Buddy Boys

Dylan and his buddies enjoyed the summer weather at the Huntington Gardens. They ran through the big lawn sprinklers, barefoot and giggling with delight.
Here he is with some of his best buds, Nolan and Rocco, sharing some fruit snacks. Does life get any better than this?

Weekend in Pictures

Dylan woke up Sunday morning feeling crummy and with an upset stomach (yeah, his first throw-up incident - which broke my heart). So we stayed home from church and decided to take the day at a slower pace, heading off to our favorite family weekend spot for a walk. Yup, it was another glorious afternoon at the Huntington Gardens!

Blooming cacti (photo by Ryan)
Fall colors in the desert garden section! (photo by Briana)
Pausing to take in the beauty-ful-ness around us.
Learning to throw his 'bouncy ball'
Later we went over to have dinner with our friends Cassi and Josh that we knew back in St. Louis (and who have recently moved back to California, living only about 10 minutes from us again!) What a treat!
After an evening with Dylan (quite a change from our pre-child visits years ago), we teased them that we may not hear from them for a while, as they'll need to recover from the blur of a two year old in their home, bouncing off the walls and feeding off the energy of their very energetic dog! We've missed them and are glad to live in the same city again!

A Toddler in the Mist

Fun times, courtesy of the Children's Garden at The Huntington.

1 year, 10 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day old

He's on the move. Watch out world!


Need I say any more?

Full Bloom

Another day at the Huntington Gardens, this time with our friend Kathy. We enjoyed some sandwiches with our chips and strawberries. Then we took a long walk around the Desert, Palm, and Rose Gardens.




Dylan especially enjoyed smelling the roses, which were lovely and in full bloom.






Kathy decided that the red ones where her favorite, while I decided on any that smelled the most fragrant. Dylan just copied us, smelling as many as he could along the way!
And Daddy? Well, he had the camera.





At first I didn't much like The Desert Gardens when we started coming here (especially on really hot days), but they are really growing on me. This picture of the cactus almost seems to be in motion.




This part of the gardens can have the most exotic and bright colored blooms.




The Children's Garden was a popular spot for many today.

If you look closely, you can see the hills in the background here.








The waterbells.






Always a hit!







And where Dylan was egged on (by the very mischievous Ryan and Kathy) to dunk his head in the water...









Since it was such a warm, sunny day, we made a special effort to visit the mist and rainbow makers in the Children's area.
Here Dylan took a rest-break with Mommy and Kathy while the bigger kids ran around in the mist.
Also note that Dylan is SOAKED by this point after his first round in the waterbells.



And the vibrating water. Refreshing cool water on our hands after a long warm walk.

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p.s. At the start of our walk, Dylan insisted on walking alongside us. He fell down and scraped up his right knee. And for the rest of the day, he was very concerned about his "owie," checking on his band aid (thanks to Kathy who had a little first-aid kit in her purse) and pointing out his "kneeeee" in case we had forgotten.

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