San Diego Zoo

My girlfriend Mickey and her husband Bill did a tour of California and ended in San Diego earlier this week. They stayed with us for a few days and we went to the zoo, went out to breakfast and had a great time just hanging out. Unfortunately Marc had to work during the day so missed out on the zoo trip.

It was Caiden's first trip to the zoo and as much as I liked to think he knows what he's looking at...the fact is, he would rather pick leaves up off the ground and eat them. Sigh.

This Great Ape was so much fun. It just sat next to the window and waited for people to come by and get in its face. There was a little girl with a coloring book and as she would flip the pages the Ape would totally look back and forth at them like he knew what he was looking at. Caiden on the other hand was more interested in the little girls stuffed animal than the real Ape staring at him.

What was even better was that Bill pretty much pushed the stroller or held Caiden the entire time! Score on not having a back ache later that night!

So Caiden got along pretty well with Bill and by the second day would smile and go up to him and hang out. Mickey on the other hand was a different story. When she would hold him he would take both arms and stick them straight out and not let them touch her. Like in the picture below. We got many laughs from it.

Breakfast at Snooze!

Wowas

...what, you don't know what, "wowas" mean?  Flowers. Yes, it means, flowers. Caiden loves flowers. He'll stand by the door and say, "wowas", because he knows there are flowers right outside the door. He's been known to pluck a few from the stem but for the most part he's pretty gentle with them. Anytime we're outside he'll point to any flower and keep saying, "wowas", until you get close to them.

And yes, he has no pants on...we were going on the 12th hour of just me and him alone last night because Marc had to work late and when he destroyed his pants at the park I decided he didn't need them anymore. ;)

Batting Cage

I got a wild hair this weekend and decided I wanted to go to the batting cages. Pretty sure it came after a few glasses of wine Friday night celebrating my birthday. Not sure what made me think this was a good idea because I'm SO sore now. Pretty pathetic, huh? Every muscle is sore, my hands, my neck...just sneezing or laughing my entire mid section winces.  This is after 15 minutes in a batting cage...I really can't believe I'm this sore. I really need to start doing some more activities...especially since we're going to Cabo next month (without Caiden!) and I'm going to be in a suit for 5 days! Every muscle I had before Caiden has disappeared and I've really done nothing to get them back. Poor me, I know.

I think Caiden really loved watching us because he just sat in the chair (with a ball) and didn't try to get down or move around much at all. The first few swings when the bat hit the ball he let out a few yelps like he was saying, "What's going on in there, Mommy! Why are you doing these things?" I so can't wait until he can join us and hit some balls of his own.

BTW, just to brag a bit. I was totally able to hit the 50 mph fast ball. I started with slow pitch softball because I had no idea how this was going to go down. I haven't hit a baseball in like, a decade??  ha. And the first few swings I was wondering why I wanted to do this because I completely missed...but then I got the swing of things and moved up to the fast balls! It was a lot of fun and so addicting, you really could just stay in there forever and keep hitting.

And on Friday morning we went out to breakfast for my birthday before Marc went to work! I love this place and they just opened one up a few miles from our house. I'm so, so happy because there aren't any good breakfast spots around our new house. 

Gymboree

I took him to his first class last week but didn't take a single photo so this week I snapped away.

He is pretty cool with the class. There are about 10 other kids between 10-16 months in this class and it's so great for him to be around so many at one time. Although he doesn't even act like anyone else is there. Seriously, he gravitates to the balls and just goes around trying to touch any ball he can find. There are a gazillion other things to play with and he only goes for the balls. I have to hide them when it's time for a structured activity. The class is 45 minutes and it really is a good thing. I hate having to pay for him to play...but it be what it be. :)

We sit in a circle and listen to the teacher tell us what activity to do next then we go do it for 5 minutes then back to the circle to tell us what to do next...like crawl through tunnels, crawl up slides, slide down slides, put toys away, etc.

Mairin and Landon are also doing the class with us!

"Hmmmm....I think you just took my ball'"

The only way I could get him to crawl up this was to put a ball at the top.

The teacher blowing bubbles at Caiden...I forgot to mention earlier how much he loves bubbles, too.

Balls and Dogs...

..two things Caiden is obsessed with the most right now.

Balls. Seriously if you've ever been around this kid for more than 10 minutes you will know his obsession with balls. Any ball, big or small, he needs it. And he'll tell you he needs it. He'll look at you, point at it and say, "ball, ball, ball" until he gets it in his hands. At the park if he sees a ball he's on a mission to go get it. Doesn't matter how big or small the kid is, he will go right up to them and try to take the ball. Yesterday there was a 2 year old with a soccer ball. The kid wanted to kick the ball to Caiden so the two of them went back and forth for about 15 minutes. At first I would position the ball in front of him and make his leg kick the ball to the kid, after a few times Caiden got the hang of it and would kick it himself...so cute. 

Another funny thing. Marc aired up the yoga ball that we have and put it in the middle of the living room. When I brought Caiden down the next morning he got so excited when he saw this huge ball waiting for him. He loves rolling it around the house and really loves when I bounce on it.

Dogs. Anytime he sees a dog he says, "woof, woof" and his eyes pop out of his head. At the park, in the neighborhood, in the car...even if he just hears a dog he turns his neck in every direction trying to find it. I even use it as a ploy now to get him to eat. "You wanna see a doggy?!?!?!  You gotta eat your food."  I know, so wrong but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Our friends have a little dog that loves kids and is the most patient dog in the world. Caiden giggles and giggles when we walk in their house and sees Coco. He is very gentle with the dog but crawls around after it and tries to "pet" it. Really he just smacks Coco and Coco just sits and takes it. It's funny though, I showed him this picture later in the day and he started meow'ing...he totally thinks Coco is a cat. 

The weekend is finally over

Okay, yes, I've been begging Marc for a chore free weekend...but geez, this weekend was insane. It started right on time...4pm on Friday afternoon. Sara came down to watch Caiden and Marc and I jumped in a cab and headed back to our old stomping grounds for a wedding. It was crazy and reminded me of our wedding to a "T" --beautiful setting (back drop was Mission Bay at sunset), full open bar, dancing before dinner was served, and more dancing until midnight.

"Mama, what is this you are wearing? I've never seen such a thing on you."

This is the best we were able to do with Caiden. He wouldn't take his finger out of his mouth.

So then Saturday came along. Sara and I had a bachelorette party to go to. So again, 4pm, we headed downtown. It was a long night...blah blah blah, lots of things you don't need want to here about so we'll move on.

Oh, and we dressed Caiden up in his Husker jersey for that not-so-awesome game.

And we got a flag to hang outside...

Sara's birthday was Sunday. Happy Birthday, Aunt Sara! We went back down to Pacific Beach to play some shuffle board and have a few drinks with Sara. Caiden loved watching us play shuffle board and was all over that bar. Yep, we had a baby in a bar!

On Monday we went to Craig and Becky's. Played in the pool and ate some Cardiff Crack. Don't worry, if you ever come out to visit we will be getting some Cardiff Crack to cook up just for you. It's ridiculously good marinated tri-tip from a butcher in Cardiff, just a few miles up the interstate from us. We just discovered it and can't wait to eat it again. They warn you that there are never leftovers, and boy, when I looked at the amount of meat that Craig was grilling up I laughed...but guess what...we ate every single bit of it. And Caiden and Landon loved it, too!

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope your weekend was as fun as ours!

And guess what!?!?!  A short week and then we get to celebrate my birthday on Friday!!!