Daddy Time

The kids love playing in the backyard with Stephen.

It never seems to get old.
Fathers' Day was no exception:
it helps that Stephen loves it as much as the munchkins do.

 

 

Another daily moment = Daddy-Daughter Cereal

These two get up every morning

and have breakfast together.

Mills loves it.

I'm pretty sure her dad isn't opposed, either.

 

Millie woke up one morning and decided it was Hippo's birthday.

She insisted that both Hippo and Cowie

deserved their own bowl of Fruit Loops to celebrate.

Hakone Gardens

Most of you know I taught high school in Saratoga, and while I spent quite a bit of time in the little downtown area there--eating out with colleagues or meeting friends after work--I never had a chance to go to the Japanese gardens at the end of the street.  Stephen and I have meant to go there for years, but you know how that goes sometimes.  So when my mom visited recently and we wanted a quick outing, this place popped into my mind and we went.

The kids enjoyed the first few days of summer break with Grandma Paula in town.  Besides the gardens, we hit the beach with her and also just enjoyed not having to be anywhere by eight in the morning.  Stay in jammies 'til noon?  Yes, please.  Play ping pong with Benito at 9am just 'cause I can?  You bet.

29 + 11

Forget the fact that I am nearly half-way to my next birthday, it's time to publicly acknowledge the fact that I am officially over the hill.  February of this year marked forty big ones since I came into this world, and at some point I intended to do a really cool post with a bunch of baby pictures and such. 

I have to say I honestly haven't minded the big, black, scary number so far.  The way I see it my twenties proved to be way better than my teens, and my thirties were a vast improvement over my twenties, so my forties should follow suit, right?  Good metabolism, a solid memory, no gray hairs, predictably decent sleep, energy . . .  So overrated! 

We didn't really do one big thing to celebrate, but in typical fashion it ended up being a month-long celebration.  What better excuse for a narcissist like me to keep the birthday train going than turning the big 4-0?!

Alisa was in town a week or two before,
so I had to introduce her and Laura to the best falafels in town:

 

 

Sarah and Jen took me to see this powerful flick up in Redwood City:

I convinced a few besties to go see Grupo Corpo,

a contemporary Brazilian dance group, with me up at Stanford Theater:

only after having dinner at this yummy Cuban place of Liz's choosing:

Next came the traditional b-day date night with the hubs. 

We watched this on the big screen:

 

which was coincidentally playing at the very place

we had our first date over eleven years ago.

 

 

Then came a day in the city with Lizzy.

We hit a few areas I've always wanted to:

a hike on Land's End, Sutro Baths, Sutro Tower,

Twin Peaks, and the Mission District for Tartine Bakery.

 

 

:

Had a few other lunch dates with friends,

got spoiled the day of with all sorts of goodies and gifts 

and the coolest list called "40 Random Things About Your Birthday."

 

Jenae got me these awesome earrings with my birth year on them

 

This was a combined Christmas/birthday gift, but I finally got my first Kitchen Aid!
 Thanks Dad and Connie :)



Stephen spoiled me with a Ninja blender

 

I really hope you can read these.  They are so great.

 

and a stack of thoughtful, emails from family and friends

(compiled by someone wonderful).

 

Oh, and here's what I did with the kiddos.

Serendipity struck again.

Guess what movie opened on my fortieth birthday?

None other than this laugh-out-loud flick:

 

 

There you have it!

Forty and fabulous,

or at least the month-long celebration was.