Boys being boys

Yesterday a friend invite us over for a playdate.  They live in Manchester and it takes us only about 10-15 minutes to get to their house.  Carter loves going because he loves to find the barns as we drive.  He yells about them and it startles me sometimes into swerving off the road into the cow pens.  Anyways, their home is beautiful.  I just adore everything they have done to it and I try to take notes so when we have our "dream home" we will know just what we want.  Along with the beautiful home they also have 20 acres of land.  My friend Kristin and her son Brett also joined us at Deborah and Lucas's house.  The boys have such a great time playing together.  It is usually full of cars, trains, and trucks.  We decided to head outside to let the boys run.  Carter, Landon, and Lucas ran to this little orchard of about 8 trees and we were walking out to meet them.  I said to Deborah, "Oh, I just love it that the boys can run out here and enjoy being outside." She agreed and then I looked and the boys were stomping on the ground.  I said, "Look they found a puddle that they are splashing in."  As we got closer we noticed that the boys were not stomping in a puddle but on a SNAKE! Oh yes! Landon was bending down to pick it up and the snake had his mouth open hissing at him.  I instantly went in freak out mode.  Screaming...."Snake!!!!" and grabbing the children and throwing them out of the way.  Moments later I realized that probably wasn't the best reaction because now the boys will be terrified for the rest of their lives so I decided to talk with them about why stomping on a snake is not a good idea.  My heart was stinkin racing about this.  The snake was about two feet long, black with a yellow stripe down it's back and yellow spots.  Just a garter snake but still scary. Carter was so proud of seeing a snake he wanted to tell everyone.  He told the cashier at the grocery, his teacher at school, and Bob the moment he came home from work.  We even had to skype with my parents for him to tell them about it.

This is what the snake looked like.

Carter has yet to be interested in any pedaling toy.  He would rather push everything.  I found a tricycle hooked to a handle at a garage sale last year so I got it.  I started having him ride it while I pushed Landon in the push car right beside him.  I know this probably looks insane if you would see me walking down the sidewalk but it works.  Today I took my hand off the handle and Carter kept pedaling on his own.  I was so excited!  He loves to look back as he pedals but always runs right into what is in front of him.  The whole idea of steering is another lesson to be learned...all in good time.

Check out this pedal pusher!

Snagged this picture of the boys this weekend!  I loved it so I thought that I would share!