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 mom’s 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!!

During a baby’s first year, it’s all about milestones. And we’ve reached a pretty big one. Little Nathan is now turning over on his own! So, now the real parenting begins as we can’t leave him alone anymore. He’s funny, too…when you put him down on his back, he’ll flip over right away and then starts crying. I’m thinking “Didn’t you want to do that!?!” But it’s getting more fun now. Nathan smiles and giggles like a madman. I love it when he sees me and a giant grin/giggle erupts. That’s the best! Lucas is *mostly* a good big brother and will get stuff for his baby brother. And by the way, the next time you see him, he wants to be called “Big Brother Lucas”. Have a great weekend!

Here’s the little guy. Another new favorite…from my phone.

I hope everyone has had a great week and is gearing up for an awesome weekend. We’ve been a bit busy at home moving Lucas out of his old room and into the old office. So, now, everyone will have their own room and little nathan will be out of our bedroom :) Yay! Anyway, we have weddings and shoots scheduled for seemingly every weekend from this weekend and on, so things should start getting interesting around here. I’m fully moved into the office/studio and should be writing about it and posting some pics sometime next week.

So on to this week’s photos. I take care of the kiddies every morning for about a 1-2 hours before I take them to my Mom. And during that time, all kinds of madness happens. So when I have to feed Lucas, what do I give him? The easiest thing, of course. Cereal! And here is Nathan on his little play mat. So glad he likes it, I can leave him on that thing for almost 15 mins…which is a LIFETIME! Happy weekend!

So I didn’t have my computer on me and so I figure it’s better late than never. I’ve been in Vegas (again!) for the past few days and I’m back feeling like a regular person again. Something about being in Vegas makes me feel “irregular”. Anyway, I was there attending a friend’s bachelor party…so you know how that goes. It’s always nice to hang out with the guys even if it’s doing not much of anything.

For this edition of FF, I’ll include a picture of myself, but this time with my little tough guy. Something about him and his little middle finger. He just can’t hide it! I guess he doesn’t like his Mommy :) Have a great start to the week!

A friend was complaining that I don’t post enough pics of the kiddies together, so this one is for you, Melissa! As you can see, there is no shortage of cute outfits over here. Thanks Grandma! This picture is titled: “I Am Your Brother, Your Best Friend Forever!”