Christmas 2010

Carter really got into the Christmas spirit. The other morning, we asked him what he wanted for breakfast. He thought for a moment and then very matter-of-factly said, "Ice cream."

And for those of you with a lot of time on your hands:

Christmas Eve 2010

Merry Christmas! It's Christmas Eve, and, as Carter will tell you, "Santa Claus is coming to town!" We have no idea where he picked that up, but he says it all the time.

Pondering the rain.

With his new Christmas Pajamas.

Two Stories

Story #1:

On our drive through sparsely populated West Texas, our ears started popping as we gained elevation. Carter was whining a little, so Lorein asked him if he wanted a sucker and told him "it will help your ears." He said yes, unwrapped the sucker, and stuck it in his ear. I told him he could eat it, but he looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "No daddy. It's for my ears."

Story #2:

We went to church today. As we pulled into the church parking lot, the first parking spot was taken by a huge truck with a lift kit. It wasn't quite a monster truck, but it would be in a few years if it kept drinking its milk. The truck itself was an ad for a business. Painted on the side was a picture of a woman holding a small boy and a hand gun. To the side was written, in big letters, "Concealed Weapons Training" and "Protect Your Family." Welcome to Texas.

Frenzy

Wow, it's been a crazy few weeks, but we're finally starting to get settled down. I graduated from DCC at Ft. Benning around noon on Wednesday, November 10 (that was one of the happiest moments of my life) and immediately hopped in the truck and headed west. My friend Steve Shim, who was stopping off in CA before heading to Korea, caravanned with me. We spent the night in Lafayette, LA and made it to San Antonio for lunch on Thursday. Thursday evening, I flew into LAX, making it to Temecula at around 2300 -- oh fine, 11:00pm. I spent a great weekend with Lorein and Carter, but had to fly back to San Antonio Sunday afternoon. I reported for duty on Monday, spent the day inprocessing and then searched Craigslist for houses Monday night. I did some more inprocessing Tuesday morning and then spent the afternoon looking at different houses. I put an application in on one and then sat back and waited. And waited. And waited. Multiple phone calls later, I finally learned Thursday afternoon that the owner of the house was returning from the Middle East in a couple of months and so decided to pull the house from the market. I quickly called one of the other houses, got my application and credit info from the first management company, signed a lease, and slept in our house Thursday night. That was good because Friday night, I flew to Vegas for Breezy's wedding.
In Vegas, I gathered up my family, went to the wedding on Saturday (which was very well done), and hit the road Sunday. We spent Sunday night in Tucson, Monday night in Ft. Stockton, TX, and hit San Antonio in time for lunch (there's a trend here) on Tuesday. Wednesday was shopping at the PX and the Commissary. Thursday was Thanksgiving, which we spent with our friends from Rancho Cucamonga who are now at UT-Austin. Black Friday and Charcoal Saturday were spent pretty much buying furniture, and Sunday we rested. Well, and put together Ikea furniture. So not really much rest at all. This past week, I've been at work while Lorein has put together one room at a time. She's really making our house look great, and, like I said, we're finally starting to get settled. In the end, just remember that we now have a guest bedroom (it's a second master!) with an attached master bath, so please, please, please come visit us. Just don't stay too long.

Our house in Universal City, TX

Hanging out with one cool dude in Temecula

Carter preparing for life in TX; maybe Santa will bring him a tractor for Christmas

