Bare Cove

Over the long 4th of July weekend, we went to Bare Cove River Park, which is an old military base that was shut down in the 70's and converted into a river park. The park is great, since it has paved roads and tons of river access. Mason and Michael took advantage of the low tide and practiced their rock skipping.

The old boat house

Rock skipping tutorial begins

watching carefully

Mason gives it a try

Maybe we need to go over "how to pick a rock" again

Santa Ana Zoo

During our recent trip to Southern California, we visited a small zoo in Santa Ana. This was Mason's first visit to a zoo and it was perfect. There were many animals to see, with the majority of them monkeys...Mason's favorite.

Nothing like starting the visit with a little bird chasing

The monkeys started making a lot of noise, apparently too much noise!

A closer look

The petting zoo

Surprisingly, Mason wasn't afraid of the animals, especially the goats

Dance Dance Dance

Mason loves to dance, music isn't required, he seems to have a a beat all his own. It's hard to capture his moves, since I'm normally laughing to hard to grab the camera. I did manage to get a glimpse of it yesterday. This is only a small sample of this boys moves.

Hull Beach

Mason and I spent an afternoon at a local beach, Hull Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great time.

He runs...a lot!

So exciting, there are rocks at the beach.

ready...set...go

Somebody is FABULOUS!

throwing sand...what else

Turtles

We have a ton of wildlife roam through our yard; squirrels, chipmunks, deer, wild turkeys, fox, coyote and way too many birds and water fowl to list. Well, our newest guests are snapping turtles. They normally spend all their time in the water, however, it is egg laying time, so they are out and about on dry land. Take a look at this amazing creature.

It's hard to tell, but this girl's shell was over a foot long, alone!

Smile pretty

it was a very sunny day, so please excuse the shadows

Designed to survive. Check out the spikes on her tail

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Mason loves trains. I think the passion started when he got to see Dada ride the train everyday and it has stuck. I went to the store the other day and found these great little "Thomas the Train" trains and decided to bring two home for Mason. He was so excited to get the first one, green train Percy, that I decided to hold onto the other train for another day. Look at this little guys excitement! Oh and notice in the last picture, that he wasn't willing to let go of this train, for anything!

Mothers Day

Mason made his first Mothers Day gift this year. In the playgroup we attend, the kids painted ceramic vases for all the mom's. Mason did a great job, first painting with a paint brush (with a little help from Mom) and then trying out a stick. Regardless, it came out beautifully and it sits proudly on the kitchen window sill.

Oh and thank goodness it was washable paint, because it was everywhere!