First trip to Santa Cruz

We are having a heat wave in Northern California and hot-blooded Joey is not too happy about it. We are hanging out in the air-conditioned house in as little clothing as possible for a while. But, we did manage to take a trip down to Santa Cruz over the weekend so Joey could meet his great-grandmas, cousins and aunt/uncle. We decided to leave Friday so we could spread out the visits and not overwhelm Joey. When we arrive, my grandmother, sister-in-law and nephews welcomed us. My grandmother - Joey's great-grandmother (gigi for short) was so excited to meet him! So were his cousins, Salvador and Thomas and Aunt Anna. I was able to capture a smile on camera for the first time when he was hanging out with his cousins! On friday night, my good friend, Millie and her husband brought their baby Michael (who is 8 days older than Joey) over to my parents so we could meet each other's babies. It was a fun night, and we were treated to some delicious barbeque courtesy of my dad. (My mom was away at a conference, she was missed).

On Saturday, we headed over to my other grandmother's house and the oohs and ahs started all over again. Gigi Em thought Joey was just perfect (of course, we agree!). He was awake and alert the entire visit and took a long nap in the stroller as we walked around Capitola afterward. We had a fun weekend, and Joey was admired and loved by so many...here are the pics!

Our first all family road trip, I sat in the back with Joey

and Toughy got to sit in front with Kevin


meeting Gigi and Sal for the first time

With Auntie Anna

all the boys together (and the first on-camera smile!)

Meeting my friend's baby (I am holding baby micheal...can you believe he is the older baby...and Millie is holding Joey)

Papa was so excited to see Joey again and couldn't believe how much he has grown in three weeks

Uncle Tyler and Aunt Anna gazing at their beautiful nephew


Sleeping away on Gigi Saturday morning

meeting Gigi Em for the first time

Everyone is very impressed with Joey



On Sunday morning, we took the boys for a walk to the beach (well the cliffs above the beach), this is Joey's first time and he slept through it...not that you can see the beach through the fog but it is there ;) Sal took this picture for us.