Vacation time baby!!!

It's that time again! Time for our much anticipated summer beach trip! I look forward to this trip all year and this year was simply incredible! We had so much fun with our Henry :) 

We started off our trip with an overnight stop in Yuma to visit family. As the year have gone by, the family in Yuma has dwindled as people have moved away or spend the summers elsewhere. Who can blame them really? When we rolled into town around 8:00 at night, it was still well over 100 degrees! Hot, hot, hot! My uncle Mark was gracious enough yet again to let us stay with him. My aunt Karen was out of town so it was just us and uncle Mark. Henry and Mark got along famously and played much of that night and the next morning. It was so cute! 

Hi uncle Mark! 

I love how Henry is looking at Mark in this picture! 

Then we stopped by to visit my grandma. This was a hard visit for me as it was the first time I had seen her since she had gone into assisted living. My uncle and my dad had prepared me well so I knew what I was in for but it was still shocking to see my grandma so frail. When I first walked in to her room, she was awake and she didn't recognize me at first. I got a bit closer and then she recognized me. She was still very much aware of everything going on around her and we talked for a bit while she had her morning coffee. Then she asked to see Henry. I was unsure about how Henry would react to the place but he seemed ok so I had James go ahead and bring him in. Grandma loved seeing him and said how big and handsome he was getting :) Our visit wore grandma out so we left her for a nap. I was happy that Henry got to see great-nana as he called her. I think some of the other people there enjoyed seeing Henry too. He just smiled and chatted with everyone he met :) 

After we gassed up and of course, hit the Starbucks, we were on our way to the beach! I have been going to the La Jolla beach for as long as I can remember. My grandma had an apartment right by the beach. It was literally across the street from the beach and we would spend weeks there in the summer. There is this one hotel right on the beach, even closer than my grandma's place that I ALWAYS wanted to stay at. We just never got the chance. Well, this year, I was bound and determined that this was the year I was going to stay there! Back in the day, the hotel was called the Sea Lodge. I still find myself calling it that now. But they have changed names and it is now called the La Jolla Shores Hotel. And let me tell you, this place was fantastic! I was beyond thrilled that I FINALLY got to stay here :) 

The front of the hotel. 

The back of the hotel.

And oh yeah... there's the beach! Ta-da! 

There were a lot of little things about staying here that just made me so happy. One, was the closeness to the beach. I always hated trudging back and forth when we were staying further away. It's just so much easier being closer with a small one too! The second thing I loved was that they had covered parking! I hate having to find parking. Well, once I knew I had a parking spot, I didn't get back in that car until the day we left :) And the best part? The hotel provides AND sets up beach umbrellas, chairs and towels for you! Score! I was in seventh heaven! My only worry now was... would Henry love it as much as I did? Last year, he was not so into the beach. The water was too cold for him and he hated the sand! 

 Here's Henry getting his first look at the ocean. What's that?!?!? :) 

Rule of thumb when at the beach: If it is sunny, you get your happy butt to the beach and stay there! The sun was out so we changed into our suits quickly and headed out. I totally thought Henry would freeze when we plunked him down on the sand. Um yeah, nope. He booked for the water as quick as he could! There are lots of pictures of Henry's back, sides and top of his head as we could NOT get him to look away from the ocean or at the camera to save our souls!  

 Henry's first step into the ocean! 

 Cold? Yes! But he didn't seem to mind one bit! 

Me and my baby! Where is he looking? The ocean of course! 

 And back out again. I was happy that he liked the water but only went in a little ways and then right back out again, over and over... 

 Then Henry discovered a hole someone else had dug and he was hooked! He played in the water and the sand and just had a blast! 

 Having fun in the warm California sun :) 

After dinner, we went for a walk and Henry just had to play at the little park that is right by the beach. He loved it there! Much more on the park later :) 

That is the end of day one at the beach. We had planned to spend ALL day Saturday on the beach so I was hoping for another warm sunny day. I opened the shades to our room and saw this... 

Yep, that's the view from our room! Gorgeous!!! So we slathered on the sunscreen and we were off! 

Running in and out of the ocean. 

 Having a little breakfast. It's cold pizza if you were wondering :) Breakfast of champions! 

 Such a sweet boy! 

 Playing in the sand. 

He loved putting the sand on the tops of his feet. 

 Then he discovered he could put sand on top of MY feet too! Such fun :) 

Stopped for lunch. PBJ this time. Don't worry dad, we had Jeff Burgers too! 

 

We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel that night. I don't have any pictures on my camera from the dinner but I think James might. The dinner was so nice and Henry did really well for most for most of it :) After dinner we decided to walk down to the pier. I had forgotten just how far it was. Henry had a ball running in and out of the water and finding seashells for nana. Then we had an amazing sunset! 

Running on the beach. 

 A rare cloud free sunset. 

