Sunshine and Wintertime

Turns out that when we came back from Minnesota we brought the cold with us, at least that's what our neighbors say.

I don't know what they're talking about. I think it's plenty warm to play outside.

I've been brushing up on my ball skills after my break for the holidays. I can't wait til I can take on Dad!

Don't think it's all play for me. Oh no, I am a hard little worker and love working outside too. My trusty little shovel is still one of my favorite toys. (Make sure to get a look at my cool hat. It was my Uncle Tyler's when he was little and it is my absolute favorite hat of all time! Thanks Uncle Tyler!)

I even work hard away from home. I decided to bring my bigger, heavy-duty shovel with me to the park yesterday just in case there was some digging that required my assistance.

My puppy, Lakota convinced me that I had worked hard enough for one day though.

So, Dad, Mom, me, Kiara and Lakota went exploring the trails around Brice's Creek.

"Where to now, Kota?"

I loved the trails and bridges. To Mom and Dad's surprise, my little legs didn't even get tired and I walked the whole trail by myself!

Mom and Dad took me down to the creek too. It's so pretty and peaceful that we wish we could go there all year long, but the bugs get way too bad when it's warm, so we'll have to go as often as we can while it's still cool outside.

It was such a nice day to enjoy the water (even though I couldn't convince Mom and Dad to let me go swimming like my puppies).

Have a great weekend everyone! Everyone up North keeps telling me to send the warm weather that way, so I'll do my best. Bye Bye!

Rewind to December...

Hey Everyone,

Yes, it's been a while, but I would still like to share some of our pictures from the holidays. Let's rewind back before Christmas...

"Ah, all settled in for our 1,300 miles of pure fun!"

I wasn't being sarcastic. I really don't mind the drive. Mom and Dad come up with lots of things to entertain me along the way, and there's always lots to see out the window. But, this year took a bit longer because of the huge snowstorm we ran into. Yes, you all heard Mom and Dad complaining about it over the holidays, but honestly, what are the odds of the one big snowstorm to hit North Carolina all winter arriving on the same day we leave?

Even though the snow slowed down our drive a lot, it did make our drive through the mountains even prettier.

And I figured that if I pretended that it was a beautiful sunny day maybe that would help melt the snow on the roads more quickly.

Well, we made it back before Christmas so that's all that matters.

"Mom, what is it? I'm on the phone." "Hello, Santa? Yes, you can still bring my presents to Minnesota this year"

Once we were back we were happy to have snow. Mom and Dad had fun and built me a giant snowman one day.

I had lots of fun visiting all of my grandpas and grandmas, aunts and uncles, and cousins.
I got to stay with Grandpa John, Grandma Ellen, and Aunt Kelly while were back.

I had lots of fun with Aunt Kelly and loved trying to sneak down to her room all the time.

Since I was such a good boy all year, I got lots of cool presents while visited!

Aunt Carissa was so much fun to open presents with!

Grandpa John showed my the funnest ways to use my new presents!

Now I like to ride in my new wheelbarrow, my new tonka truck, and my new shopping cart.

My shopping cart was fun to stand in even before it was put together!

And since I like getting rides in everything, I figure my animals would like that too. I love hauling them around in my wagon.

Don't worry, all of my presents made it safely back to North Carolina.

We finally got my rocking chair back that I got for Christmas last year. I love having a chair just my size to read my books in.

When we got back I did decide to double-check some of my toys to make sure they didn't need any repairs.

"Good to go, Mommy"

It was so nice to see all of you. Hope you're having a great new year!

My Daddy Is Home!!

Finally! After being away for seven months in Afghanistan, my Daddy is finally home!

Dad's bus didn't end up getting back to base until way way past my bedtime on Sunday night and I was too tired to even know what was going on, so Mommy and Daddy didn't even attempt to get a picture of the three of us when he got back and just got me home to bed right away. After a good night's sleep, I woke up as the happiest little boy to find my Daddy at home with us. We went out for breakfast and I started showing and telling Daddy a bunch of the new things I've learned over the months that he was away.

