THE Day

It's not uncommon, in my family, for birthdays to last for a week or more.  This is simply because we'd typically have a birthday party with friends, if my dad was out of town we'd have a separate family celebration, and my mom insisted that we always do something special on the actual day, even if we'd already had two other celebrations!  Unfortunately for my husband, who isn't used to that extravagance, I don't see myself doing things any differently than my mom did.  Lucky for me, Hubs doesn't seem to mind (perhaps he just hides it well?).

Either way, I really wanted Bunkey to have a fun day on June 4th, which was his actual birthday.  Yeah, I know he won't remember any of it, but the day was special for me, too, and there are pictures to fuel Bunkey's memories later in life.

It was a rainy day in Monterey yesterday, so my original plan of a fun trip to the playground was quickly put on hold.  No point in rusting up his brand new Radio Flyer Wagon just for a few rides down a soggy slide and a push or two on the swings...  Not to mention that a cold or sore throat were not on my lists of birthday gifts for my little man!  Plan #2 involved meeting Hubs on campus for a special birthday lunch, but Hubs is on the verge of finals week and super busy, so that didn't really work.

Well, the third time's a charm, as they say, so we made plans with some Parents Place friends (K and her son C, who were also at Bunkey's party) to meet for lunch and then take the boys for ice cream.  Well, between unscheduled maintenance and restaurant closures, we didn't find a place to eat until our fourth try!  Things worked out great, though, because we were able to score free parking, and the restaurant, First Awakenings, was in a building that also featured some mechanical toys for the boys to ride while we waited for a table!

After lunch, we went down the road to Baskin Robbins for Bunkey to enjoy his first ever ice cream cone!  And (yay!) there were no adverse dairy reactions afterword!  Perhaps we're outgrowing this lactose intolerance after all!

Finally, once Daddy was home, we ate dinner (since Bunkey can't talk, though, I couldn't ask his druthers, but I did serve up his favorite chicken sticks and applesauce!), sang Happy Birthday one more time, and let Bunkey enjoy a slice of chocolate cake (another first!).  Then Daddy did bathtime, complete with bubbles and new pirate ship bath toys, and I read a new story (How I Became a Pirate....gorgeous pictures!) for bedtime!