Californication

Thursday morning we headed down to Lancaster, CA to visit the job site (aka Daddy's Second Home) while the boys were out of school. They are great little travelers, even at 5 AM. 

At the SLC airport, Luke saw a huge "airbus" that he wanted to take a picture of, but he couldn't smile because he still misses daddy.

We had a very short layover, just enough time to do some silly pictures and get a snack.

On the second flight the boys were on one side of the aisle and I was on the other. They ordered their own drinks and had their own little entertainment...when did this growing up stuff happen? 

Before too long we were at the job site and geared up for a job tour.  We started in the yard, where Luke liked to watch out the window more than walk around.  Daddy warned us about snakes and Luke took that to heart! 

He wasn't even going to walk 5' from the car...

Until we pinky promised him that there were no snakes here...
It just has to be said that I LOVE his crooked hat.

Funny face boys! 

Joshua Jenkins in front of a Joshua Tree.  

Friday the boys went to the Long Beach Aquarium with some Barnard friends while Mike and I worked.  Then Friday night we went to a Lancaster Jethawks (minor league) Baseball game. It was across the street from our hotel, so we walked over.  We could see the bouncy houses from our hotel room, so they were pretty much our first stop. 

Josh does not smile for pictures. He didn't smile coming down the slide, and he sure as hell won't smile after it's all over. 

Luke smiles the whole way down. 

And he slides very straight. 

We went to the souvenir shop and found Kaboom, the Jethawks mascot.  

This pose is Luke's idea. ;) 

Our seats were kinda terrible, so we popped around the stadium a lot.  This is where we had dinner. 

I love watching baseball...summer nights are my favorite. 

Seat option #99, on the first base line. We thought this sign was funny, and of course Luke thought it was funny to play "Whack a Josh" all night with his huge bat. 

At the 8th inning, all the kids who wanted to could chase Kaboom across the outfield.  Josh is toward the right in this picture, in gray pants and a neon yellow shirt. Daddy told them that if they beat Kaboom, they could have souvenir baseballs so Josh was in a full on sprint.  

Saturday morning we got up and went to Venice Beach. We checked out the skate park-- such a cool scene.

The kids checked out the water.  Is it warm enough to swim? 

Luke's posture cracks me up -- he's so tentative, and so completely fine letting Josh test the water for him! 

After a little detour to the car to get swim suits on, and sadly Luke got sick, we went back to sit in the sand.  Luke was really sick -- he had thrown up the night before and again in the parking lot -- and was such a trooper!  He played in the sand taking it easy and played fully later. If I was feeling like him, I'd be lying in the car begging for a hotel room. 

His shit eating smile makes me happy.

Josh fully buried -- he wanted to be kind of sitting up. 

This is as close to a smile as we're going to get out of him. You can tell he's having fun. 

As we drove through Beverly Hills and Hollywood (Josh's only request was to see the Hollywood Sign), Luke's sickness took over. We made several bathroom stops and just tried to hurry to the hotel room for the poor kid.  After we got everything settled in the hotel room, we went to the outdoor pool to let Josh swim. Luke and I joined later...he said he'd rather watch Josh than sit in the hotel room. I'm telling you he's a trooper! 

After swimming Luke was too tired to walk back up to the room.  Josh did about a zillion different versions of canon balls - he was taking requests so we did stuff like "monkey climbing a tree" and "lacrosse defender" and "the sprinkler" for him. It was really fun for all of us in our own ways. 

And this is what Sunday looked like.  Luke still sick, not willing to take the medicine that made him throw up (ammonium for kids...he swallowed a bit and then threw it up when we got to the hotel Saturday night....so no more of that!), and just so so so wishing he was home in his own house.