Here’s a small clip of us on the train at the zoo. Enjoy a minute or so of random babbling from an almost 3-year-old boy and his dad. Happy Monday!!

Boyz in the Zoo from Jan Garcia on Vimeo.

My Day Off with the Boys

On Monday, I took the day off and took the boys to the Santa Ana Zoo. It’s not the best, but it’s so close by and Lucas loves animals so he was excited. His favorite are elephants, so he kept on asking me “Are there elephants?” I told him “I’m not sure, we have to ask them, OK?” Lucas responds with a “HO-kay!” So we get to the ticket window and I pay my six bucks and Lucas asks the attendant: “Are there elephants?” (BTW, his “elephants” sounds more like “hefafants”). The guys says “Only on weekends.” I responded with “Are you serious?!?” He said “Yep,” so I told Lucas that he would have to come back on Sunday with Mommy. He was a bit sad, but he was still eager to get in.

I bottle fed Nathan before we left the house so he was good to go for at least 3 hours. He fell asleep in the car and woke up when we got there. While we were entering the zoo, Lucas saw him and said “Uh oh, someone’s awake!”. I strolled the little dude around while Lucas went crazy running around looking at each animal. At each cage/area, he would say “What’s that?” with a pointed finger. “A monkey”, I said. Lucas came back with “What kind of monkey?” I thought it was a pretty legitimate question knowing all the different monkeys out there. So I would read every sign to him. But when we got to the Farm area, he asked his “What’s that?” question over and over. At one point I said “That’s a duck”. I heard “What kind of duck?” After some thought, I said “I don’t know…a brown duck”. Then that turned into “I don’t know…a black goat!” and “I don’t know… a white sheep.” I wish I had better answers but I’m not too familiar with the exact species of farm animals :)

If you ever go to the local zoo on weekdays, you will see a ton of moms with their strollers and little toddlers running around. Add to this, a bunch of school kids with their teachers and you have a pretty lively place at 11am. There was a playground where Lucas played with some older kids and I was able to change Nathan’s diapers. I was the only dad there with kids so I felt a bit out of place. I could feel all the mom’s staring at me like I was such a weirdo. I guess that’s what it would feel like to be a stay-at-home-dad and going to the park with all the stroller-toting-moms around.

It was a great 3 hours. Lucas got to see some monkeys, llamas, emus, wallabies, snakes, iguanas, owls, horses, cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and more! We even rode their train that went around the zoo. Lucas was in heaven! Trains and animals…his two favorite things in the world! And I was able to spend some quality time with the boys. It was great…the only bad thing was the next morning, Lucas said “Can we go to the zoo?”

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We’re off to San Diego to attend our friends’ wedding. I’m a groomsman, so it’ll be a fun change of pace :) We’ll be there for two nights. Can’t wait…it should be a blast! A pretty fabulous duo will be shooting it, so I’ll make sure I meet them and say hi to them. Have an awesome weekend!!

When it was time to shoot Annemarie and Rodney’s engagement session, I was so glad to see that they were so comfortable in front of the camera. Made soooo easy on me :) They were so natural with each other that I was glad to be there just to capture everything. They will be getting married this coming September down in San Diego. Thanks you guys for being such great models! See you soon!

From the first time I met with Elaine and Brian, I just had that feeling that their wedding was gonna be a special one. Full of laughter and tears. Intimate yet fun! And of course, full of awesome details! Elaine is such a sweetheart and Brian is a chuckle waiting to happen. Such a big guy with an intimidating stare, but is so super nice and so much fun to be around. The ceremony took place at St. Anne’s in Seal Beach and then headed down to the Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach. They warned me that their friends were gonna have a blast and they did just that and more! Since our buddy Steve at Golden Sounds Entertainment was in charge of the party, we knew it would be hype on the dance floor all night long! Thanks to Amanda from In The Now Weddings and Events for putting together an awesome wedding! And the florals from Devynn’s Garden were beautiful. They had three different centerpieces that looked great! Check out some of the days highlights:

Elaine looked great in her lacy dress. I’m lovin lace these days.

1935 Rolls Royce!

In the church entrance with Dad.

St. Anne’s was a cool little church.

It was a traditional Catholic ceremony.

OK, do we look alike? HAHAHA They swear that I remind them of their good friend Orville (on the right). Must be the hair!

Time for some B+G!

More Rolls action.

They are so sweet together.

Some hallway action.

We found some interesting spots around the Hilton.

One of my faves!

Bridal Party was fun! The guys were a hoot!

Brian did some modeling in the past. Can’t you can tell from his stare :)

Brian’s uncle was passing around these awesome stickers! Here’s one on Brian’s mom.

What an entrance!

Another fave! So much fun…

The MOH was ribbing him for his modeling…it was hilarious. Brian did an Abercrombie catalog!

It was time to Dance!

Cake time!

My last favorite…right before the garter toss.

And finally some cool details from the day…

Just wanted to share some shots of the new office/studio/gallery/meeting space. Whatever you want to call it, it’s our home away from home. It’s our sanctuary from toy madness and diapers piling up in the trash can. It’s where the work gets done. It’s our little corner of the world. It’s tiny but it’s ours.

Our little place is now pretty much done. We’ve had the space since February, but really only started working here about 4 weeks ago. We decided on a more subdued and chill feel. I went with modern lines with natural textures. Furniture is always a big debate between us, but I think we are at peace with things. I’m sure we’ll be adding and replacing things along the way, but for now, it’s good to go. And can I say that I love coming to work in the morning and getting stuff done!

I try to stay in the office on a consistent basis, but it gets random. I’m usually in from 8:30-5:30pm. If you’re ever near Tustin, swing on by. We’re near Old Town Tustin. Google Maps link.

Always looking at the kiddos. Both 16′”x16″ canvas. This is above my desk.

Our meeting area.

40″x60″ canvas. Thanks to Shiloah and Woolim for that awesome moment!

Our table.

Freaking love this sofa! My favorite piece.

Tey’s desk area complete with old-school boombox. Above is a 25″x55″ canvas of Jill & Troy.

The Dream Team. My backup system that I take home everyday (LaCie)

And here are some random textures and items around the office.