Celebrating Carter's 2nd birthday

Months ago, plans were being made for our granddaughter's 2nd birthday. Airplane tickets were being purchased as friends scattered across the country were bringing their young families for a big reunion party. But all those big travel plans had to be cancelled, and the party shrunk to just grandparents and one uncle. But our small group partied for five days to celebrate that 2nd birthday!

We started on a Thursday with a trip over to Gram and Granddad's motor home. We're still looking forward to the days when Carter comes to travel with us. But for now, we can enjoy these visits to our home on wheels where we still have room for piano playing . .  .

and a place to play "stickers" on the floor with Gram.

The main party was on Saturday, when we had the cake and the birthday decorations. With her quick smile and sunny disposition, Carter didn't mind being the center of attention.

Carter doesn't usually get sweets, so she was enamored with her cake. As we waited for her to blow out the candle, we couldn't help but think that this was certainly a cute little family.

The computer is set up in the foreground, as we sang with a crowd of people that zoomed in on zoom to wish Carter a happy birthday.

Part of the party decorations were the brightly-colored-crepe-paper-horses. Carter loves animals, including the horses across the road that she feeds carrots. She had made friends with the crepe paper horses as well. It wasn't until later that Carter found out that the larger one was a pinata. She really didn't like the idea of hitting that horse with a stick.

Again, she doesn't eat sweets, so that pinata was filled with plastic animals and rings and bracelets. We were afraid that the birthday girl would cry if we busted that horse, so we finally just enlarged the hole and dumped out the goodies.

The birthday party had a fun Mexican theme with tacos and pinatas and sombreros. The guest list was smaller than first envisioned, but we still had this wild bunch of banditos to celebrate with.

In the middle of the birthday fun, we still had Carter asking to play "steekers" with Gram at any spare moment.

All this birthday fun was taking place at the lake house owned by the other set of grandparents. We had lots of walks and golf cart rides around this pristine property.

For much of the rest of the five-day celebration we played in the water. That would include taking boat rides on Grand Lake.

Even though Pops or Mom was driving the boat when it was moving, we all recognized who the real captain of this boat is. As the only grandchild on both sides of the family, this little girl is the center of attention even if it isn't her birthday.

We had some wild tube rides behind that boat. When the two of us rode on the tube with our son, we found out that three's a crowd on a tube. Denisa screamed her way across the lake as it felt like she was going to be thrown into that chilly water at any moment. Mark said the only thing he was afraid of was losing his hearing from all that screaming.

The boat definitely picked up speed when it was just Mark and Luke on the tube. This father-son duo hung on through a fast and bumpy ride around the lake.

From the boat, Carter was telling them, "Hang on, you crazy guys!" She's already looking forward to the day when she'll get a turn on the tube.

For now, her time on the water is spent on the new floating deck that can be unfurled out of the boat.

We were all sore for the next couple days, as we found that hanging on to a tube uses muscles that we're not used to exercising. We also spent some time on the jet ski. That's Mark and Luke taking a turn . . . .

as well as Luke and Jordan on this cloudy day.

We had a great time on the water! We appreciated getting to play on toys that go faster than the hand-powered kayak that we are used to. We also had some good time on solid ground as well. That little girl is certainly loved by her grandmothers . . .

As well as her grandfathers! We are so blessed to get to share this grandparent role with such nice folks!

She is so loved by so many! As she's learning to hold up two fingers, we're so happy to get to spend this special second birthday with her. She's one of our favorite wonders that we get to wander around!