Part two: San Diego

After flying into Orange County and getting the car with car seat rental we headed south to San Diego. I found a really great deal for a five star hotel for a quarter of the price. We stayed at the US Grant in the gas lamp district. The hotel was built in 1910 and recently underwent a 16 million dollar renovation, 10 US presidents have stayed there and the decor inside was gorgeous. So when we arrived shabby from traveling with 9 month in toe, we had to laugh. I had reserved a crib and they gave us a corner room (I am assuming to provide quietness for the rest of the guests). We were one happy family in that room.

Mason loved to play on our big bed.

We enjoyed sleeping in our big bed sans our son who slept very well in his crib near us.



There weren't many safety issues in the room so we let Mason go crazy and motor everywhere.

He was fascinated with the bathroom so we had to keep the door shut.

Both nights we were there we had dinner with Mike. He is such a good friend of ours and we love visiting with him. He was one of Matt's best men at our wedding. The first night we had a nice fish dinner on the water. Mason and I called it an early night so the boys could go watch the rest of the Rockies game at a nearby bar and catch up....but before they did I had to get a few photos.

Cerbo is not the most experienced with small kiddos but he can borrow ours anytime he wants to use him to pull ladies:) "Hey I'm just the kids uncle ladies."

The next morning we went to the San Diego Zoo. I have been to San Diego several times and never seem to get to the zoo. Finally we made it there and let me say it was AWESOME! Matt and I love having a kid and one of the reasons is you get to do all the fun kid stuff all over again. We rented a stroller and spent the entire day seeing the zoo. I think we saw 90% of it and got a workout too. For those who have not been it is very hilly.

There were a lot of monkeys.

This bear is from Asia and he reminded me of our chocolate lab Hunter.

We took a lot of animal pictures and I have made them into a book for Mason but I will not post all of them on here. The one animal we forgot to get a picture of was the mountain lion. We stood 3-feet from that amazing creature and I was mesmerized by its beauty and the fact I could run into one in my backyard.

That evening we headed to the beach to meet Mike and some of his friends who were playing a beach volleyball game. Matt and I LOVE the ocean and it was really cute to see how mysterious it seemed to Mason. The water was chilly so we only touched Mason toes.

My two handsome guys.

Matt is doing a Baywatch pose and really that is ocean spray on his pants.

The next morning we ventured around the city a bit on foot and found a neat little city market to have breakfast.

Mason is so serious about his food, he gets that from his mom.

The boys in front of our hotel.

After breakfast we packed up and headed east to Banning where my family lives, a 1.5 hour drive. We enjoyed our San Diego trip immensely and we look forward to going back when Mason is older.

Next post is family and wedding photos!!!