Jaeger learned two new tricks while he was in California. Here's a picture of one...
*pulling himself up and standing, not playing the xylophone (although, hopefully one of my children wind up with some musical ability! Jaeger is named after his musical great-grandfather, so maybe he'll be the one.)
And a video of the other (Jaeger did already know how to crawl, but he was famous for the "army crawl" and never really got on all fours until our CA trip.)
So as you may already know, Dane loves to play firefighter (Unk Tim would be proud!) Normally Daddy and I are his preferred playmates, but he absolutely LOVED playing with Uncle John. I've never seen Dane warm up to someone so quickly. He adored John. Perhaps it was because they have so much in common. They both seem to carry goggles wherever they go (yep, John had not one, but 2 pairs of goggles in his car!). They both love Legos and they both aspire to work ina firefighter & rescue capacity (John is hoping to start EMT school in the fall and Dane, of course, is already a firefighter rescuing people pretty much non-stop from sunup to sunset.) So, here are Dan and John playing firefighter.
If you actually watched that entire video you deserve a GOLD STAR! That was incredibly long. Who has time for that? ;) Did anyone catch who he "calls" on the phone to say what a good job they had done?
It was so wonderful seeing Auntie Kissy & Uncle Sal while we were in California. They both really dove in and got to some serious playing with Dane. Auntie Kissy is now an expert in all things firefighter and I'm pretty sure that it was Uncle Sal who taught Dane the art of wrestling! It was a blast seeing them so much while we were visiting and we're so sad that we don't live closer, but we have some great photos to look back on.
Mary hosted a wonderful lunch today with some of my old teaching buddies. It was so great to catch up with old friends. These are the kind of friends that make you feel like no time has passed even though we may not find the time to talk as much as I'd like to these days.
I'm already looking forward to our next visit. Maybe I can convince them all to travel to Alaska? :)
You may remember a few posts back I mentioned Jaeger had a visit to urgent care and was diagnosed with an ear infection. Well, the antibiotics he was on must have upset his tummy and he wound up with one of those poopies that sends you straight to the bath! Since Dane was eating in the kitchen, I decided to just plop Jaeger in the sink and hose him down. He LOVED it! Thankfully, I had my camera right there to capture it.
I thought ice cream trucks were a thing of the past, but one came strolling along singing a happy tune while we are this great park in Laguna Woods. Dane loved being able to choose his very own ice cream treat. You can see about half the action here....
*Sorry for the rather strange cut off video. We thought we were actually just taking a picture, but wound up with the video instead.
Here are some more pics from this great park near my mom's house.
Happy boy on the swing!
Auntie Kissy and Dane riding the dino.
This picture cracks me up. I can't even remember why Auntie Kissy was giving me the sad face, but I thought it was too funny not to include. I wanted to get in on the fun too!
Our day started out at Urgent Care. :( Jaeger Ray wound up with yet another ear infection (he seems to be following in his brother's footsteps.)
Here he is in the doctor's office and he still looks happy. I, on the other hand, look like I've been through the wringer - we haven't slept all that much on this trip and the bags under my eyes are really showing it. ARGH!)
Here's the up part of my day though.
And the up part of Dane's day.
Dane went poopie in the potty and earned a chocolate donut! YIPEE!
What a treat to be here for the annual 4th of July Carey celebration. It's always a blast with kids splashing in pool in a good game of Dibble Dabble and the adults partaking in the annual ping pong competition (the winner even gets to take home a coveted trophy for the year!) Dane barely even realized all those activities were even happening though! He spent nearly 2 hours playing with these (thanks to Matthew's massive collection of Legos) -
And Jaeger spent time eating
And hanging out in everyone's arms. Here he is with Auntie Tracy. :)
We then all enjoyed some time on the trampoline!
I could have laid on that trampoline all day with this incredible view...
This is what happens when you leave Auntie Kissy & Auntie Poopa (otherwise known as my sister and me) in charge.
Auntie Kissy left her purse on the coffee table and Ella Bella got into her make-up bag while we were busy changing diapers. And Kristen's first response was "Why would she do that?" and my response was because she's 4 and that's what they do. :) Ella's mommy was a little nervous that Ella Bella knew exactly where the mascara went especially since she doesn't wear mascara herself - a little diva in the making. ;)
All the animals were out and put on a great show for us.
Dane loved the elephants. The babies were so cute and Mommy elephant was trumpeting in anger as one of the other elephants came a bit too close to her baby. It was pretty cool to hear them "fight!"
A few pics of the happiest baby on the block...
Auntie Mary & Auntie Lizey in action! A HUGE thank you to both of them for coming with us. It really made it so much easier having Aunties there (and A LOT more fun!) ;)
Giraffes and lions, oh my!
All tuckered out...
I know it's a Thursday, but here's a fun video I took of this great musical group we saw at the Wild Animal Park. As you'll see in the video, all the kids were mesmerized.
*pulling himself up and standing, not playing the xylophone (although, hopefully one of my children wind up with some musical ability! Jaeger is named after his musical great-grandfather, so maybe he'll be the one.)
We love you!!! 
Couldn't you just eat him up?
Here he is in the doctor's office and he still looks happy. I, on the other hand, look like I've been through the wringer - we haven't slept all that much on this trip and the bags under my eyes are really showing it. ARGH!)
And the up part of Dane's day.
Dane went poopie in the potty and earned a chocolate donut! YIPEE!
And hanging out in everyone's arms. Here he is with Auntie Tracy. :)
We then all enjoyed some time on the trampoline!
Loved seeing Steph and Mel. 
Giraffes and lions, oh my!
