35 for Our Big D

We just closed out a most epic run of free babysitting (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and getting out on the town. I think I've eaten more meals out (or taken in) in the last week than I did all last month. I'm also pretty sure I've indulged in more adult beverages than I did in all of 2016. But that's not saying a whole lot...I really could have used a lot more to drink in 2016.

Really kicking back at the Meabon girls' birthday party over the weekend.

Getting out of the house is so much easier when kids can get themselves dressed.

Helping with the cupcake baking.

Dylan spent a ton of time on parenting duty on Monday while I checked out for all but a couple hours of the day.

Taking the pedal bike out for a short spin.

I kicked off the week at Chipotle with some dear girlfriends who I hadn't seen in WAY too long, and it was awesome for the soul. As Jess says, "It's not about where we eat, it's just about getting together." She couldn't be more right! We talked about grabbing a Frosty and sitting on a curb next time.

On Tuesday, the whole family loaded into the Highlander by 6:45am, along with a LOT of cargo. Lunches, school stuff, work stuff, a gym bag, a container of cupcakes, swim bag and an overnight bag for each of us. There were a lot of details to remember, but we had big plans because it was Dylan's birthday! We dropped each kid at their respective schools, and then Dylan swung me by the pharmacy before tackling a long day of doing a variety of things, himself. He showed back up in the afternoon 20 minutes before my shift ended with high hopes that I'd sneak out just shy of 4 o'clock. After all these years, though, nothing has changed. I don't even have time to pee when I'm at work, let alone check out early. But no worries...we made it to Craft 64 before the rest of the crew showed up and secured a perfect table out back.

It was a party of 9, a delicious selection of Moscow Mules and some of the best pizza in town. Literally. Craft 64 poached the head chef from Pizzeria Bianco, and their pizza game is no joke. We sang to Dylan, passed around cupcakes, and then it was down the street to The Escape Room. Dylan had done something like this with his family a little while ago and had talked about wanting to do it for his birthday. He deals with the logistics of large group events much better than I, so he actually pulled this all together himself. (At least I didn't forget the cupcakes!)

Singing Happy Birthday on Monday. Gavin blew that whistle "to the tune" of happy birthday for the entire song. 

Our birthday boy!

I'm not much of a game person, but I was certainly intrigued by this. I think I might actually be a little bit of a "game person," but I labeled myself as NOT one so long ago, and I'm having trouble shaking the title. My competitive spirit is lacking, but I do enjoy a good puzzle, and so this was actually pretty cool. The only bummer was that our group of nine was added to a group of three, so not only did we have to work with three strangers, but that was just WAY too many people for something like this.

In the end, it was actually pretty fun. We didn't escape the room in time...we were ten seconds too late. We had everything we needed to get out...the cash, the bonds and the key. (It was a Western bank heist theme.) But we were thrown off by one minor detail at the very end. I solved a riddle or two, but I also spent some time mentally checked out while everyone else scrambled looking for clues and keys and number sequences. Most importantly, the birthday boy had a great night.

We bid our friends farewell afterward so they could relieve their babysitters, and D and I headed to the Coach House for a final drink. Then it was off to the hotel in Old Town, where we were asleep prior to 10pm. After a quick breakfast at Daily Dose, we picked up the boys at my parents' house and brought Gavin to swim class, and then carried on with our lives.

Just cruising around at the swim school.

We got some new sporting equipment...and the soccer ball is already stuck on the roof.

Some new Spiderman pads for all the bike riding that he may or may not do.

I've been getting this face a lot lately. What a rascal.

Burning off some energy in the backyard before bedtime.

At this point, we're on the eve of our weekend. We talked about camping (again) but decided to put it off (again) because we have a lot of work to do around here. Our garage desperately needs to be purged. Can someone please just come over and do this for me? I'll give you my left arm. Other than that, I'll be working on shedding those extra lbs and that sneaky little potbelly that appeared after this week of partying. I know...what a thrill.

A Happy Fall Day

Today was one of those days that was unexpectedly so very nice. Dylan was able to take a break from his regular at-home work duties and joined me in dropping off Gavin at Dawn's. Gavin had been talking about Dawn's house and was definitely ready to see his buddies again. Then we checked in at Babymoon, but not before hitting Dutch Bros. on the way. Everything checked out great in the baby department. I was afraid that after a full weekend of celebrating and lots of lots of sugar that they might tell me my butt was so big that it was unhealthy for the baby. Fortunately, they made no mention of it.

