I left out one of the biggest pains about the first part of the trip. Between checking in for the rental car and actually getting into it, I decided to use the restroom. Figured while I was at it I should check LB's diaper. Let's just say that I had to change his WHOLE outfit. I now as myself, WHY did I put him into a one piece outfit for the trip?!? OH well, it just took a while to get him cleaned up, get the outfit off of him without getting poop everywhere and get him into clean clothes. But after that we were loaded into the care and off to Santa Cruz.

When we arrived at the hotel about 1:45, we hadn't had lunch and LB was clearly tired. My parents, who arrived Friday night, were waiting for us when we arrived and took LB while I unloaded stuff out of the car and got his pack and play set up-my sister found someone to borrow one from so we didn't have to lug IT up north with everything else. THey had also saved a bowl of cheerios from breakfast that morning for him to snack on, and he did.

We tried to get my room early so I didn't have to sit silently in a room with a sleeping baby while he napped. We did finally get it and so I got him settled into bed. As it turns out we were able to get adjoining rooms and I had brought the monitor with, which turned out to be quite handy. I had no trouble getting him to sleep, he was clearly tired, and since I'd brought his piggy (lovey) and his crayon blanket, he felt pretty at home.

So he napped away, and as I sat in the other room, I was appalled and totally shocked that I'd not gotten him down until 3:30. My mom gave me her left overs from the previous night's dinner for lunch-I was really hungry at that point. I turned on the TV and worked on grades as he slept. When 5:00 rolled around (he usually sleeps until 4ish) I decided that if I didn't get him up from his nap now he'd NEVER go to bed tonight. So I woke him up and he was STARVING, but we were heading out to my sister's housewarming party so I gave him a few cheerios to tide him over until we got there. We did a quick diaper change and off we went. When we got into the car, I noticed that the clock in the car said 4:00. What the heck was up? Turns out that the morons at the hotel apparenly moved the clock forward for me about 12 hours early. I felt badly that I'd gotten him up, but he seemed not too much the worse for it.

So, we headed to the party and he was in piggy boy heaven. I think he ate 5 devlied egg halves, he had a ton of fruit and some other stuff too. After the party had died down, the family headed inside to sit around and chat some more. LB was the center of attention, he was being a huge ham, but no one seemed to mind too much. It was also clear that he was getting tired, so we headed back to the hotel and he went to bed. Much to my surprise, I had no trouble getting him to sleep that night either. I put him into bed and headed into my parents' room and he was OUT. I did more grades and watched TV while he slept.

At about 3 am, he started crying, so I rolled over to him-his pack and play was right next to the bed- and told him I was there and asked if he would go back to sleep. He said "no", so I asked if he wanted to come up into the bed and sleep there with me. This caused him to immediately sit down and then lay down, and say, "go back to sleep now." I guess he didn't like the alternative. He seemed to go back to sleep immediately, but I took about an hour to do so. Lucky for me he slept in until 8:30 or so. I was awake before he was, but not much before. I wandered over to my parents' room and said goodmorning to my mom and set up the monitor so I could hear if he did wake up. After a few minutes, I peeked back into the room and there he was standing up in the pack and play, just calmly waiting for me to come and get him.

He immediately made a bee line for the cheerios again and proceeded to do laps between our room and my parents' room grabbing cheerios on one end.

I managed to get us dressed and we went downstairs to have breakfast. I'm sure this will shock everyone, but he ate like a pig (one of his talents). He had a bowl of oatmeal, a 1/4 of a bagel with cream cheese, some apple, some of mommy's bowl of cereal, and some milk. I think I'm leaving something out, but I don't know what.

We got our stuff for the day together and then headed out to my sister's house to gather for the day's activities.

We went to the warf to see the sea lions. When he was first asked what noise they make he said, "roar" but now says, "ark, ark, ark." We were amused that he heard lion and knows what noise a lion makes. He also had fun chasing pigeons along the warf and watching people fish there too. He seemed to like just looking at the ocean too.

We headed out from the warf and headed to the lighthouse. There was a big patch of grass there which had some small flowers growing in it. He picked flowers, one at a time and kindly delivered them to grandma, then grandpa, then another for grandma, then for Aunt Shelly, and so on. It was quite cute. I also started really working on him listening to me when I say, "stop" and he seems to be getting it, even now. My mom had commented at the wharf that he wasn't listening well, and he wasn't, so I figured a few doeses of having him listen and giving him hugs and kisses and thanks when he did was a good idea anyway.

After there we headed back to Shelly's house for lunch and then he and I headed back to the hotel for his nap. He napped great, no problems getting him to sleep or anything!! I sat in one corner of the room and did a bit of work and then after about half an hour or so, I was able to turn on the TV and watch it quietly. What an awesome little boy!!

OK, enough for now. Next installment, Sunday night dinner, Monday's big trees, and the trip home.