The Weekend of My 29th

 FRIDAY the fun began.  My dad and Andrew have been dying to take Jackson out to the Chica course in Valencia.  Now that he has hit the red flag at the driving range three times, it was time to get him out on a real course.  With grandpa arriving in town, it was the perfect time to get everyone out there.  From what I hear, Jackson did fairly well for his first time.  He naturally took a break from a few holes, but it is felt that he really did enjoy himself.  One thing is for sure, he worked up an appetite and Ito needed a nap!

 The girls then took a break and my mom treated us to mani/pedis.  Not a bad way to start a birthday weekend :)

What do we naturally do when we have a chance for a nice dinner.... SUSHI!  Grandma is always so excited because they rarely get to go.  She was so excited she didn't even want to take the time to put her shoes on!  And the kids are always stoked about sushi!  Andi really does seem to love spicy tuna - my kinda girl.

My Birthday - SATURDAY was a long but oh so good day!  That morning I took a shower on my own - woohoo.  I have to admit, I was surprised I didn't have a little visitor join me, but when I got out and found her on a mound of books, I knew why I got that moment of freedom.

Truth be told, I didn't clean it up until Sunday afternoon.  Oh well.  Andrew scheduled to have me get a massage at 10:30am and I was so stoked to have Michalle join me.  It was a nice chance to catch up - oh wait, her guy wouldn't let her talk.  Yes, he actually tried closing her lips!  How rude :)  And then for me, they were so concerned with me being pregnant, the guy did my arms the first ten minutes, and then only focused on my legs and feet.  Hello, do you not know that when you're pregnant you're not going to break and yes, your back HURTS!?!?  Either way, it was a nice way to start my morning.  From there, I had to rush home to meet up with Andrew.  The afternoon brought me a surprise - no, a complete shock.  My family and friends put their heads together to surprise me with a little gathering.  Who can complain when you have enchilladas, rice, beans, all sorts of chips - heaven!

Ir really was so very relaxing and it made me so happy to see all the love and support.  But I can't lie, one of the best parts was sitting there, yes, on my big butt, watching everyone else clean up!  Well, I guess Ryan joined me in that category.

SUNDAY we woke to some real cranky kids.  Considering Ryan was the only one that decided to take a nap Saturday, and considering we didn't get until until 10pm or so, the kids were beat.  Seriously, beat.  Oh, and Friday night was 8:30 or 9pm, so yeah, it added up.  We were late in getting bathed, around 9am Jackson even asked why we were still in our PJ's.  Yes sir!  We bathed and immediately put the kids down for a way early nap.  I headed out to have menudo with my dad and grandparents while Andrew held down the house.  Luckily for us, everyone did sleep!  This made things much more pleasant when we headed out to Lombardi around 2 or so.  We are so grateful my grandparents were able to make it out this year afterall and we're so grateful for the tradition that began years ago.  Unfortunately, everyone else thought this was the perfect day as well - HOLY COW it was packed.  Luckily, it wasn't awful inside, but looking at the parking lot it truly was intense.  The funny thing to me was that here we are, a group of nine, trying to take a group photo despite the large crowds around us.  Not one person offered to take the picture for us.  Nope, they all just watched.  This didn't really matter because I am an expert camera propper, but seriously people, no one offered to help out??  Whatever.

We didn't stay too long I don't think.  Well, maybe it was a tad longer than one would plan but that's only because it took time to get from one point to another and it took nearly a half hour to buy tickets and another half hour to wait in line for the train.  Luckily for us the train was the only thing we decided to do!

 Originally, Jackson told us he didn't want to go on the train.  I bought him a ticket anyway.  Later we found out the reason he didn't want to ride the train was because he thought it was going to take us and drop us off somewhere.  I was so happy he joined us and that he LOVED it!  The train is Ryan's favorite and he has been dying to ride it since we went with preschool.  He was one happy camper.

Now I guess you go to Lombardi to pick a pumpkin, an expensive pumpkin.  Seriously, this place is such a rip off - they abuse the season I think.  Oh well.  The kids all picked out their own pumpkin but of course, not one of them picked one they could actually lift.

Considering we're following traditions here, grandma had to have a picture in the "tractor"!

Jackson is officially in that awkward stage where pictures just don't go over well.  Not sure when or how this happened, but it did.  So, I tried to get a few of him smiling.

We waited at the Fire Truck while grandpa grandpa and dad paid for the pumpkins.

By now, it was 6pm and we were starving, so ready for dinner.  When you're already near that end of town, you have to hit up CPK.  Ok, maybe you don't think the two places are that close, but it was close enough for us.  We had the pleasure of enjoying a nice evening  under the heaters outside.  The kids played around the pond before and after dinner and we all loved the Four Seasons pizza.  Ok, I'm hungry NOW!

That night we were sleepy, way sleepy.  All kids were in bed by 7pm.  They took a while to fall asleep, but it was a nice relaxing evening after such a busy weekend.  Busy yes, but wonderful!  I felt truly blessed and loved and I am forever grateful to those that contributed to my 29th weekend :)