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!!

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…

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.

YAY for Manolos!

Zack writing his vows with some help from the boys.

Some pre-cermony jitters.

The boys were awesome the whole day.

Molly was radiant.

First look. Tears were flowing.

This is what we are treated to in SoCal.

Tears and smiles at the same time is always a good sign.

Woohoo!

Love this shot of the group.

Thanks Bub, for shooting me in action :)

The resulting shot.

Ladies on the Rocks.

Time for my favorite…B+G Time!

So much fun to shoot them.

Not much direction for these two.

One of my faves.

Some shots inside the condo. Love these.

OK, this is my favorite favorite.

The rooftop was fun!

The speeches were awesome!

The dancing was even better than that…

As you can see!

Matt and Zack doing Ice Ice Baby. It was pretty sweet. The crowd ate it up!

Time to go!

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

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!

She’s giving me the mad dog stare.

It was hard to keep her happy…I don’t think she liked me. But here she was calm.

I LOVE the baby Thinker pose.

The was a fun scene to set up. I call this “Good Parents”

Big Daddy Tim

I think she will be a basketball player. She was throwing the 3-point sign!

Can’t go wrong with shooting tiny feet.

Daddy time.

Hi Ellie…you OK?

And my favorite…love this.

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!

2 Boys, 2 Riders from Jan Garcia on Vimeo.