M-16 qualification

We spent this week shooting and qualifying with the M-16. The M-16 is fairly easy to handle, although this statement is based on my very limited knowledge and experience with firearms. It's made even easier by our "Close Combat Optic" attached to the gun (I'm going to use gun in this post because that's what most people call it; in the Army, though, if you say "gun", everybody will yell at you because you're supposed to call it a "weapon." Apparently "gun" means an artillery piece). The CCO has a red dot that you use for your sight. It doesn't shoot a laser onto the person like in the movies, but just shows a red dot for you to see. Apparently, if your target is within 150 meters and you put the red dot on the target, you will hit the target. Of course, if you line up the red dot in the middle of your optic, you'll actually hit where you're aiming.
For qualification, they have pop-up targets every 50 meters (yes, meters) starting at 50 and going all the way to 300. The targets pop-up for a certain number of seconds depending on their distance and fall down when you hit them. Sometimes two targets will pop up at the same time. Also, the targets are different depending on where they are. The close targets -- up to 100 meters -- are silhouettes of a head and shoulders and they barely pop up from behind the berms. The farther targets are green silhouettes of a person down to about the knees. To qualify, you have to hit at least 23 of 40 targets with only one shot for each target. In addition, you have to do so from different firing positions. The first 20 shots are from the "prone supported position", which means you lie down on your stomach and put the gun on some sandbags. The next 10 are from the "prone unsupported position", which means you take the gun off the sandbags and just hold it. The final 10 are from the "kneeling unsupported position", which means you balance on one knee and hold the gun without resting it on anything. The kneeling position is the hardest because it's really, really hard to keep the gun still. Your arms are moving all over the place and you basically just have to fire when you think your red dot is about to cross the target.
We did qualifications yesterday and I actually qualified on my first try. In typical Army fashion, however, it didn't go as planned. I was lying on my stomach wrapped in an extremely uncomfortable cocoon of body armor and "flick" vest (the flick vest is a vest that goes over our body armor and has a bunch of pouches for canteens, magazines, etc.) shooting at my targets when, after 10 targets, they stopped coming up. We were all waiting anxiously, looking around, trying to figure out if there was some hidden target we were missing when the control tower announced there was a glitch and we'd be started again in a few seconds. After we shot our 40, we went to the control tower to get our scores. There, we were told that the sensor didn't register our first 10 rounds , that that's sometimes how technology is. Basically, too bad. But not too bad for me! I had still gotten my 23, so I was done for the day. That was sweet. The only downside is it means I probably would've hit at least 30 out of 40, which would've made me a "marksmen" or something like that, but it wasn't worth keeping all that gear on to try again. (It wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't that the sensor didn't pick up our rounds. It was that the control tower messed up and put in the wrong program. That's why the targets stopped after 10.) People who had gotten close to 23 were pretty mad since it meant they had to go again even though they probably actually qualified.
The downside is that we spent the whole day today cleaning our guns. Can't they just let something fun be fun?

Flu Shots

I forgot to mention how, on Wednesday, after we'd woken up at 0200 and been in the field all day, they took us to get our mandatory flu shots. We were a little perturbed since none of us wanted to be sick the next couple of days when we had to certify. The nurse reassured us though by pointing out that we would be fine if we just got a lot of rest and ate well. Of course, we formed up on Thursday at 0200 and ate MREs for breakfast and lunch.

