Indoor Playing

Each afternoon this week the heat index has been around 110 degrees. So, Jackson and I decided to hit the Splashpad early this morning and play inside for most of the afternoon. He was all smiles and giggles, I just had to get the camera out.

Trains and Planes

Markers

Chase

Climbing

This last one is my favorite. I just love his face!

I don't want the summer to end!

Sealed With A Kiss

Hitting head on concrete floor= One really happy, outgoing boy the next day
Jackson was extremely happy at the Little Gym this morning and all day long. I didn't take my camera in with me, but because of how he was acting I went and grabbed it.

I was a little worried we might leave with a shiner on the other side:)

So strong!

At the end of each class Miss Lauren blows bubbles for the kids. Jackson runs around like crazy trying to get the bubbles. Well, today he stopped to give Lilah a hug and then all of a sudden he planted one on Cindy (the little girl watching him do the flip) and she leaned in. How could she resist my cutie! Ha! It really was one of the cutest things ever! I wish I would have snapped a picture. The camera was right in my lap, I guess I was to in shock to do anything but laugh.

We better keep a close eye on this kid!

17 Months

Jackson at 17 months you are ALL boy!
You love trains, trucks, cars, tractors, and airplanes. You now can say all those modes of transportation too. Thomas the train is your new fascination! You also say hi, up, down, all done, bubble, papa, yeah, wow, pup, waa waa(water), pool, dad, no dad, mama, hot, duck, apple. You meow when you see a cat, moo when you see a cow and baa-baa when you see a sheep. It seems that you say a new word almost everyday-today it was rock and you are beginning to repeat more words that we say.

When you are hungry you say Mama and take me to the pantry or fridge which ever holds what you are looking for. You eat almost nonstop through out the day and drink more milk than Uncle Garrison in a week:) Due to your eating skills you are taller than most 2 year olds!

You do so many things that amaze us each day. I find myself thinking "Man is he smart" or "how did he know to do that" many times a day. You actually have pretty good fine motor skills, you can put the caps of the skinny markers back on when you are finished coloring.

You are still very active and are happiest when you are outside running around or swimming in the pool. You are a daredevil and love to climb up on things and are starting to jump off of things. You got your first real shiner today when you managed to get out of the shopping cart at Kohl's!

After some ice, TLC, and a mango smoothie from Panera you seemed to be doing a little better:) Hopefully you learned your lesson!

We love you more everyday and you melt our hearts on a hourly basis. I do not know what I am going to do when I have to leave you each morning. Jackson, just know you are precious to us but even more in the eyes of our Lord!

California Living- Final Rendition

On Tuesday, our last full day is Calfornia, we did many things that were close to the house. We took Jackson to a park to play.


Swinging like a big boy
Everyone got in on the action:)

Then we headed over to In and Out for lunch. In college whenever anyone mentioned California the words In and Out were close behind. Brian and his family have been to California many times before and never ate at one. I did not know how this could be when I associated California with In and Out, maybe it was because Katrina and Katie were not their friends:)Jackson's first cheeseburger and he loved it!

After Jackson's nap we headed over to Castle Park so Jackson could ride some rides. There were three rides he could go on the carousel, antique cars, and the train. 2 out of 3 were shut down when we first got there.

Waiting to ride on the Merry go round

The antique cars finally opened and good thing because they were Jackson's favorite.

Brian, Luke, Gus, and I played putt putt after Jackson and Grandpa went back to the house to swim.

Everyone got a hole in one during the game, mine was on the very last hole.

Luke won the game and I lost, good thing I didn't bet him before we started:)

That evening Luke got out all his trains for Jackson to play with. Jackson is suddenly obsessed with Thomas. It is so cute when Choo choo's through the house.

On our last morning, Brian and I walked to Starbucks and stopped to buy Jackson some trains for the airplane ride home.

While we were gone Jackson got a ride in the go kart and did some swimming.

