sweet potatoes and monkeys.

Kind of a strange title for a post, but it's really what I'm going to talk about.  Let's start with sweet potatoes.  Yes, we started Lucy on solids and no, she doesn't like sweet potatoes. 

I'm not sure if it was a taste or a texture thing but after 4 days of trying, she still wasn't convinced.  So, we moved on.  Lucky for us (and her!) she is loving avocados, bananas and oatmeal.  We are doing baby-led weaning this time which just means no purees, moving straight to soft, whole foods and letting her feed herself.  It's super easy prep work for me and Lucy loves having the freedom to feed herself.  She has already mastered a spoon and even though it's a bit messier, it's so fun to watch her explore new tastes!

She finally fits in the backpack!  Now we just need to find a time to go hiking.  And...figure out what to do with a toddler who takes 10 minutes to walk from the front door to the driveway.  I'm not sure if we'd ever actually finish a hike with him walking next to us.

On to the monkeys (well, giraffes too).  Last year we took Carter to Point Defiance Zoo for Matt's 30th birthday family day.  So, this year we decided to visit Woodland Park Zoo for my 30th birthday family day.  I know it probably sounds a bit lame to visit a zoo for your 30th birthday but we all had fun, which is really all that matters.
We quickly found the giraffe, my favorite animal!

Carter loved petting the goats.  But, then he was a little confused why he couldn't pet every animal!

He could have stayed on this tractor all day.  Who needs an enormous zoo full of wild animals when you can drive a tractor?

Oh yes, and the carousel too.  Rode it 4 times in a row.

Patiently waiting for Carter to finish riding the carousel.

Finally, we found the monkeys.  Carter's favorite animal.  Funny thing is I think the monkeys liked him too. Each time he went up the glass the monkey (or orangoutang or gorilla) would walk over to him and just stare.  Other little kids would come by but the monkey would only focus on Carter.  So fun!

Uncle Adam spent the day with us too.  Carter was in heaven having his grandma and grandpa AND Uncle Adam to play with.

Such a fun day!