Land Nav aka Hell in the Forest

Land Nav is finally over, thank goodness. Although it's really only technically over because I still dreamt about it both Friday and Saturday nights. It was a nightmare, or as my friend more aptly put it, a "flaming disaster."
For your information, the land nav course is simply a large plot of land with posts stuck into the ground at various locations. The posts are about 4-6 feet high and have a number stuck on top of them. There's also a hole punch tied to the post. As a student, you're given the coordinates of various posts, from which you plot the position of the posts on your map. Then, you measure the angle and distances to the posts and head out to find them. When you find your post, you write down the number and punch your sheet with the hole punch from that post.
There are various difficulties with this, though. First, the posts are hard to see, since they're stuck in the middle of the forest, which amazingly has a lot of trees that tend to obscure the posts. This is even more true at night. Second, it's all guesswork. Your plot isn't exact since it's just you drawing a circle on a map. Your angle isn't exact since it's just you drawing a line on your map. The distance isn't exact since it's just you measuring your line against the scale in the legend. And the distance you've traveled isn't exact since it's just you counting your steps and estimating how many steps you take every 100 meters. Third, because of the inexactness, it's easy to go astray, which means you're likely to find a post that isn't the one you're looking for. But there's no way to tell since the posts are only marked with a 2-digit number. You can never be sure that the post you found is your post. And if it's not, the rest of your measurements are screwed up because you plot from point to point. So anyway, it's hard. To make it even harder, our cadre told us not to use the roads that traverse the course, but to take straight lines from point to point.
On Wednesday, we formed up at 0300 and started walking around the woods at 0500. Unfortunately, the sun doesn't come up here until about 0715. We had to find three points in the nighttime and had three hours to do it. I didn't find any. I shouldn't say that. I found two, but neither were what I was supposed to find. Then, we took an hour rest and started again in the daytime. This was easy. I found my three points in about an hour and spent the remaining two hours resting. I was fairly confident I would do okay for the qualification round on Thursday.
But then Thursday came around and turned into, as already mentioned, a flaming disaster. The land nav test course is fairly new and is huge. It's about 3 kilometers square or so, which means there's a long distance between the points. For the test, we were given 8 points and had to find at least 5 of them in 5 hours. It was such a flaming disaster that 82% of us failed (me included). Again, I found 5 points, but only 1 ended up being what I was actually supposed to find. There were two big problems on Thursday. First, the distance between the points was so large -- nearly all the points were 1000 meters apart, which, for all you measurement folks out there, is an entire kilometer -- that any minor deviation in angle or pace meant large deviations in location. Second, the area was an absolute jungle. It was dense. It was nearly impossible to take five steps in a straight line. And, as my same friend again noted, who knew so many plants had thorns? I always thought thorns were fairly rare, limited to roses and lemon trees, but it turns out nearly every plant has thorns. And vines. There were literally times were I was so entangled I wondered how I was going to get out. And we had to walk hundreds of meters in this stuff! Plus, much of it was in nighttime, so people fell into creeks, holes up to their shoulders, etc. Basically, there were two types of people who passed -- those who ignored our instructions and stuck to the roads as much as possible, and those who were significantly helped by cadre (which is limited to certain girls in our class, but that's a subject for another day). If you tried to do it on your own and in the way you were taught, you failed. I really can't explain the absolute frustration, despair, difficulty, and hellishness of Thursday, just let me say that I was struggling through places where not even animals had ever been.
On Friday, we had our re-test. Due to the horrifying experience of the previous day, cadre made some changes to the test procedures. First, we didn't start until 0600, so we only had to walk around in the dark for an hour or so. Second, we were told to use the roads. Third, we were allowed to talk to each other. Fourth, cadre drove around in trucks and would help us out. Fifth, and most importantly, they gave us a sheet of paper that listed all of the post numbers with their corresponding grid coordinates. Thus, when you came upon a post, you could figure out if it was yours, and if not, you could figure out where the freak you were. This time, most of us passed.
In the end, I'm really grateful it's over and glad I will probably never have to do land nav ever again (it's just not a high priority for JAGs). Although, I suppose if I'm ever told to go find a stick in the forest using nothing but a compass and a protractor, I can find the wrong stick.

The Weaver

Last week, we completed the obstacle course, or "confidence course" as they call it. It was just like on tv except it didn't have any mud puddles to splash through. Most of the obstacles were pretty easy, but "The Weaver" kicked my butt. The Weaver consists of a bunch of beams about three feet apart in a pyramid shape. Like it's name suggests, you have to weave your way through, going over one beam and under the next. The trick is to wrap your body around the beam, then use your momentum to kick your leg over the next beam as you go under the first (look at the guy on the right in the picture). It left me with some pretty nasty bruises on my legs. We also did "The Tough One" and the "Inverted Rope Descent." The Inverted Rope was tricky because you have to climb up the ladder to the platform, but the ladder rungs are about four feet apart. So, you have to pull yourself up to each rung, which gets kinda scary when you're 40 feet up in the air. Unlike the picture, though, they had us descend the rope upside down and feet first.

We were also issued M-16s for the first time. It's pretty crappy because you have to always be holding them, and they get heavy real quick. Plus, you have to be super careful about not accidentally waiving the barrel past someone and always keeping it pointed at the ground. Luckily we turn them in every night, so we don't have to sleep with them. We did get to practice some firing positions, i.e. prone, kneeling, and standing, but we won't actually get to shoot until next week.
This week is land navigation. We spent today learning how to read topographic maps, how to plot points on a grid, and how to measure the angle and distance between two points. Tomorrow, we'll spend all day traipsing around practicing and then we form up Wednesday morning at 0200 to do it at night. I think we're up at 0200 Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In order to pass the land nav portion, we have to correctly arrive at at least 5 of 8 points in a certain period of time. If I have the energy in one of these coming days, maybe I'll tell you how it went.:)