 Me and my boy :) 

James and I went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to take Henry to the San Diego Zoo. He LOVES the little zoo we have here but we wondered if he would get anything out of such a big place. We decided to play it by ear. If he hated the beach as we feared he might, we could take him to the zoo but if he loved the beach, we would just stay at the beach. Since he loved the beach and it was beautiful and sunny the whole time, we skipped the zoo. We only had a few days anyway so maybe if we have more time next year we can go. The last day we were in La Jolla, James had an errand to run for work so it was just me and Henry. We had a fun day all to ourselves :) 

 We started by running up and down the stairs :) 

The tide was low so Henry had plenty of seashells to hunt. 

In and out of the water we go.  

 Finding the perfect seashell for nana. 

Here mama! 

Once Henry had his fill of the ocean, we hit the park. It was really nice because it was super early so we were the only ones there! Score! No big kids running Henry down :) 

 Up the stairs...

Once while going up these stairs, he tried to turn back to look at the ocean and fell right between the bars, flat on his back in the sand. Ouch! He got right back up after a good cry. 

 For some reason he sat way far back and then scooted over to slide down. 

 Weeeeee! 

 At this point, Henry always said, let's go again! 

 Hi mama! 

 Happy boy. 

 There was a sculpture of a whale that Henry loved. Maybe Sea World next year too! 

Then we went back to the beach for one last goodbye. 

Little baby toes in the sand.  

Bye bye ocean! See you next year! 

Here is a short video of Henry's favorite activity on the beach, running in and out of the water :) 

Now that we are back in the Old Pueblo, Henry still asks to go swimming every day. This is the best we can do :)

Until next year that is :)

Two year old stats

Henry finally had his two year check up today. A bit late but we wanted to wait for our favorite doctor to get back from vacation :) I told Henry that we were going to see Dr. Goldberg and the minute Dr. Goldberg walks into the little room, Henry says, "Hi Dr. Golber!" So cute! Well he talked Dr. Goldberg's ear off and as the doctor is leaving the room, he says, wow a little chatty, isn't he? Yeah, a little :) 

Here are a few stats from his visit. 

Weight: At this visit Henry weighed in at 25 lbs and 10 oz which put him in the 20th percentile. Skinny minnie. 

Height: He is 36 inches tall now which puts him at the 86th percentile! Dude! This kid is long and lanky! 

And a few of my own stats just so that I can remember :) 

Eating - Henry is eating pretty well now. He has his foods that he likes and we are still trying to introduce some new foods every now and then. He loves all the typical kid foods: mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, PBJ. He likes green beans and cooked carrots, peaches, pears and mandarin oranges. That's about it as far as fruits and veggies go. He would eat pasta and bread all day long if I let him. He loves waffles, toast, cereal, poptarts, tortillas, etc... Carb kid to the extreme. He likes yogurt, pudding and still drinks whole milk at all his meals and before naps and bedtime. Henry drinks water but not as much as we would like. We've tried to get him to drink juice to help with getting him some more fiber but he is not a fan. He'll drink Capri sun but that's about it. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of desserts. He likes MAKING cookies but not so much eating them! Strange.We are working on using utensils and he is getting much better :) 

Sleeping - Henry is sleeping from about 8 pm to 8 am on a good night. He still wakes occasionally and I will go in and lay him down and he will go right back to sleep. He takes one nap a day from about 12:30-3:00 or so. He is quite high maintenance and yes, I know, it is my own fault... he is his mama's child :) 

Other - Henry is quite a fun little boy. He is so happy and so sweet... most of the time :) Henry knows all his upper and lower case letter and all the letter sounds. He can recognize numbers 0-10 and can count to 20 with help. He knows all his shapes and colors. All of this is thanks to Preschool Prep Company (insert plug here!). Henry will watch all those videos until I want to jump out the window but dammit they work. Henry LOVES the Brown Bear series and can recite them all from memory. Same goes for the Llama Llama series. He sits and "reads" them all the time. It is adorable! He can scribble on paper and "write" his name while spelling it out. He loves playing with animals, blocks, balls and water. He also loves being outside, going to the zoo and going for walks. there is not too much be doesn't like... unless you count being told what to do. His newest phrase is saying never. For example, Henry please pickup your toys. His response: Never pick up toys! Oooh, makes me so mad! He goes to time out occasionally and has even started telling me why he is sitting in time out, thinking it will get him out faster. Smartie pants. Plus he talks ALL THE TIME! He speaks in full and complete sentences. Not totally understandable but I know what he is saying :) He is a spunky, sweet, smart, handsome, precious little boy! I love this boy to pieces!!! :) 

Here are some adorable pictures of what we have been up to this summer. 

Playing in the sprinkler.

 Henry was a bit afraid of the sprinkler at first. He is getting brave and touching it here. 

A little braver and stepping over it! 

 And he's in! He was hooked after this and now he loves the sprinkler, yay! 

 We braved the 100+ heat and went to the zoo. Henry loves the elephant exhibit :) 

 Since Henry loved the sprinkler so much, I got him a little inflatable slide/pool to play in. 

 Ya think he likes it? :) 

 Waiting for Dr. Golber ;) 

 I am having so much fun with my boy :)