The Big 3-0

It's official...I'm old.

I turned 30 this past Friday (February 3rd, in case you were wondering) and it was...well, not so monumental.  At least, the day of my birthday wasn't too monumental but the weekend of my birthday was blissful.  :)  My sweet husband worked Thursday night and knew he wouldn't see me the morning of my birthday on Friday so before he left for work Thursday evening he left a few little surprises for me around the hotel.  It was perfect timing, too, because I had a very rough day at work on Thursday but when I walked into the hotel the frustrations of the day melted away.  Mike had decorated the room with balloons and homemade signs saying "Happy Birthday" and "I love you".  He had his laptop open with pictures from our wedding playing on a slideshow and our wedding music playing in the background.  There was a vase full of flowers on the counter and my favorite candy sitting next to them.  AND he made me a cake with LOTS of frosting.  We don't have an oven so he found a mix you could make in the microwave (just as good, by the way) and made that instead.  He also bought some goodies for my breakfast the next day, a movie, and a few silly gifts to keep my forgetful mind active (crossword puzzles and such).  It was a nice start to my birthday celebration and I spent the night being lazy eating cake and watching TV.  Ahh...

On my actual birthday I worked a full day and then came back to drive Mike to work down in Poway (near San Diego).  We wanted to carpool to his job that night so that we would only have one car for the weekend.  Well, that was a long drive.  It took us over 3 hours to get him to work!  The first hour I think we traveled a total of 12 miles. It was ridiculous.  The drive to his job has been slow at times but usually averages between an hour and a half to two hours; however, Friday night traffic is apparently much worse.  After dropping him off to work I checked into a nearby hotel and enjoyed an evening of cable TV (HGTV- oh yeah!) and McDonalds...As I said, the day of my birthday was not very monumental.

Saturday morning Mike slept for a few hours while I snuck in a workout and then we pumped him full of caffeine and headed out to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  The park was AmAzInG!!  It is set up similar to a zoo but also has a wide open area where you can take a safari ride through a natural setting with many different animals while a tour guide gives you information on all of the animals.  At one point there was a stampede; it was so breathtaking to watch the animals run and interact so naturally.  I absolutely LOVED our time here.  We also were able to watch a cheetah run at top speed on a short track and see some baby animals- elephants and gorillas. The baby gorilla was my favorite; he was super adorable.  That night we checked into our second hotel - this one a bit...okay, a lot nicer.  We went down to the hotel's restaurant/ bar and participated in "happy hour" which consisted of the bartender  and two middle aged men who were all fairly chatty.  We split a yummy half priced appetizer of quesadillas and had a few drinks; Mike happened to mention to the bartender that my birthday was yesterday and wrangled out a free drink for me :)  We had big plans to go and try out a nearby Italian restaurant that the bartender recommended but after our long day we both felt more like staying in and having pizza.  So we did.

Sunday consisted of a drive along the ocean in Carlsbad watching a few surfers brave the waves and then outlet shopping. We found a really nice restaurant/ winery where we had brunch and mimosas and then headed to Irvine for a Superbowl party.  A couple we met at our Bible study invited us over along with another couple (yay- we have friends!! I think...).  Aubrey (the hostess) is an amazing cook and made tons of great food for us and we enjoyed watching the Giants beat the Patriots on a big screen!  All in all, I will definitely remember my 30th birthday with happy memories!

We move into our apartment in 2 days! I'll keep you posted on how it is but for now I need to get going. Happy Wednesday!

Red Knobbed Hornbill. He looked a LOT cooler in person.

Mike can hear as well as a bat...and looks like one, too.  Or maybe like a creature from Lord of the Rings.

Daddy Gorilla and baby

Did you know Giraffes only sleep for 20 minutes or so a day. They apparently get some type of mental break (similar to what we get when sleeping) when they are ruminating/ chewing their cud.

Outline of the cheetah when the sprinklers came on

After his beautiful performance running

Mama and baby