Combat Livesaving

I am now a "Combat Lifesaver." I have a certified card and everything. It only lasts for a year, though, and then I have to re-certify. They loaded us up in buses Wednesday morning to take us to a faux "forward operating base" (FOB) where we were going to learn combat lifesaving techniques. As I mentioned, we had some tactical gear on and actually looked a little like real soldiers. As we got on the bus, my friend turned to me and said, "No matter what happens today, it will still be better than sitting in a classroom looking at PowerPoint presentations." Of course, as we got out of the bus, they directed us inside a huge room where they had us put our stuff down and take a seat. We then preceded to watch six hours of PowerPoint presentations.
The main skills they taught us were how to apply a tourniquet, how to seal a "sucking chest wound", and how to relieve tension pneumothorax (?) by sticking a needle into a person's chest cavity (this generally follows having to first seal their sucking chest wound). It was pretty heavy stuff and I was grateful their videos weren't working. The pictures they showed us were intense enough. I won't post any, but feel free to google images.

I spent my first Columbus Day weekend in Charleston and Savannah. It was a lot of fun, but I kept wishing my family were with me. Both cities have horse drawn carriages for the tourists, and when I'd see a horse, I'd yell "horsey!" Then I'd realize Carter wasn't there and get sad. Oh well. Only another month to go.

Ft. Benning

I'm sitting here alone in the hallway of a barracks located at Ft. Benning, GA. It's 10 pm and I have an hour to go on my shift as "fire guard." Basically, I'm just supposed to sit here and make sure a fire doesn't burn everyone alive. Apparently smoke detectors do not fit into the military's multi-billion dollar budget. I'm alone because we have formation at 4:15 tomorrow morning (just like we did today) and so everybody else is asleep. I'm going to be very tired, but at least I don't have the 1-3 am shift.
I'm here at Ft. Benning for six weeks of Army training, which is really infantry training. Each week consists of a different skill. This week is first responder training, so we'll be out in the field with our tactical gear learning first aid, etc. Next week is the obstacle course and the third week is land navigation. The fourth is weapons certification (9mm and M-4) and the fifth is combatives (martial arts). The last week is mainly outprocessing and then I'll move on to San Antonio. The schedule here is pretty intense and it's very different being with infantrymen as opposed to the JAG officers who were in charge of us at Charlottesville. For one thing, they focus a lot more on killing. Our first morning, they took us out on a slow jog and had us singing cadence. One went like this: "left, right, left, right, kill, kill, kill; left, right, left, right, you know I will." And that was one of the tamer cadences they had us chanting.
The hardest part is that Lorein and Carter are back in Temecula. I guess Carter loves it because he finally has some space to play in and some toys to play with. On my part, however, I miss them a lot. It's made doubly difficult by the fact I hardly have any time to talk with them. Oh well, it should hopefully go by fast. As one of my friend says, it's only 25 business days, and 2 of them are done with! Plus, we get a four-day weekend this weekend for Columbus Day. It will be the first time this westerner has ever gotten Columbus Day off and I am looking forward to it. Man, I should've been in bed 2 hours ago.

In the Army now

Well, it's been over two months since Chris joined the Army and I have to admit it's still a little weird seeing him in his uniform everyday. Maybe it's the beret . . . I'm not sure what throws me. Carter and I have about two and a half more weeks here in Charlottesville with Chris and then we separate. Carter and I will fly back to Temecula and go visit family and mostly try to keep busy, and Chris will head to Georgia for six more weeks of training. Then we will be moving to our final destination (well final for two years) at the end of November. I'm looking forward to that:-)

Here's what Chris looks like when he leaves for class everyday. Carter doesn't get to go with him but it's not from lack of trying.

Chris has PT (physical training - believe me the Army loves their acronyms) every morning before he goes to class. Below is essentially what he looks like when he leaves for PT. I don't think he would let me take a picture and frankly I doubt I could pull myself together at 5am to get a good one so you'll just have to imagine that this is Chris. Oh and add in a bright plastic neon orange belt. It's pretty classy.

Here's his uniform for formal events:

And what could be better than suckers with daddy after lunch?

Five Guys

My family made it! I'm really glad they're here. Unfortunately, we still haven't been able to sync our schedules. They're still asleep when I leave for school and they're still awake when I go to bed. I guess that's the downside of waking up at 5:20 and going to bed at 9.:)

Charlottesville

I made it through Ft. Lee and am now in Charlottesville, VA to attend the Army's JAG school at the University of Virginia. I'll be here for ten weeks before I head off to Ft. Benning, GA for six weeks of Army training. I'm excited because Lorein and Carter will join me on Wednesday. Also, I think the internet in my hotel here is a little bit better, so hopefully I can update the promised videos and pictures. Finally, I wish I had pictures from Ft. Lee to post, but Lorein has the camera, so too bad. I know other people took pictures, so maybe I can get some and put them up.

