Brian's Birthday!!

Okay, so I'm posting these out of order but since blogging is taking the place of journaling (is that a word?), I'm putting this in. :) This year, on August 13th, Brian turned 31! Birthday's around here tend to be a several day celebration (and why shouldn't they be?) since we have both sides of our families and our own family to party with. It started a few days before his birthday when the mailman delivered his present wet, so he had to open to see if it was damaged in case a return was needed. The kids and I got him a Kinect for his XBox and thankfully it wasn't ruined! Brian was shocked, which is what I always hope for. Woo-hoo! With the Edling side of the family, my mother-in-law made Brian his favorite dinner that she cooks and he requested that I make hot fudge sundae cake (it's a play on Bob Big Boys famous dessert). We opened presents, played games and the kids ran wild as is usually the case when all the little cousins get together. I'm so mad at myself for forgetting the camera!! Bad wife!

The next day the kids and I made him breakfast in bed (no one was burned which is reason to celebrate right there). After he was done eating, the kiddos gave him a special candy-gram and then we got ready to go out. We met my mom and Jonathan at Irvine Regional Park to celebrate. I made a sub sandwich picnic complete with cupcakes and mom brought the drinks. We had our picnic and then visited the attractions. This place is so busy! We love it there! Mom and Jonathan were a huge help with the kids,so that's awesome! I tried to limit the pictures but there's still a quite a bit. Bare with me....oh, and Dad was still recovering from surgery and couldn't attend.

The Zoo

It's just a small zoo with mostly CA animals, but the kids love it!

I love the look he's giving her!

creepy bird

Waiting to watch the bears feed...

paw size difference between a grizzly and a black bear. The black bears 600lbs seems pretty tiny by comparison!

Boat Ride on the Lake

there were races...but they didn't end well hahaha



the Birthday Boy

tell me that squishy little fake smile doesn't just melt you!

Keira loved driving and trying to help pedal

Family Bike Ride on a Double Surrey

  

This was so fun and SO. STINKING. HARD. Within the first cycle or two of pushing down on the pedals we all just realized that this was going to be so much more work than we anticipated. My mom was saying, "We have this thing for an hour?!?! No. No. NO. I'm done!" The four adults just laughed and laughed the whole ride (which I realize may have been part of our problems). The kids (the little girls especially) screamed like they were on a roller coaster. All the other parties in the park just stared at us as we drove by, for good reason. I'm sure we must have looked like a bike full of lunatics. Sometimes it was so hard going up the hills that the four adults would jump out and push the bike until we were all running and then try to fling ourselves back onto the bike. Yeah. We're not as agile as we once were....okay. Mom and I aren't. Anyway, it was a total BLAST at the park and Brian really enjoyed himself. Afterwards, mom and Jonathan babysat while Brian and I went on a date. Oh! I love the date nights!!
The next Wednesday once my sister came home and dad was better, we had a big Italian dinner per Brian's request and something great for dessert, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. THIS is why I need to be a better blogger!

Happy Birthday, Brian!!