The Melanson Family: 03.11

It's been a fun birthday year. Some great friends took me to lunch to celebrate and that was a lot of fun. And then I got to go to dinner and the temple with some more friends (not for my birthday), but still made my birthday week fun.

We have a tradition in our family that on your birthday, we do things that you like to do for the day (or on the weekend if your birthday isn't on a holiday or weekend.) Mike had to work, but the kids were out of school for the day. So I decided not to really be a mom, but more of a fun babysitter and not worry about healthy food, a clean house, dirty kids, etc. It was great!

First thing, I slept in and let the kids watch some mind-rotting TV. Then we went to Ikea for breakfast and some shopping. And I wore a pony tail all day and didn't feel bad about it because that's what I like to do!

Luke scarfed down all of his breakfast and half of mine. He tried for Kate's but she was very protective of her plate even though she wasn't going to eat it. She screamed "No! Mine!!!" everytime his little fingers inched their way toward her plate. But I didn't mind because today I was their fun babysitter and not their mom.

Kate's new smile for the camera face. I love how she's eating her ketchup with a spoon. She was licking it out of the cup and I overheard a little girl say to her mom, "Eww!!! That kid is just eating plain ketchup." Then they gave her that "You're a weirdo look." But I didn't mind because I wasn't Kate's mom today and it is a little weird to eat ketchup plain.

Luke took this picture.

We watched the planes take off and land--one of my favorite things to do.

Then Mike called and said that he could meet us for lunch, so we took the kids to a place with a playland so we could sit and chat. (I don't cook on my birthday--it's part of the deal, and since I wasn't being a mom, I didn't worry about what they were eating.)

Last summer when we went to CA, there were ads all over the place for 20 McNuggets for $4.99. Luke really wanted to try that but we (conveniently) never got around to it. Apparently the promotion is back. Luke says the signs and wanted to try it. He was sure he could eat all 20. We were sure he couldn't. Well, he did. It was gross to watch but he ate them all. He was so funny--he would say, "Well, 17 more...." and then "8 more...." and then they were gone.

We even got stopped by a train--another thing that I love. (That comes from being a kid and getting stopped by the train and watching to see if it was my dad driving by) And, as if that wasn't good enough it was a real train--a freight train--not one of those wimpy-public-transportation-glorified bus-trains.

After eating bad food all day, we decided to enjoy the "warm" sunny weather and go for a bike ride. Just loading the bikes on the back of the van makes me happy.

The kids were cute and tried hard not to fight or be crazy because it was my birthday.

Luke was drawn to all the muddy puddles. When he saw one, he would speed up and swerve over to it. And since I was just the babysitter, I didn't care about all the laundry I would have to do.

I still can't believe that kid ate 20 McNuggets.

Okay, so this might have been my favorite part of the bike ride. Allie got stuck in mud. She wasn't happy that she got all muddy and had a tough time getting out of it. She has a thing about being dirty or wet when she isn't supposed to be. It was pretty funny. Then on the way back through the tunnel, Luke got really excited and tried to go too fast and lost control in the mud. It would have been a dirty wipeout, but he ran into the fence instead. He wasn't hurt, so it was okay to laugh. And we did. A lot.

Then when Mike got home, we left the kids and went to a Mexican restaurant that I had found a Groupon for. How exciting it was to find out they had a live Mariachi band. Combining that with a TV showing Jimmer's highlights and it was the perfect place. It turned out to be really loud, but it was cool. We were only people in there who weren't Hispanic and the band spoke to everyone in Spanish.