CS Gas

I survived the gas chamber, but it really, really sucked. We started with our gas masks on and walked into a rectangular room about 20 x 15 with a tablet in the middle spewing out CS gas. Upon entering the room, we had to jog around a few laps and then jump and touch the ceiling 30 times. The purpose was to get us breathing hard so we couldn't hold our breath while being exposed to the gas. Once we'd finished jumping, we were told to lift up our masks. Let me tell you . . . it was terrible. It literally takes your breath away and you start trying to suck in air. Of course, this just means you inhale more gas. It also gets into your nose and eyes and burns like crazy. Even though you're prepared for it and know exactly what the effects are, it's really hard to not panic. After a few seconds, we were told to seal the masks again. Unfortunately, sealing the mask doesn't immediately help because you still have gas in your lungs. So, you're coughing in your masks and can't tell for sure whether you've re-sealed correctly or not. As for myself, I didn't hear the Chief tell us to re-seal until about the fifth time she said it, so I got a few more lungfuls of gas than others. I was coughing like crazy and trying to clear my mask when we were told to get down and do push-ups. I was coughing so bad I could only get out five or so. Once that was over, we lined up in front of the door with our masks on. When the Chief pointed at us, we had to take off our masks and give our name and hometown before we were allowed to leave. The whole time in line, I was just practicing in my head "Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA; Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA" over and over again. I probably started saying it before I got my mask all the way off, but I was allowed to leave.
You would think getting outside would be nice, but it was pretty bad. That's when you start to really be conscious of the effects since you're no longer bordering on panic. A lot of people get big strings of boogers hanging down from their noses. While gnarly, it's also pretty funny since they tell you to flap your arms around to get the air to flow around your body and take away the gas, so you see all these people running around flapping their arms with giant boogers flailing away. As for me, I didn't really have nose problems, but my eyes burned like nobody's business. I was trying to open them, but I couldn't. So there I was, flapping my arms with everybody yelling "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Finally, they realized I was trying and couldn't and a nice major from our class came over, grabbed me by the arm, and walked me around for a minute or so until I could see
Even once the immediate effects pass, though, your body still burns just like a sunburn. For me, it hit the back of my hands and my torso (it was a nice hot, humid day in Southern VA, so the gas just stuck to the sweat trapped inside our fatigues). It was a good twenty minutes before I was completely comfortable again. Of course, we were all still deathly afraid of touching our face or going to the bathroom :)
Anyway, it's over and I'm really glad I don't have to do it again. Well, hopefully. You never know with the Army.

In the Army now

You'll have to excuse us for not posting -- this past month has been pretty crazy. We packed up our stuff and put it in storage, went to Cabo San Lucas with my family for a week, moved in with my parents, and then I left to join the Army as a JAG officer. I'm currently writing this from a hotel outside Ft. Lee, VA. Even with all that, I tried to put up some video of Carter riding a horse (it's a really, really cute video), but the hotel internet couldn't handle it and after a half hour, blogspot told me there was an error with my upload. Alas. Hopefully I can upload it shortly.
As for the Army, so far it's been mainly sitting in an air conditioned classroom watching powerpoint presentations on everything from the role of JAGs in the larger Army structure to prohibitions on "fraternization" (i.e. officer - enlisted friendships/relationships). We have had a couple of physical training sessions, but they've been mainly of an introductory nature ("this is the proper form for a push-up"). The worst part is that we have to wear our PT ("physical training") uniform the entire time. This consists of our gray Army gym shirt, our black Army gym shorts -- which are nylon and have netting on the inside like swimming trunks -- and a bright neon orange reflective belt. It's pretty easy to spot us since everybody else on base is wearing fatigues (actually "ACUs" or "Army Combat Uniforms" -- that's one thing I've learned so far, the Army is big on acronyms).
The biggest adjustment has been the relative lack of free time. I generally wake up at 4:40 a.m. (more on that later), end class between 1700 and 1800 (5:00 - 6:00 p.m. for all you civilians :)), and go to bed around 9. In between, I have to eat dinner and there's always some little thing I have to do, like go to the clothing store to work on my uniform, etc. I haven't been able to watch PTI all week!!
As for the waking up at 4:40, that's another phenomenon I've noticed so far -- everybody is deathly afraid of being late (and for good reason). PT starts at 5:50 and since we're 5 minutes from the base, it seems like we could leave at 5:30 and be fine. Except the student leadership wants us there at 5:30 so we can work on formations, etc. Then, we start to worry about getting through security at the main gate, so we decide to leave the hotel at 5. Of course, this means every morning we get to the training field at 5:10, sit in the car for 10 minutes, walk to the track, chill there for 15 minutes until student leadership tells us to form up and we get in line at around 5:35 or 5:40. Fortunately, I convinced my group to not leave until 5:10 tomorrow -- that will be blissful!
Tomorrow, we wear our ACUs for the first time and we have a visit with the gas chamber. I'll be sure to tell you about it.

