Vacay

I'm going to be honest, the threes have been HARD around the Pearson house. WAAAAY worse than the worst "terrible two" day. I curse all of the people that said, "Oh you think that's bad? Wait 'till he turns 3!" Yeah. Thanks. I now have a horrible three year old.

Now, I do have to say that he is a very good little boy, most days. But when that magical switch flips... WATCH OUT!! He wants to be so big and so independent and so in control. Of. Everything. And that's when it happens... the sweet little boy turns into the BEAST!

So, that's what happened on our much anticipated vacay to San Diego. We'd be having a grand time and BAM! The beast would arrive. UGH! And honestly, it only happened maybe three times, but they were so bad I can't forget them and those times seem to overpower the good times. It got so bad on the last day that we left the zoo. Just left. Didn't even see the ONE animal we all wanted to see. The Panda. Sigh.

We have learned not to tell Jaxon anything until the even actually happens. So we didn't tell him about San Diego until the morning we were leaving. Brian actually wanted to tell him when we were in Yuma (the half way point). Yeah. That wasn't going to happen.

The moment we arrived in San Diego we headed for the beach. And thank goodness we did, 'cuz it was the only time our tootsies touched the sand.

What this picture failed to capture was Jaxon high tailing it away from the GIGANTIC wave that drenched Brian, but Jax didn't make it out unscathed. He biffed it as the water was receding.


Post fall.

Heaven

Jaxon's new thing: to stick out his tongue when you are taking his picture. Just another lovely 3 year old trait.

Notice those seagulls over there? Jax was not a fan of them lingering. I thought after his crazy bird experience he would steer clear, but not so much. He went right over there to scare them away.

After an hour or so at the beach, we had dinner and headed to the hotel.

The nice thing about having an independent three year old is that he WANTED to carry his suitcase!

With his tongue out of course.

My plan was to give Jaxon a bath and put him to bed. He didn't sleep on the drive over, so he had to be tired. Early bedtime right? Well, Daddy and Jaxon made other plans. They thought it would be fun to go swimming at 7:30. And they were right.

They are "best pals". Jaxon told Brian this a few times on the trip, "Daddy, you're my best pal." See, he CAN be sweet!

A week or so before our trip I had a light bulb moment... Jaxon may not fit in the pack 'n play we ordered! Yes, Jaxon is still in a crib with no plans of leaving soon. Brian had the brilliant idea of bringing our air mattress just in case. And thank goodness I had that moment of brilliance because sure enough, he was too long for that pack 'n play.

We took out the air mattress, but alas, it wasn't charged enough to inflate. But thankfully there was a sofa bed.

Umm yeah. Jaxon was not a fan. It took him forever to fall asleep. And at around midnight we hear something. Jaxon had somehow made his way to the floor. We found him sleeping in that spot between the book at the dinosaurs. Now, Brian seems to think he fell because the corner of the bed was slanted. But I don't think so. His back pack full of toys also made the journey to the floor.

We put him back in bed. At 4:00 am I hear him crying, "I don't want to sleep here." So what's a good mom to do? I take my pillow and lay down next to him. This is unprecedented in our house. We have NEVER let Jaxon sleep with us. I felt sad for the little guy. Well, I paid for it. He was awake from 4:00 am until 6:00. Playing. Yes. Playing with his dinosaurs, fire truck, ambulance and cars. Sweet. I was up again at 8:00 and that little rascal slept until 9:30 am.