The baby is still breach, but they just keep acting not worried about it and said next time we'll start making a plan for spinning him around. My midwife demonstrated an awesome inversion exercise that I can start doing just for laughs in the meantime. She also talked about nursing, and I told her about my struggles from last time. She made me feel a lot more comfortable by saying she's not a do-or-die breastfeeding person. As long as you give it your best and have sought out all the necessary support...if it doesn't work out, it just doesn't. She also had all kinds of recommendations for other things, like seeing the chiropractor, and then laughed and said, "I have so many ideas to share when it comes to babies and pregnancy..too bad they all cost money. Haha." They keep it really real there. As we walked out of the appointment, she put on her witch hat to hand out candy to the parade of babies in costume for the Halloween Baby Parade. The office was a zoo of babies and they were so cute and hilarious. I left there feeling really glad I see the midwives...even if it does take all morning to drive there when I have to drop off Gavin first.

From there, we hit La Grande Orange for sandwiches and hung around for a couple hours while we both got some work done on our computers. For our next stop, we did the unthinkable and went to a Tuesday matinee. The movie was Steve Jobs and the venue was Tempe Marketplace. It was a really, really well-written movie. It should come as no surprise that I think this because it was written by Aaron Sorkin, the same guy who wrote Newsroom. Which can only mean one thing: I'd better start watching The West Wing. I can't even remember the last time I saw a movie, and hopefully it's not too long before I find myself in a theater again. It's pretty awesome that we were both available to do this on a Tuesday afternoon, which is something I should keep in perspective next time I'm boohooing about my millionth weekend in a row with Dylan out of town.

We finally picked up Gavin, where he demonstrated his sight-word skills with Dawn, and we were so impressed. We got home just in time to take a short rhino ride. I'm sure it drew some double takes...big pregnant lady on a rhino holding her 2-year-old in her lap. I felt a little better about being so unsafe and redneck when we passed our neighbor driving his van with his granddaughter in his lap, behind the steering wheel. (See KP, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to driving home from the mailbox.) #wildwest

And finally, because I had completely forgotten to think about dinner, we decided to eat pumpkin waffles and smoothies on the patio. The weather was perfect. I always look forward to fall, but sometimes it feels so forced with all the pumpkin stuff and praying for lower temps. Tonight, though, was just right. The perfect fall night. With a few Halloween festivities coming up this week and a good excuse to make goodies, I'm really starting to feel in the spirit of things. I have zero pictures to share and owe the two-night-in-a-row blog post to taking yet another day off from being productive. I'm sure it will catch up with me soon, but I'm just not worried about it. Happy fall, y'all.

Yesterday

Yesterday I turned 32. It's such a boring age to turn, and I really didn't think much about my birthday this year. I had bigger things to think about, I guess. But my family treated me with extra TLC, and it ended up being one of the best birthdays ever!

Dylan took on baby duty for a large portion of the day, even though he had a bazillion hours of work to do on the computer. Kristin picked me up in the morning and we went to get pedicures (and fit in a lot of uninterrupted girl talk...what a treat) . I go so long without getting a real pedicure (the ones I give myself at home do not count at all), that it's almost embarrassing when I actually go. But I've got some fun dark blue toenails now, compliments of K. Thanks so much! We brought Chipotle back for the guys and had a quick outdoor picnic when we got home.

Then it was time for the second portion of the day. D and I headed out with the baby and met my mom at The Quarter. He and Gavin hung out for an hour or so while my mom took me birthday shopping. Then we made a switcheroo, and my dad met up with us, and my parents took Gavin while D and I went to Stingray Sushi. Yum!

Gavin's cloth-diaper induced moose knuckle. How embarrassing.

A non-conventional family picture

We made it home in time to put Gavin to bed at his self-established bedtime of 7:30. He woke up at 7:00 this morning, with only one intermission to eat at 3am, and we all feel fantastic. A good day for sure, and now I'm back on baby duty with my BIG 2 MONTH OLD! I can't wait to get his stats at the doctor today. The shots? Not so excited for those.

Serious about Seafood

Here on the coast, people are pretty serious about the quality of their seafood. After an amazing seafood dinner, we ended up at Local Ocean the next day, a lunch spot and seafood market in Newport. They don't fool around with their ocean fare.

Dungeness crab chowder and calamari. Not battered, not fried.

The fresh seafood market across from our lunch table.

We also had fish tacos, and as with the calamari, nothing about it was fried. It was an interesting way to experience seafood, and I determined that it must be an acquired taste. I'll get there some day. {The crab chowder, however, was stupendous.}