have arrived.

Birthday Girl

Kennedy had her birthday yesterday.  I can't believe she is already a year old.  She is such a joy in our home. We celebrated today at Nate's parents house with Cincinnati Chili and Butterfly cupcakes.  More pictures to come of the event.  Our camera's battery died after taking the first two pictures of the festivities so Nate's brother took pictures on his phone that I'll be getting soon.

Kennedy is so much fun.  At a year she is crawling, cruising along things, and standing for brief periods.  She is very happy and willing to go to most everyone, but is often shy for the first few minutes in a new place.  She clings to whomever is holding her and loves to be carried around by her brother.  She is a very persistent little one who manages to get what she wants most of the time (including me-ma's eyeglasses).  Her determination often leaves me exasperated as she manges to circumnavigate the baby gate way easier then should be possible.   She waves, claps, blows raspberries, shakes her head no, and says "done" when she is finished with a bottle or food.  She has also started sucking her thumb a lot more and is usually playing with her hair with the other hand.  Here is a picture of what she looks like in her car seat pretty much all the time.

 We love you baby girl.  We are so glad you are part of our family.  We are so grateful for the miracle of adoption and the life that we've been entrusted with.  You are loved by so many.  Happy Birthday!

Hotel Happiness

Why do kids like hotel's so much?  Carter was so excited to be staying in a couple different hotels during our trip.  These pics are from the last and best hotel we stayed in.  Carter and Nate had a great time in the pool.  Unfortunately, Kennedy did not fair so well although I did get her to smile for a couple pics.  At least she looks adorable in her swim suit.  I don't think she's going to be a water baby this summer.  She hated the pool.  But to give her the benefit of the doubt she didn't get a nap that day and it was after 6:00pm.  I went up to the room and put her straight to bed.  Carter was thrilled to get his very own sofa bed too.  He was also thrilled to have a portable DVD player around which he took great advantage of.

We didn't have much time in D.C. but did manage to make it to Arlington National Cemetery.  It was such a humbling experience and I'm so glad we were able to go.  It definitely made me ponder on our freedom and the price that has been paid.  The respect offered and felt was moving throughout the cemetery.  If only we had taken an umbrella with us.  We were rained on and it was cold but the kids were troopers.  The quote above was one of the many by JFK's gravesite.  It really hit home with me.  Hopefully you can read it if you click on it.

Baltimore

We spent a couple of days in Baltimore with our friends the Egnew's that used to live here in Kentucky.  We had a great time.  It was nice to be in an actual house for a couple of days after hotel hopping and we were able to tour Baltimore and go to the National Aquarium.

We thought the city was charming and certainly see why they love it there.  The inner harbor was a beautiful walk and the highlight of the aquarium was the dolphin show.  The only slight hiccup was realizing that we couldn't use strollers in the aquarium.  Luckily they had these great Kelty backpacks to use free of charge.  It worked great for Kennedy, but wasn't ideal for Liz's toddler's weight.  I'm just glad that Nate was there to carry her.  Thanks Liz and Calvin for such a great visit!

The next morning before checking out of our hotel and heading to Baltimore we walked to breakfast and over to pointe state park, where the two rivers come together.  Pittsburgh is a beautiful city and it was fun to stay right along the rivers.

Fun in the Sun

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Pittsburgh at a Park near their house.  It was a warm day for April, in the mid-80's and we sure were sweating by the time we left.  The kids had a great time running around and on the swings and it was a great time for the adults to catch up.  Brittany spent the majority of the time carting Kennedy around, which she didn't mind one bit.  We ended the day at Wendy's and said a long goodbye in the parking lot.  Carter has already been asking when we can go visit again.

Pittsburgh

We spent a couple of days in Pittsburgh visiting Kennedy's birthmom and sister.  We had a wonderful time.  First we stopped at their house and Kennedy got to meet their kitty's and then the next day we went out to eat and then to church with them.  It was so good to be back for a visit for the first time since we brought Kennedy home with us.  We hope to make it a yearly tradition.

Cabela's

So our first stop on our seven day road trip was about an hour outside of Pittsburgh at Cabela's.  This happens to be a favorite place of Nate's and Carter's and we happily took an hour pitt stop so we could hang out there.  The hightlights:  all the deer, playing Big Buck Hunter, shooting at the range.  It was a fun start to our trip and Carter had been talking about going there for several months.