San Diego trip

For Memorial Day Weekend, we drove down to San Diego and took Jack to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. He loved 'em both.

At Sea World, he played in a huge sand box with other kids, some of whom did not appreciate his enthusiasm to play with their toys. Next, he played in the open area for kids, with water jets shooting from one station to another, a big ropes course (which he was too little to play on...boo), and tunnels of various sizes. He loves tunnels, but he doesn't crawl all the way through. He gets about halfway and then just hangs out until other kids come along. We have to coax him to crawl out. We then began our tour of the rest of the park and saw lots of great stuff: gigantic Clydesdale horses (at the Budweiser pavilion), a polar bear, a beluga whale, seals going crazy during a feeding, sea lions, a walrus, otters, a Sesame Street movie and much, much more. Jack really seemed to like the seals.

On Sunday, we went to the zoo with our friends Michael, Krista and Jack's buddy, Tristan. We started out petting the goats and then spent the day seeing just about every animal under the sun. Elephants, giraffes, gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, birds, bears...you get the idea. Jack was taking a nap when we saw the orangutans, but I think he would have loved watching them climb around. Later in the day, all he wanted to do was to climb some stairs leading up to a monkey exhibit. We all had a great time, and the weather couldn't have been better.

After a day at the zoo, we were hungry, so we headed over to Old Town and ate at a Mexican restaurant on the main square. Dinner was good, and the kids did well. On the way to the car, however, we had a minor mishap. Stacey was carrying Jackson against her chest and playing around, when she realized that Jack had had an accident (a very large accident) that had left the bounds of his diaper and spread out all down the front of her jacket and all over him. After we stopped laughing, we figured out a way to get back to Libby's apartment without ruining the car seat. After a good bath, Jack was all good once again. Overall, it was a great weekend.

First Birthday party #2

Here are some pics from Jackson's first birthday party back at home in LA. We had a cowboy theme party complete with cowboy hat's, bandanas and even a bale of hay! Our dog Gracie stood in as the pony for the event. Jackson had lots of friends over to play on his new miniature swing set and enjoy BBQ and cowboy cake. Jackson was quite the little host and entertained everyone of course, here are some photos of the day. Tomorrow we'll fill you in on the weekend in San Diego...

kissing and laughing!

Jackson has acquired quite a sense of humor. He loves to laugh and try to make us laugh by chasing us or doing something he knows is clever. He has also learned to love kissing, and knows to pucker up when we say bye-bye to Daddy in the morning. Here are some pics that show his sheer joy at kissing and cuddling and one showing us his peek a boo skills!

Surf's Up!

Since LA is going through a heatwave, we decided to take Jackson on his first beach day. He loved the sand and the water, completely fearless except when a small wave threw him on his back. I think our little romeo enjoyed all the pretty women the most though, we had to stop him from approaching a sunbathing blonde beauty several feet from us a couple of times. We haven't posted pics from his birthday party in LA yet - our camera has been acting up. We'll post those next. Enjoy the photos and video!

Saturday

Jack had his second swim class this morning. At first he was a little apprehensive like he was last time. After just a couple of minutes, though, he got into it. We used the little foam boards, and he hung onto the front end with both hands like an old pro while we 'boogied' all over the pool. Then we bounced up and down and splashed. Then I turned him over onto his back, and we swam backwards, which he really seemed to like. Finally, we went under the water for the very first time! I can't say that he liked it, but he didn't seem to mind it at least. Overall, we had a great time.

He hadn't taken a nap this morning before we left, so on the way home he crashed in the car. Then once we got home and got him into some dry clothes, he sacked out for almost two hours! Mom must be relieved -and a little jealous- since he wouldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes all day for the past three days.

Since he woke up, he's eaten almost an entire banana, some yogurt, some whole milk and some water/juice. Now we're just playing chase and peekaboo, and he is trying to scratch our new dining room chairs...gotta go.