the big 3-0 and the big 0-4

the first week in july is tied with the week of christmas for my favorite week(s) of the year. the weather is usually gorgeous, i get to celebrate my birthday and independence day, and everyone is usually in vacation mode.

the weekend before my birthday, i threw myself a little party (a favorite things party, to be exact) and invited about a dozen girl friends. i've gone to two favorite things parties before with my blogger friends, so i thought it would be fun to do one with in real life friends. basically everyone brings 3 of their favorite thing (all the same thing) and gets to go home with 3 other peoples' favorite things. it's sort of like white elephants with all cool stuff and no stealing. :) i somehow managed to only take pictures of the sangria and the favorite things and none of the guests. oops! but it was a fun night! 

thatcher ended up taking my birthday off. in the morning, ashford and i headed to meet my friend emily at original pancake house for brunch. i only go there once every couple years, but it is so good. i ordered pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and they also brought me out a chocolate chip pancake with whipped cream and a candle on top. good thing calories don't count on your birthday because I ate pretty much every last bite. :) yum! side note: ashford is getting to be a handful in restaurants these days. such a busy body...yikes! 

after brunch, emily, ashford, and i took a trip for target because i've been avoiding going when i'm alone with both kids :) in the evening, thatcher, the kids and i headed to my parents' house for pizza and cake with them and my brother. we ate out on the patio, it was such a nice night! thatcher made me oreo cheesecake that i requested (he also made it last year) and it was amazing. i opened a couple gifts and we were home in time to put the kids to bed and watch a movie. thirty is treating me pretty well so far! 

this picture cracks me up :) 

onto the 4th! that morning, we packed lunches and headed to the mn zoo right when it opened at 9:00, hoping the beat the crowds...which worked! we were excited to look at all the animals outside for the first time this year, but all azalea wanted to do was look at the fish inside. and she let us know she was unimpressed with the rest of the animals ;) we came across a carousel that they recently put in and azalea was so excited when she saw it and asked to go on. so i bought her and myself tickets and we went to find a horse for her to sit on. not 30 seconds after getting on the platform - she started freaking out and crying that she wanted to get off. the ride hadn't even started yet. i thought maybe she would sit on my lap on one of the bench seats, but nope - not a chance. freak out city. so we got off. and i pouted because it feeks like azalea is afraid of everything that everyone else's 2-3 year old loves. when will i learn that parenting isn't about comparing? it only leads to no good. anyway, we wrapped up looking at the animals and found a picnic table and had a nice lunch. picnics are something azalea absolutely loves and so do i. 

in the evening, we headed to my office building that's just outside downtown to watch fireworks with my co-workers from the 9th floor rooftop deck. we went last year too and although this year was a smaller group, it was still fun. you can see for miles. we brought both kids and planned to skedaddle whenever they needed to leave. azalea enjoyed stuffing her face with all the food, and ashford had plenty of admirers to hold him :) he fell asleep in my arms at about 9pm and azalea kept going strong the whole night. she was not a fan of the sound of the fireworks (not surprisingly) and she insisted on laying on the carpeted floor right inside the building to hide from the noise. but it was ok. i'm glad we all went. 

hope you all had a great 4th too!