May- June 2008

After being back from Naples for a few weeks, we went to Chicago to visit Todd and Courtney, my brother and his wife...are you confused yet? Carter had never been before and we wanted him to enjoy his aunt and uncle and get to experience a big city. I'm not sure what was wrong with Carter, but he was in a pretty rotten mood at times while we were there. But, we went ahead with our plans, all of which revolved around him. We went to the Shedd's Aquarium, which I think he would have loved if he was a little older and I didn't have to keep him in the stroller to keep track of him. It was very crowded that day, too. We also went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. He liked that better because we were outside and he LOVES monkeys. He was eye to eye with a big ape like the one in The Lion King. He sang him the "do the monkey" song from The Wiggles. He also rode the Carousel. He wasn't sure of it at first, but once it got going he shouted "weeeeeeeee" the whole time. It was so great to go to Chicago and see Todd and Courtney before their own little man came into our world.

June is Birthday Month for Carter. If you know me very well, you know I am a planner. Fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants is not in my vocabulary. I mean, I am already planning 2009 for pete's sake. So, I started planning Carter's 2nd birthday pretty much right after his 1st. I had wanted to use the City Park for his 1st but it was unavailable so we used another park in town. It was nice but I had my sights set on that Gazebo and Shelter in the City Park. Plus, we take Carter there all the time since we live downtown and he absolutely loves the "sings" and "sides". Even the drawbridge is a "side" in Carter's world. So, I called back in March to book it. Wouldn't you know it it was already booked for Saturday afternoon, so we went with Friday evening, June 6, the day after Carter's real birthday.

Carter was REALLY into the Wiggles back in the spring (he still is...yea) so of course a Wiggly Party was in store. Luckily the party stores in Lexington still had Wiggles decor so that's what we went with. Along with the Wiggles gear, we used red, blue, yellow and purple (duh, the Wiggles colors) for the tables and balloons. I ordered a Wiggles Cake kit and had the store make a huge cake for me. Although I could have done this myself, they make the best cakes so it was one less thing I had to worry about. "CAKE" is one of Carter's favorite words so that was a BIG hit with him.

We put the presents by the gazebo and let the kids play and eat. We had pizza, chips and drinks. Last year we grilled out and with that many people, we didn't get to enjoy it as much. So we went the easy route this year and actually spent time with the friends and family that came to celebrate our precious, little boy's second birthday.

Carter had a ball chasing the older kids and he sat for a long time on the tricycle his great-mimmie gave him. All of the kids played with the toys he got. The 3 riding toys were huge hits!
We ended the party busting a Wiggles pinata and the candy just FLOWED out of it. All of the kids definitely had a sugar high after our party.

I just cannot believe my little boy turned 2 this year. I honestly remember every bit of my pregnancy, which seems like just yesterday. To us, our pregnancy was a miracle. We were told it would take lots of time and medicine for us to have a child. Then one October morning, I had a feeling I should take "just one more test". We both doubted it would read positive, as it never had before. But we learned that morning not to doubt the power and mercy of God. He had given us a gift, trusted us with a precious life. Our prayer is that we raise Carter in a way that is pleasing to God and in a way that shows people how blessed we are to have him. We want our blessing to shine a light back onto God, for He is worthy of all our praise and worship.

These first two years of Carter's life have been amazing. To watch him grow and learn and explore and discover and laugh has taught me the true meaning of joy. I just can't wait to see what God has in store for us and for Carter.

2008 Summer Review

Yes, here it is September and I am just now reviewing my summer. Brandon, Carter and I have been lucky enough to travel to many places this summer. In May, Brandon and I were privileged to go to Naples, FL and stay in the FABULOUS Ritz Carlton for the AstraZeneca Circle of Excellence trip. This trip is awarded to the AZ sales representatives who achieve sales in the top 2% of the company for the year before. This was our second Circle of Excellence trip. We went back in 2006 (when I was 36 weeks pregnant- it was our "babymoon") to Palm Springs, CA to the La Quinta Resort and Spa. I loved that trip but since it was 2 years ago, just look up the resort if you want to know how wonderful it is. I might add some pics from that trip to my facebook page.

Anyway, back to this summer. Our trip to Naples started with a pool party that included synchronized swimmers, glass walk ways across the pool and yummy, gourmet island style food. On Monday I chose to go to the Spa for a facial and Brandon went Back Water fishing. We both thoroughly enjoyed our days and that night were treated to a dinner at Ngala. This means "the place of the lion" and is home to many abandoned animals, although no lions- go figure! Some of these animals were bought as pets and the owners quickly learned they could not take care of them. Others are not pure breeds like in zoos, so they are sent here. We were serenaded by African music as we ate wonderful, island style food.

On Tuesday we enjoyed the beautiful, blue Gulf of Mexico and sandy, white beach. We went out pretty early and were treated to a pod of dolphins playing right in front of our hotel. That night was our Gala and Awards Ceremony. It was decorated with Tiffany's blue, sliver and black. We had ballroom dancers as entertainment and the food was fabulous. I can't remember exactly what we had, but I know the entree was lobster tail and filet mignon- yummy! We spent the evening dancing, recognizing our hard work from 2007 and enjoying reps from all over the nation.











On Wednesday Brandon and I chose to go on a catamaran cruise to a private island. On the way there we passed the most beautiful homes. We daydreamed about what it would be like to have one of those or how we could get our hands on one someday. We also wondered what those people do for a living? Once we got to the island we searched for shells and enjoyed the quite ebb and flow of our own island- ours and about 40 other AstraZeneca friends.

That evening we had a free night to explore Naples. After all of the gourmet, us Kentucky kids wanted some laid-back, live music atmosphere and food. So we found a little, local seafood dive, my favorite places on vacations, and enjoyed the bay, the salty air and some good old hush puppies and crab legs.
On Thursday we chose to go on an air-boat through the Florida Everglades. As we drove to the area, we could see alligators in the canals on the sides of the roads. I started to get nervous. When I was little, I would get in line for The Beast or The Vortex at Kings Island, get all the way to the front, and then chicken out. OK...I might still do that. But that is the way I felt as we arrived to take our ride. There were 3 couples that wanted to go together and since we were the last ones to get to a boat, the only one left was for 4 people. Well, the driver said it would be OK to take 6, even though 1 of the guys we had with us is a good sized guy. The more I thought about it, I could just see how it would all play out...we'd get out there and start to sink while the alligators surround us and eat us one by one. The tune from Peter Pan when the crocodile was trying to get Peter or Captain kept playing in my head...that and Jaws for some reason. When we got on the boat, if you wanna call it that, we noticed there were no seat belts and no life jackets. Brandon made it all better when he said life jackets wouldn't help anyway! But, much to my surprise, it was super fun. We saw lots of alligators, many really close up. Our guide showed us the big males of the swamp and where they wait to mate and eat. We did have a bit of a scare when a HUGE fireball came out of the back of our engine. But we made it back safely and even held a baby alligator.



That evening we were invited to a "Night of Senses" dinner. Basically, there was loud music, every kind of food for any palate, lights everywhere. It was nice but after we all ate we opted to go out by the pool to enjoy our last night in Naples.

If you ever get the chance to go to Naples, I highly recommend it. It is absolutely beautiful. I can see why people retire there. It has a lot to offer, too. Lots of great shopping- black label shopping to local vendors. The Ritz is exactly like I thought it would be- perfect. This was a wonderful way to start our summer. Now that we have been on two of these trips, we are a bit spoiled. Brandon is always prodding me to work harder so he can go on another trip. In 2009 it is to Scottsdale, AZ, and we are working hard to achieve this award again.