Family, the zoo, & the beach in Cali

Mimi & Jack at the park

Jason playing with Aunt Kristi

We got to visit with my grandparents, affectionately known as Nana & Grandpa, my Aunt Lynn, and cousin Ryan while in California. We took our obligatory family photo below and I'm shocked the boys stayed still and weren't a blurry image considering the use of a self-timed camera.

 Here is our silly photo. I love how the youngest and the oldest of the group didn't get the concept of being silly for the camera.

My cousin Ryan with Jack. Ryan is a big guy, somewhere around 6'7 tall. The first time he met Jack, Jack was sitting on the couch and refused to make eye contact with Ryan. He shrank into the couch cushions and ignored him. How funny is that? And this is my social child. Jason, on the other hand, my shy guy, took right to Ryan. Jason has a shoe fetish and kept putting on Ryan's size ginormous shoes and walking around the house with them on. He was very coordinated with them too, never really fell with them on. And Jack eventually warmed up to Ryan.

One morning during our week there, my mom and I planned on taking the boys to the San Diego Zoo, about an hour or so away. Unfortunately, Jack had other plans which did not include the zoo, but instead included vomiting into the nearby trash can. So our fun zoo trip was sidetracked while Jack laid in bed watching t.v. By this point in the trip, we had endured a few days of the boys being wild and crazy in the hotel room, trying to corral them for the wedding, and protect my grandparents' belongings from being broken from boys, so I needed to do SOMEthing. Keep in mind that Jon is still in Texas at this point, so I'm single mommy right now. That definitely added to the stress.

Anyways, I decided to take Jason to the nearby Santa Ana Zoo for a fun activity. It definitely was not comparable to the San Diego Zoo, not featuring really cool animals, but for an 18 month old it sufficed. So I enter the address in the GPS in our rental car, and 30 minutes later we arrive at the zoo.....and this is what I see in the back seat-

 I really didn't want to wake him up, but at this point I was determined to have some fun!

A duck pond

Jason loved the monkeys

 One of my fatal errors in this trip was failing to bring our stroller. I thought I'd be one of those less is more moms at the airport, and that majorly bit me in the rear end. Everywhere we went Jason threw tantrums over not wanting to be carried, arching his back or going dead limp, so you were forced to put him down. Only then, he refused to walk with you or hold hands, and instead tried to run to freedom, usually in the opposite direction of us. HEADACHE and a half.  So at the zoo, I rented a stroller and he was forced to sit the whole time. Much easier.

OMG, how cute is this picture? Here's Jason enjoying the carousel. It was funny because the whole time he was riding up and down and around, he was nervous about it. But once it stopped and it was time to go, he threw a major fit.

It was a great zoo for little kids, also featuring a kiddie train (no pics). Jason loved it, and it was the first time I heard him say "choo, choo!"

Best part of the zoo- they had a playground

 One evening, after dinner, my mom and I took the boys to a nearby mall to play. The boys loved riding the train and car around, and it kept Jason from running away from us.

And finally, to my utter joy and peace of mind, Jon joined us in California on Wednesday! We picked Daddy up from the airport, and then GPS'd our way to Huntington Beach. It was interesting to see the boys' reactions to the beach. Jason was super freaked out, and Jack was about normal.

 Here you can tell Jason is looking at the ocean, scared of it-

Jon with the boys, note Jason is still keeping his eyes on that water

A friendly fellow vacationer volunteered to take pictures for us. Check out that pier in the background; in the pictures below, that's where we walked to for lunch.

On the pier, waiting to get a table at a 50's style diner "Ruby's"

Note Jason's cheesy smile face, he turned into a ham on this trip

Here is Jack's imitation of Jason's cheesy smile-

They had awesome milkshakes there

yummy burgers, fries, and shakes- can't go wrong!

After our lunch, we walked back down the pier, and across the street down Main Street to do some souvenir t-shirt shopping. We got the boys matching striped pirate shirts, and a couple of tee's for me and Jon. And by this point, Jason was wrangling with Jon to get free and run to his death in the street, so we opted to head back to the car and then the hotel. Overall, it was a good afternoon with all my boys! How can you not enjoy the beach and milkshakes, right?