Carson’s birthday fell during our family vacation, so we celebrated a couple weeks beforehand. And since it’s been crazy non-stop since we got back in town, I’m just now getting a chance to share some of these images.

Carson had a great turnout of friends for his dinosaur-themed Oogles-N-Googles party, at which our friend and cake artist extraordinaire Brandi Romines (Happy As A Lark Cakes) surprised Carson with the biggest edible dinosaur cake you can imagine. She spend an enormous amount of time making sure everything was perfect, modeling it after one of Carson’s toys. Thank you, Brandi! You’re amazing at what you do and deserve tons of success!

Awesome, right?

Pretty impressive, eh?

Flying dinosaurs.

Ally as a triceratops.

Volcano!

Carson loved all of his gifts, but he’s especially fond of books and stickers.

While we were singing Happy Birthday, Carson was sneaking a few bites.

Everybody needs hugs.

Especially the kind that lift you off the ground!

After partying with Carson’s friends, we went back home to have both my and Katie’s families over to hang out.

Auntie Rebecca.

Elijah.

We made sure to give Cera a gift, too. Kept her busy for quite some time.

Aidan is a big reader, too.

Nana!

Mimi and Pop-Pop.

The boys and Gigi.

Even Ben from next door popped in.

Dear Carson—You can’t read all of this now, but one day, you’ll stumble across these posts. I hope you’ll always know how much we love you and how proud of you we are. You’re awesome, buddy—and such a big boy now!

It’s only April.  Wedding season is already underway. Real estate is starting to pick up after a very cold winter (thank goodness). And I’m thinking about a fall vacation. That’s a long way off, yes—but it’s my goal out there on the horizon.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received regarding time management is that, when you’re self-employed, it’s essential to plan time away from work often and early. Even if it’s just a weekend away from home. Get it on your calendar, and stick to it. You’ll find yourself more productive between the breaks, and you’ll keep a sense of balance.

Here are some shots from our vacation last fall. Looking through the images while preparing this post was a great motivator for the months ahead. I’ve been meaning to post them for awhile now. Yes—the cobbler’s kids are running around with no shoes. Sorry!

We stayed at Kidani Village at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. Carson loves animals, particularly the ones from Africa (think Lion King). Best part of staying there was having a balcony overlooking wildlife—even giraffes. Very cool.

Before the trip, we had watched video tours of the rooms, so Carson was already super-excited to get to the balcony when we arrived.

Balcony view

We divided our time between Animal Kingdom Park, Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, though as you might guess, Carson wanted to go to Animal Kingdom most everyday. No prob. We love it there, too.

Carson brought Simba from home. While at Animal Kingdom, he bought a matching Nala with his allowance money. We sang “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” when the two were reunited! Yes—we’re total geeks.

Pretty big moment.

Happy to have this shot in our collection. Kind of a must-have, you know?

Long day. Carson grabbed a nap while we were waiting for the fireworks.

Right before checking out from Kidani Village.

For anyone who’s ever been to Disney, you know—it’s a blast, but not the most relaxing. Our time at the beach was a welcomed change of pace.

We were still at the beach on the morning of Carson’s 4th birthday. We had a party planned for his friends and relatives back in Lexington once we returned, but we still wanted his actual birthday morning to be special. So we brought one gift for him to open and got the hallway from the bedroom all decorated to surprise him.

Loved that moment.

Please don’t judge us for what gift we got him. Gotta learn to text early, right?

Every Sunday morning back in Lexington, we have a fun little routine of eating those ever-so-healthy canned Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. So that’s what we had that morning instead of birthday cake.  Worked like a charm.

And of course, triceratops needed one.

Tampa has a pretty incredible aquarium. Carson loves animals so much—even snakes.

I have the same shot of Carson from two years earlier when he was there as a two-year-old. Makes me happy and sad to see him in that spot again.

Waterpark at the aquarium.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Bill and I have been the best of friends since we were in elementary school. He now lives in Florida with his wife Kelly and son Ben. They live about an hour away from the beach where we stay, so our vacations are also planned with the intent of giving us time to reconnect.

Yes—that’s eight boxes of sushi that we polished off (nevermind the rum). Not too shabby!

We checked out the Tampa zoo, too. Pretty nice, though I didn’t take a ton of pictures.

Feeding the rays.

Budding photographer. Proud dad.

And a few final shots from our last couple nights.

From friends. At least ours did. Last summer, our friends’ two King Charles Cavaliers had puppies. Katie wanted one, but I told her that we probably should hold off on getting a puppy for awhile. That was all part of the master plan, though. Muah-ha-ha-ha (villain laugh).

Behind the scenes there was a bit of a surprise being orchestrated. The plan was to, while having our own fall family portraits taken by Betsy and Magnus, have our friend Jordan show up and bring the puppy to Katie and Carson, both totally unaware. And since the cameras would already be turned on us, all of the fun would be well documented.

Things went off without a hitch.

The family photography session turned out awesome. Betsy and Magnus got some incredible shots of us, and Katie and Carson had no idea what was about to happen.

And here’s where it gets good…We settled into a nice big open area for some final shots of us together as a family…

And then Jordan walks up.

Exactly the reaction I was looking for!

I love this shot of Katie. I’ll now never forget how happy she was at this exact moment.

If you know Carson, then you know that he’s pretty big into dinosaurs.  When asked what we should name the puppy, he came up with Cera (you know, from Land Before Time).

To Tiffiney, George and Jordan…Thank you! I know how much you all love your own pets. Means a lot to us that you would let Cera come live with us. You can be assured that she’s well-loved.

To Betsy and Magnus…Having you two there completed things for me. Yes, it was great having the surprise documented, but it’s way cooler for me that two of my closest friends were there with us.

6 months later, all is well. We love having Cera in our lives.

Here she is at the studio.

Checking out the neighborhood kids.

And chilling with my parents’ boxer.