California in June

So here's the first of many (hopefully) catch-up posts.  Enzo and I went to visit my mom for 2 weeks back in June.  Unfortunately, 2 months later I have forgotten many of the details.  Oh well, maybe that will help me keep it short.

We flew in to Southern California only to immediately get in the car and take a 6 hour road trip to visit my brother Justin and his family in Sacramento.  The car ride was awful, to say the least.  But it was worth it to see everyone and especially for Enzo to get to hang out with his cousins he didn't know very well. 

Now, he knows most of them by name and can identify them in pictures, especially "Chaw-ee" (Charly) who he loves.

We got to spend one of the days at Six Flags something or other (I don't remember the name of it and I'm too lazy to look it up.) They didn't have a ton of rides for Enzo, so we ended up riding the four-wheelers A LOT.  (The pictures aren't very good, they were the best I could get from riding in the back while Enzo drove.)

Enzo did brave the boat ride once.

Fortunately, we were the only people on the ride and we were able to get off as soon as Enzo got scared (which was after about 30 seconds.)

Besides rides, they also had a whale show.  We stayed out of the splash zone and got to enjoy the show.

Some other animals we got to see included butterflies and fish.

Over all, we had a great time in Sacramento. Enzo loved my brother's dogs. I know we're going to be in trouble as soon as Enzo's old enough to start asking for one of his own.  And to that I'll say, "Talk to your dad." (Good luck, James.)

I of course loved spending time with my nieces and nephews.  Here's my favorite moment of Zander, captured on film.

As much as I loved visiting Justin's family, my favorite part of the trip to Sacramento had to be seeing Tania, one of my best friends who I hadn't seen since high school.  (No offense to any of my family members who I visited, but I've seen all of you a few times in the last decade.) Tania took Enzo and I out to dinner and then we went back to meet the rest of her family.

The few hours we had to visit just wasn't long enough to catch up.  We made plans to visit again the next day, but things unfortunately didn't work out. However, even that little bit of time was worth all of Enzo's crying in the car the long drive up there (and back.)

After a few days in Sacramento, we went back to Southern California for another week with my mom.
While we were there, we got to go on a boat ride and visit the beach.  It was a little too cool for Enzo to go in the water (pretty much cause his mom is a wimp and didn't want to hear him whine), but Enzo loved the boat ride and watching the water.

My son is a little flirt.  On our 45 minute harbor cruise, Enzo found himself two girlfriends. One of them, of course, had goldfish for him to steal (it didn't matter that he had some of his own, he wanted hers.)

The other girl didn't have any food for him, but that didn't stop him from snuggling up next to her.

After the harbor cruise, we went to walk along the pier.  On our way we found a place for lunch, complete with beer in the kids meals. We decided not to stop.

(My brother went there a couple of weeks ago and says they've changed their sign.  That's too bad, I'm sure there are a lot of disappointed kids out there.)

Enzo LOVED watching the water.   I think he could have stayed all day to watch it.

The only downside to our visit was that my mom got Enzo addicted to You Tube.  They would sit for hours watching the same videos over and over and over again. (Although, I can't really blame my mom, it was the only thing he would do with her for a while, until he got used to her.)

(Now, whenever Enzo sees a computer or if you ask him what he wants to sing, his answer is awlays "Happy Duck")
I'm so glad we went so Enzo could really get to know his Grandma Cindy ("Nin-ny")  and Aunt Stacy.  It may have taken nearly the whole two weeks for him to warm up to them and not cry when I left his sight,  but by the end, they were good friends.