Asilomar Trip

The biennial gathering of Steve's parents, five siblings and their kids was held earlier this month in Pacific Grove at the Asilomar Hotel & Conference Grounds. 

Jack had a fantastic time.

Henry was more contemplative. 

Family Picture Day

Wrangling a family of thirty-one for family photos takes time. Toddlers just shy of two years old are not known for their patience. Hopefully the end result will turn out well. In the meantime...

The Santa Cruz Loveridge boys await their turn in front of the lens: 

Jack and his mama on the steps of the Hearst Social Hall:

Cousins
The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins. Unfortunately it was difficult for Steve and me to get pictures while also preventing the boys from slamming their fingers in doors or generally escaping out of them. A few pictures that were taken...

Henry and his Mom, and Jack and his Dad pose with one of their oldest cousins, Perry: 

Reading with Cousin Colin:

(Jack really was having a good time, he just disapproved of the picture-taking.)

Jack, trying to be one of the big kids, with Cousins Colin and Camdan:

Uncle Jon and Cousin Camdan take Jack for a walk on the Asilomar Conference Grounds: 

Park Outing
While the rest of the family went on a bike ride, we took the boys to Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey. It's a fun place, though the boys are a bit too young to fully enjoy all the cool play structures.

The main attraction for them was a giant steam train engine plopped down right at the park entrance. Jack wasn't pleased about the fence separating him from the super cool train.

Let me in!

While it didn't seem that many kids had any interest in the train, Jack and Henry wanted me to read the informational sign to them, and then poured over the pictures on it.

Little train junkies: 

Jack and Henry get some coaxing from Dad to go down the slide:

Little dudes enjoying a lollipop break (Jack left, Henry right): 

Hi, train! Jack waves to the steam engine:

Hanging Out
Back at the family lodging, Jack is ready for mischief...

... but does find such a large group of people a bit loud for his taste:

Jack enjoys playing in a kitchen cupboard: 

The boys loved hanging around the kitchen, ferrying plastic bowls from the dining room into the kitchen cupboards, making grumbling microwave sounds ("cook!" they excitedly announced) then returning the finished product to the dining room.

Henry finds Jack's important phone call very intriguing: 

Finally, some pictures of Jack playing with his plastic dump truck (while Henry was finishing up his afternoon nap), presented in excessive quantity, because we think they're cute.

Loading and unloading puzzle pieces:

The boys are fortunate to have such a large and loving family. They are less fortunate that they do not live close by.