My birthday fell on a Monday this year (lame) so we started celebrating early. On Saturday, Mollie kindly agreed to watch the boys so that Bryce and I could go out. He planned a surprise date for us in Salt Lake City. (I think he was looking for redemption after our last surprise date to Salt Lake City.) We ate dinner at a very small restaurant called Cafe Niche which had 2 guys playing jazz on saxophone and guitar. The menu was limited but we didn't have trouble finding something to order and prices were Applebees-ish. I got the chicken and asparagus and it was tasty. Afterwards we tried to find a festival that we'd had to detour around earlier, but we couldn't remember what street it was on. (We found out later that it was the GLBT festival so I guess our poor sense of direction saved us from another Mormon fish out of water Salt Lake experience.) We walked around the Gateway instead and there were trees in bloom and old jazz standards playing on the outdoor P.A. system and raindrops were just starting to fall. Sigh. It was lovely. Then we ended the evening at Gourmandise to share some desserts. Food may be the way to a man's heart...but I'm pretty sure desserts are the way to mine.
On my actual birthday, I celebrated with lunch at McDonald's with Kyle and Mollie. I had originally planned on something a little more...edible...but decided there was no point in trying to take my boys anywhere that they would be expected to sit still. And I do love me some McDonald's chicken nuggets. After my lunch at McDonald's I think I did something incredibly exciting like clean up my house so I wouldn't be embarrassed when people came over later. By request, Bryce picked up mango chicken salads from Costa Vida on his way home. Another food I greatly enjoy. Then we finished up with my traditional angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Bryce fed my wish-I'd-gone-to-culinary-school fetish and gave me ramekins and individual-sized trifle dishes. One of these days I'll throw a lavish dessert party and put them to use. Mom sent me a life-size Connecticut pendant necklace complete with star to mark the location of my home town. (Just kidding Mom, it wasn't really life size...Connecticut is smaller than that...just kidding again...I really do like it.) I had mentioned liking it before Christmas so kudos on the remembering Mom. The siblings treated me well as well...especially certain brothers who I hear are thinking up something really great that just hasn't arrived yet. cough. cough. Oh, I'm sorry...did I write that out loud?
The day after my birthday was Kyle's birthday. He brought his fiancee and a few friends over for cake and ice cream. I'm telling you...June and July are party-central at my house. I don't have any pictures of my birthday, but it looked a whole lot like the one above. Just substitute Bryce for the two guys on the left, move Kyle over a seat, and insert me behind the cake. Voila!
The day after that Mollie, my boys, and I flew to Connecticut. The boys did surprisingly well. And dear sir who got on last and had to sit in the middle seat directly in front of my children - yes, I can see the "oh please no" looks you exchanged with your seat mates upon realizing you had no other choice but to sit there. If it makes you feel any better I didn't particularly want to sit with them either, but they don't allow small children in checked baggage.
I'm not sure if it was just nap time or the dose of children's dramamine I gave him or both, but Sawyer was out for all of our first flight and a good portion of our second. Will entertained himself for several hours by singing along with his mp3 player. Unfortunately, the poor child had had severely clogged ears for weeks and couldn't hear himself talk (or sing). So he needed constant reminders to tune down his renditions of Video Killed the Radio Star, I Don't Like Your Girlfriend, and, my personal favorite, In the Highways. He sings the last quite enthusiastically in his little only-dogs-can-hear-it high pitched voice: "In the hiiiiiighways, in the haaaayyysss...I'll be somewhere a-lookin for my Lord." (The actual lyric is "workin" rather than "lookin," but lookin is pretty funny in my book.)
The look-exchanging gentleman redeemed himself at the end of our first flight when he looked the boys over and announced "They're good travelers."
We arrived in Connecticut at about 10:30 at night and got the boys in bed around midnight. And the sun never returned.
