Birthday at the Irvine Spectrum

I really like it when my brithday just keeps on being celebrated...it makes me feel really special. I got an email from my friend Crystal the other day about meeting up. She wanted to take me to lunch for my birthday. It's been really hard getting together with her because she lives in Oceanside and I live in Covina. It's about a 2 hour drive for either of us, NOT counting traffic. SO it's been hard. So we decided to meet at the Irvine Spectrum, which is about halfway. It was soo nice seeing her again. We went through a 5 year period where we weren't talking, and so it's been really nice to reconnect. We have both grown and changed so much, it's been like hanging out with a different person.

We ate lunch at Red Robin, and she brought pictures from my wedding and some goofy ones from high school. I smiled so much looking at those! ( Can you scan them for me? I want copies!) Anyways, we had a nice lunch and the kids were really good. Crystal also surprised me by bringing me a gift AND flowers in addition to lunch, which really surprised me. I thought lunch was the present, so it made me feel really special.

After we ate, Crystal treated the kids to a ride on the carosel that was there. It was fun, but Ethan kept asking to ride it again. We will have to find a place that lets you go on more than once! Then we just walked around and looked at the fountains and caught up. We chatted about all kinds of stuff and exchanged some mother-to-mother advice. It was really fun. I hope to hang out again soon. Here are some pictures from our day:

Ethan and Brielle posing together.

Crystal's youngest Elijah. He was so well behaved.
Getting ready for the ride!
Checking out each other's animals.
Fountains are always a favorite with Ethan.
I think Brielle was trying to swin into the fountain. So cute!
My pretty flowers! Thanks again Crystal!