I liked a lot of the cool things Daddy brought home with him. I think we should keep this mosquito tent for our camping trips.


The tent is also a fun place to read and listen to stories.

Daddy brought home a bunch of gear and I liked his big pack. I found out that it was a bit too heavy for me though.


Maybe I'll just rest a bit and try again later.

Mom and me missed Dad so much while he was gone, and we're so happy that he is finally home with us!

Some Fall Stuff

This week has been a wet, muddy mess. It was heavy downpour for two days straight earlier this week and it really bummed me out. I love to play outside and all I could do is watch from the window as it just continued to pour down.

Rain...Rain...Go Away!

But, oh well. Have to make the best of it.

All the rain did give me the chance to catch up on some reading.

And the mailman brought me a surprise! My daddy's stuff that he doesn't need anymore until he gets back so he sent it home for me to unpack. I loved playing on the lockers and had fun digging through Daddy's stuff.

And we found a surprise for Mommy! Dad found her this wooden horse jewelry box that one of the locals carved.

Well, the weather has finally cleared up and has left us a huge mess outside. But atleast I can go outside now. I have turned into a very good little helper and am good at thinking of new jobs too. Like today I thought the mulch really needed some good digging. So, Lakota watched me work.

Now, we have learned a couple of for-sure things about the outdoors in the South. 1. The bugs are much bigger than Mommy would like to see. And 2. We never know what we're going to find in our backyard. But, today while we were cleaning the yard we found a couple of little guys that we see quite often. First, I found a little grass frog that got away too quickly, and then I found a little salamander. We see these little guys running across our porch and on our vehicles a lot.

I wonder if I can get him with my shovel?



Shoot! He's too quick! (If you look closely you can see him jumping over the left side of the basket).

Well, he got away...for now. I wonder what I will find tomorrow?...

A Rootin Tootin Halloween

This year for Halloween I was supposed to be an outlaw, but I usually looked to friendly to be an outlaw so I was also a cowboy.

On Thursday night Mom and I went "Trick or Treating Under the Sea" at the aquarium. I got to see so many little goblins and monsters while we were there. The aquarium was also decorated really cool and had fun activities, like watching the scooba-divers carve pumpkins underwater in the shark tank.

"Whoa, Mom check out this huge pumpkin!"

I have been to the aquarium a few times now and always love seeing the frogs (both pretend and real ones).

Mom and Aunt Carissa bought me two little African Dwarf Frogs this summer that we have at home, but I think we should get some of these cool big frogs too.
I had fun trick or treating, but still have some stuff to learn. For example, I didn't like it when people kept putting candy in my pumpkin pail, so I kept throwing the candy out and we came home with only a couple of lollipops.


I had to share my best "outlaw" pose with Kiara and Lakota. Don't we look tough?!

Some Fun Things

We had some fun visitors at our house last week, Grandma Robin and Uncle Mitchell! Mom and I took them to see the sights while they were here.

And of course that meant taking them to one of my favorite places... the beach! Uncle Mitchell and I had fun building sand castles (even though my favorite part is smashing them). And though the water was kind of cold, we didnt care, we still played in the ocean. I had fun giggling at Uncle Mitchell and chasing after him up the beach. We were glad Grandma and Mitchell could visit for a few days.

When we were at the beach I kept stealing Grandma's sunglasses, so Mom decided to get me my own. Now I have cool Batman sunglasses! Mom and Dad are surprised that I like them and actually keep them on my face.

Mom tought me how to make play dough this week. I chose to make blue and green. And no, I didn't even try to eat it.

Now I've learned how to make play dough people. Play dough is so much fun!

My favorite fun new thing is my trike. I could ride trike all day long. And it even has this handy dandy handle in the back so Mom can push and steer me until I get the hang of it. I can't wait to show Dad my new skill!