That's Amore!

For our last and final day in CA we went on a fun gondola ride in the canals of Long Beach. It was a beautiful hour ride where we kissed under each bridge. Luke really got into this and was kissing everyone at every bridge. This even lasted when we got back home as he tried to kiss me under the interstate bridges. Luke also said that there are two kinds of gondolas, one in the water and one on the mountain. Wes tried not to cry when we were on the gondola and we bounced him up and down a lot during the ride.

Playing in the sand with Uncle Dean

After we went to Gramci and Grandad's house for a Chinese dinner.  Grandad even wore his Chinese hat.

4 generations

4 generations

Finally, Luke stopped at Trader Joe's to shop with his own sized shopping cart!

"California knows how to party!"

Hanging out by the pool

Yummy food!

Aunt Mindy, Gramci, Aunt Paula, Mom, me and Holly

My parents threw a big party of over 25 people from both sides of the family.  We all had a great time and the party went on from 10AM to 6 PM!  It was great to see everyone all in one place and they could see the boys.  It had been since at least Christmas since I had seen most of my relatives.

Great Gramci and Great Grandad

Playing the piano

Legoland California

We had a great time at Legoland.... wanted to upload pictures and will write later...

Our Lego Family

Luke's new friend

Griffith Park

Uncle Dean took a day off of work to play with the boys in Griffith Park in LA. It was an amazing park with so many fun activities for kids. It has been there for around 100 years and has so much history.

We had to ride the kid sized train of course.  Luke loved every minute of it!

After the train ride we went over to check out the ponies.  Luke at first did not want to ride them but the more he watched the more interested he got.  When he did decide to ride the pony we asked what its name was.  Get this, Luke's first horse that he rode was named Kim!  I had a ask again to make sure I heard that right.

Uncle Dean, Grandy and the crew before the carriage ride.

We all had a great time.

Wes was also not so sure of the horse rides.  We went to check it out a second time and once he got over the fear of the guy buckling him in he was happy.  His horse was named Chip.

Our next stop in the park was to a historic 87 year old Carousel ride.  It had seen better days but I loved how it had not been updated so you got a sense of its' history.  Walt Disney rode this and they had an old fashioned music player in the back.  I took a break from this because I get sick when I go on these types of rides.

We were hungry so on to our lunch spot at the sight of the old LA zoo.  It was super fun to play around the old lion cages.  Luke ran around pretending to be a lion and was roaring loudly.

Our final stop was Travel Town...

Uncle Dean and Wes inside a retired coal train.

Our 2nd train ride of the day.

California here we come!

It was a great flight to California with both boys.  Luke watched The Polar Express on the flight and Wes and I played in the seat and walked around on the plane.  Many people asked how I did it by myself but I have to say that both boys were great and there was no crying!  Lets hope for a great return trip back.

Wheels on the bus...

Luke loves to ride my old Schwinn bike.  It is over 30 years old and works great thanks to Grandy who had it refurbished.  He likes to ride his bike every morning after breakfast and goes around Wes on his bus.  

We stopped in downtown Claremont to play in the water fountains,

I just love to play in water any chance I get!

Luke went from being cautious in the water to jumping to Grandad and even getting his head wet.
He kept saying,  "I just love the jacuzzi!"  

We ended the night roasting marshmallows and eating yummy somores.  

Sandy boy

We love the Highlands Ranch parks because they have a "beach."  Both boys love playing in the sand and water there.  Wes decided that he wanted to get dirty and loved splashing in the water.  When we were done I stripped him down and I ran back to the house while Luke rode his Kazam balance bike.

Summer mountain fun

Hiking at Piney Lake

Taking a break after the hike

Our first canoe ride

Wes was bundled up in his life jacket so he could go as well.

We spent the weekend with 2 other couples in Vail.  There were a total of 12 people together...6 adults and 6 kids.  It was a blast hiking, canoeing and after the kids were asleep, playing cards and having a great time.