Cameron Lo

The last time Cameron visited Ocean Park was two years ago. He was only a baby then, but now he’s certainly old enough to enjoy everything that Ocean Park has to offer—he’d better since he had to pay for admission having just turned three two days ago! 🙁

Good thing Cameron had so much fun, including the cable car ride, which of course is a must.

And the must-see show is definitely Ocean Theatre’s with the killer whales and dolphins. Yes I feel bad these beautiful marine animals are in captivity, but they are so awesome to watch!

I planned Cameron’s 3rd birthday party for today because we’ll be in Hong Kong on his actual birthday next Wednesday! It’s holiday season AND flu season, so we’re missing a couple of Cameron’s best buds and many cousins, but he still had a blast with all the other friends who made it from near and far…

…and Mickey Mouse of course! 🙂

Happy birthday my sweet little one!

Cameron has been in love with fire trucks and firefighters ever since he first rode the kiddie fire truck ride at Gilroy Gardens a year ago and heard other kids yell “Fire fire!” during the ride. Today Darren’s classmate’s mom arranged a visit to a fire station. Through my mothers’ groups, I’d taken Darren to a couple fire station tours when he was younger. Compared to those, today’s was a real treat—as soon as our group arrived, they pulled the fire truck out of the bay to let each kid climb on and sit in it! Cameron’s tiny already, so he looked even tinier in the driver’s seat of the huge fire truck!

The driver’s seat was the hottest ticket obviously, so he had to move on back pretty quickly to the rear passenger compartment, but he still had a blast putting on the seat belts and communication headsets. To top it all off, a firefighter let Cameron wear her real fire helmet!

Cameron fell in love with fire trucks a little over a year ago at Gilroy Gardens (I didn’t catch a photo of him in a fire truck but when he was riding in one and heard other kids yell “Fire, fire!”, he was hooked!) When Auntie Selene asked me what birthday gift Cameron would like, it was a no-brainer. I couldn’t wait for Cameron to see his gift—kids these days are spoiled indeed, but the excitement and joy they get out of a beloved toy is contagious! Thanks Auntie Selene!

Cameron loves his swim buddy Amara and likes to do everything with her in class, including sitting right next to her—a little too close really! Thankfully Amara doesn’t seem to mind and her mom and I get a good laugh out of it every single time. Today Dad was able to step in for me, so I could finally document this stalker tendency, which Darren also exhibits sometimes with girls he likes! I guess it runs in the family! 😉

Cameron got his first invitation to a classmate’s birthday party—all the birthday parties he’d been to are our friends’ kids’ or Darren’s friends’, but since he started school this fall, he’s made his own friends and has his own parties to go to now! The party venue is quite popular among parents and kids and has lots of activities including huge bouncy houses and rock climbing. As much of a daredevil Darren sometimes is, he’s never wanted to rock-climb—once he got all geared up like Cameron did here, but then he didn’t want to climb! Cameron’s usually the timid one, but my boy is full of surprises—when we asked him to rock-climb, he readily agreed and did great! Way to go Cameron!

Finally the day has come! Cameron is officially riding his trike all by himself! I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time now because I remember Darren reaching this milestone when he was 2 years and 7 months old. Cameron is 2 years and 10 months old already. I guess it’s not a big difference, plus it’s somewhat understandable since even though Darren is a bit of a klutz, at least he’s very active and pretty strong. Cameron’s more mellow—not to mention he’s so skinny it makes sense that his scrawny legs really couldn’t manage to pedal the trike along. He also didn’t have Darren’s natural instinct to steer in the right direction and would always ride off the path into trees, rocks, etc. (at a very slow speed of course.) I’m thankful Darren’s a good rider and probably an inspiration to Cameron to ride on his own. Now I just need to get a bike for myself—I’ve always wanted one with a basket :)—so I can ride with my boys!

When we went to Santa Barbara, we rented a surrey and the kids had a blast. Yesterday when we were heading into the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we saw people riding surreys and I knew right away what today’s activity’s going to be. 🙂 So after breakfast and checking out of the hotel this morning, we found the surrey shop. The kids brought along their favorite stuffed animals for the ride.

Darren loves to press Cameron’s face when we’re taking pictures and Cameron’s not focusing, so I had to include this often-seen image here. 😉

We made two pit stops—one at a “people’s” beach and one when we saw from a short distance seals swimming and sunning at their own beach! What a gorgeous weekend in Monterey! I must plan a return visit for the same time of year next year!

After a full day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it’s time for a nice long bath! Whenever we travel, I often just bathe both boys together. When the hotel’s bathtub is large like the one we have on this trip, the kids have so much fun playing in the water. That’s how you get a big, sweet smile like this one!

Today was our only full day here in Monterey/Carmel, so we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The admission tickets were so expensive too, so I’m glad we maxed out the experience. 😉 Cameron’s favorite spot was probably the water play area—and he got really wet despite donning a bib.

Like Darren, he also really liked the kids’ play area.

But the highlight of the day was on the deck. Vincent saw Cameron sticking his hand into his jeans—his butt was probably just itchy—but caught in the act, Cameron cracked up and it made for some of his smiliest photos ever!