My little fishy

Good-bye California

When we checked in for our flight home I noticed our baggage claim tickets only had Denver printed on them. I asked the guy and he said that is all he had reservations for. I about flipped! He got it all figured out, but good thing I caught his mistake or we might have been stuck in Denver. Again we did not have to pay for our luggage and we got free TV!

Jackson did really well on the plane, especially the second flight because we had an extra seat for him to seat in and play. We arrived early into Denver and boarded our plane for Houston right away, however we had no crew. We waited for about 30 minutes for them to arrive and when we finally got on the runway it started to pour so we had to wait another 30 minutes to take off. Don't worry they gave us free TV for being delayed more than a hour, ha! We finally got home at 1:00 in the morning, at least I didn't have to go to work Thursday!

We had a great time and had the best hosts around. Thank you to Matt, Laurie, Mike, Seanapri, Mel, and Sharon for making our trip possible and better than we could have imagined. You are all more than welcome at our house anytime!

California Living- Anniversary Issue

Saturday after we put Jackson down for he nap we headed out for a weekend by ourselves. We were beyond excited! We love, love, love Jackson but in 16 months we have probably only gone on a few dates and for sure never had a day or night just the two of us.
We took the scenic route to Newport Beach and stopped at the Shake Shack for lunch. Seanapri told us it was a famous stop along the ocean and it had great shakes, burgers, and fries. In case you are wondering how they taste we will never know. They don't make burgers or fries and we didn't get a shake, but our sandwiches and the view were all really good!

We made it to the beach house around 3 and shortly after we arrived Brian surprised me with this:

A beautiful ring for 5 years of marriage (we have actually been together almost 11 years). I love the ring! Brian did a good job:)

We went down to the beach and walked around for a while and then headed back to the beach house to shower and get ready for dinner.

In front of the beach house. It was hard to get a good picture of the house because it was 3 stories and connected to another 3 houses. It was a beautiful house and Matt did a great job renovating it.

On the balcony overlooking the ocean

We walked a half mile down to the Brewery and enjoyed dinner outside. I normally do not like eating outside because of all the mosquitoes and bugs but there were zero of them around in California!

After dinner we walked a mile down to the Balboa island and took the ferry across. Little did we know we were already on the good side. Good thing the ferry ride only cost one dollar.

The next morning we slept in since we didn't have our little alarm clock with us:) We got up and got ready to go to Hollywood. We got in the trusty, I mean rusty, Nissan Maxium armed with our GPS and headed north. We arrived on Hollywood Blvd around 11 o'clock and started walking. We made many tourist mistakes throughout the day! We were not able to get in front of the Chinese Theater because they were setting up for the premier of Cats and Dogs 2.

I was so excited that something was actaully going on, but we missed the celebrities by about 30 minutes because we left. I wished we would have asked when they would be arriving.

The red carpet:)

My love and me on Hollywood Blvd. We walked up and down the street and did some shopping.

Stopping to pose by Regis's star, I still watch Regis and Kelly almost everyday.

We left Hollywood to head over to Beverly Hills.

After finding a place to park, we walked over to Sprinkles and had a cupcake. Then we walked over to Rodeo Drive to do some shopping or rather window shopping.

The next morning we went to get breakfast and walk along the beach before Jackson came to meet us.

We missed our little boy:)

We thought about going to the San Diego Zoo but decided Jackson would only last about 30 min-1 hour and would have just as much fun playing in the bay that was closer and free.

Jackson playing with Telia and Jalin

Jalin pulling Jackson

Having a blast one minute,

And oh so sad the next!

Jackson and Corton rinsing off the sand.

After leaving Newport Beach we stopped at Fashion Island for lunch and some shopping.

rian and his parents at Fashion Island.

Jackson fell asleep on the way there and slept through lunch and most of our shopping.

He finally woke up in the toy store:) What a good dream!

Next Up: Last days in California