Dinosaurs

We hit the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum with Carter and his cousins. He was pretty scared of the dinosaurs themselves, but he enjoyed the hands on exhibits.

A budding Indiana Jones with Fiona and Moriah in the background.

Learning the ropes from Logan.

One happy dude.

I'm dreaming of a white . . . Memorial Day?

I thought the middle of May would be a great time to take a trip to see family and friends in Utah. Instead, it rained every day but two and snowed the day we left! Yes, it snowed the week before Memorial Day. Details of our trip will be forthcoming.

What is this white stuff that's ruining my day?

Scraping the window in a sweatshirt and flipflops. Needless to say, we weren't quite prepared for winter weather.

The only way to eat Oreos

Apparently Carter was born with the knowledge of how to eat Oreos. He pulls apart the cookie and scrapes out the white stuff and then gives the cookie part to me. What a sweetheart, right?

Handsome boys

My mom bought this adorable suit for Carter's first birthday and it finally fits him (well it's a little big but it still works). It was perfect for Easter and a wedding we went to. Of course I figured a photo shoot was in order.

We couldn't get him to put down his old school puzzle

By the end he was really tired of my photo shoot

Dodgers Win!

For my birthday, my parents took us to a Dodgers game against the Giants. It was good fun and the Dodgers actually won, which is saying something this year. Carter loved it. The best part of the whole night, though, was when this couple sat next to us and the woman was wearing a Giants jersey. She tried to talk to Carter, tell him he was so cute, etc., but he just shied away. I straight up told her we've taught him not to talk to Giants fans. I was so proud of him for not betraying Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Tommy Lasorda that I gave him the prize from my Cracker Jack's.

His first Dodger Dog -- he didn't finish it all

Three generations of fans

Good times were had by all!!!

San Diego Zoo

My mother-in-law Shari recently went back to school to get her masters in social work at San Diego State. So during her spring break Carter and I met her down there to go to the zoo. As you can hopefully tell from Carter's expression he absolutely loved it. His favorite animals right now seem to be elephants and giraffes (at least those are the animals he gets excited about when we read Goodnight Gorilla, oh and the armadillos) we saw all those animals but for some reason I don't have any pictures.

Checking out the flamingos

The monkeys were jumping all over the place and banging on the glass. I thought Carter would get scared but he was just fascinated.

More flamingos

Petting the goats

After a long day of fun he was ready to curl up with his stuffed monkey and blanket.

Gymnastics

I signed Carter up for a gymnastics class at the reccomendation of my good friend Lindsey. He loved the class. At first he just wanted to run around and do whatever he wanted, but he got better and better at listening to his coach and doing the designated activities. He had tons of fun and I'm glad we did it. The only problem is that now I have to avoid driving by the gymnastics place or he gets really excited and then sad when we don't end up going there.

Despite him being rather calm in this video, the foam pit was his absolute favorite part. He would usually go nuts jumping all over the place and would always cry when I had to take him out.

Grandma and Grandpa Diether come for a visit

Back in February (once again) Grandma and Grandpa Diether came for a weekend visit. It rained all day Saturday but we still managed to have fun -- minus Mom and Dad's car getting towed from our complex. Yep, it was horrible and horrifically expensive to get it back.

But luckily Carter was around to cheer us all up

And at the end of a rainy day what better treat than Grandma's scones?