Kris and Charles' California Wedding, Austin's First Beach Visit

Summer is closing, and we welcome Fall!! Jake would disagree (summer is his favorite) but I LOVE fall. The crisp air, school starting, beautiful changes in the trees, and COOL AIR. Thank goodness. We don't have AC and this summer might as well have been the summer I was pregnant...SUPER HOT.  We can finally play outside again in the afternoon without sweating to death.

Nothing better to end summer was the most beautiful wedding ever. My Aunt Kris married her sweetheart Charles, and he IS a sweetheart :) This was at the end of August. Before we get to that, let's take a look at what Austin's been up to lately, shall we?

I don't remember what he was doing here, but I think it's safe to assume he is being his goofy self. Lots of meals turn into Austin entertaining anyone who will watch. I can however say that this pick shows his favorite breakfast...pancakes!

I find him in weird positions all the time. How did he not fall off the table here?!

He loves his shape puzzle. This is the first time he completed it all alone. I didn't even ask him to do it, he initiated it all by himself! I wasn't even paying attention. I was so proud of him, I told him to smile so I could take a picture :) Nice smile! This is also one of the stories he "tells" me all the time: I told Papa (Jake's dad) that Austin did his puzzle, and Papa said to tell Austin that Papa says "woooow." So I did, and ever since then, Austin will tell me about how Papa said "wooow" because he finished his puzzle.

We returned to Lagoon, using our bounce-back passes. Austin got such a kick out of the kiddy-rides, Jake really wanted to see him have fun. So the whole Peterson clan (minus Ryan and Alex) made a trip to Lagoon for the night!

Getting in trouble for having Austin on a lap!

Riding the mini Tidal Wave with grandma and Papa!

Ok on to the wedding. We flew to California for the weekend to see my lovely Aunt Kris get married. It was the perfect wedding. She got married at a Winery at the top of a mountain, and it was so incredible! It was such a fun weekend. So nice for Jake and I to get away and get out of our routine. We stayed at a hotel, and our rooms hooked to my mom's and my sister's. It was so fun to open the through-doors and hang out altogether when we weren't busy doing wedding stuff :)

Austin was so good. I contemplated bringing him at all, since it was very nice wedding with everything formal, and even a fancy rehearsal dinner the night before. But we're just not a family without our little buddy!  Plus we wanted to take him to the beach!  He slept so well each night, in his pac n play, I was so happy. We were out very late each night, and his naps were thrown off...and he did absolutely fine thank goodness! What a trooper. Mom and Dad were quite pleased. 

He is such a party animal. At the rehearsal dinner, we took him outside to walk around, and there happened to be a street band/party and he was DANCING his little heart out. It was so cute. This kid is a dancing fool. There were ladies, in their 50's, dancing around the streets going all crazy (you know what I mean!) and he was right in the middle of them, by himself, dancing with them. They loved him haha. They kept blowing him kisses and he just kept rockin' out.  He loves new environments, especially if it's a dance party haha!

Just playing, at the rehearsal dinner.

My mother dearest :)

Yeah, I don't know haha..

Sister Kristina, me and Mom!

The Hubs :) It was great to be on vacation together

Jake made Austin a frog out of his Play-Dough. Got some skill!

Riding the Gargoyle-thing in our hotel

Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vinyards. A beautiful place for a snazzy wedding!!! Overlooking San Jose, Palo Alto, and San Francisco!

These pictures were the best I could do with a toddler yanking on my arm haha

The hanging flowers were giant, and so pretty!

The Bride and Groom making their entrance into the dinner. Oh, and Hi Jake! Hi Joe! :)

Our place setting at the head table. Four glasses.. yes it IS a Winery! Oh, and the sippy cup is a nice touch isn't it? The party favors were so cute. They came in that little white box with the orange ribbon tied around it. Inside was a lego-person. Everyone got a different one, even different accessories and props. Then you were suppose to trade body parts and accessories with people, to ultimately create your "Alter Ego." I loved that idea!

Stunning.

My Aunt Kris and her new Hubby Charles giving the opening toast. They said so many thank yous, including to Jake, Austin and I for coming to California for them. So thoughtful. My mom also gave a toast, which is always terrifying (let's not remember the one I gave at Jandie's wedding!) but my mom did amazing. It was sincere, and straight from her heart.

Haha this is what you get when you take your toddler to a fancy wedding dinner! An extremely bored little guy, albeit quiet (I will take falling asleep over screaming any day!) The wedding planner was so sweet and made sure Austin got his "kid's meal" (winery-version of a kids' meal = potato ravioli and string beans) asap, long before we got our food. But, despite her effort to make us and him happy, Austin was not interested in his food...can you blame him? haha. I on the other hand thought it was delicious! 

The cutting of the cake, dessert, and dancing were inside. The vew was amazing: 

Oh, and dessert was so yummy. Wedding cake, an assorted sweets bar, and a nitrofreeze ice cream bar..complete with brownies, hot fudge, caramel, and almonds.

I enjoyed everything about this wedding. I really think it was so perfect. The flowers, food, dancing, music, dinner, it was awesome! We stayed and danced for a while before we decided Austin probably needed to go to bed haha! So we didn't see them off, but I bet it was fun! Now they are in the middle of a two week honeymoon in Hawaii!

The Beach! The next day we drove to Half Moon Bay before the airport and hung out by the waves for about an hour.

 Austin loved running from the waves and getting wet. He was a little intimidated by the waves, which I don't blame him..I am afraid of the ocean too! But he was all smiles, screams (running away from the waves) and giggles.

 Teasing the seagulls!