Insect and Spider Identification: What kind of wasp is this?, 1 by jenmr

jenmr wrote:
I have a ton of these flying over my lawn. I live in the South Bay area of Southern California, about 1-2 miles from the beach. At first I thought they were yellow jackets, but then when researching wasps, I found that they follow the same weird habit of the scoliid wasp. They hover over my lawn and crawl through the grass. The problem is that it doesn't look too much like a scoliid wasp, from the pictures I've found on the web. I'm just curious what type it is and if its aggressive. I have two toddlers plus a blind dog and I'm worried about stings. If its aggressive, what's a good way to control them?

Thanks!