Happy 4th Brennan!

When August arrived, I snuck away for a long weekend with old friends in Georgia.  Summer is a busy time at The Animal Hospital That Will Not Be Named, and with the exception of our little jaunt to the Central Coast, I have spent my summer doing the following:

-working

-going to the gym

-breaking traffic laws attempting to get to preschool/work/swim lessons on time

-working late

-listening to crabbing & whining

-complaining about the fog

So a few days with girlfriends, warm sunshine, and animal species not requiring my professional opinion sounded good.  We stayed at the Inn at Serenbe, part of a planned community (not as creepy as it sounds) about 40 minutes south of Atlanta.  We paid good money to stay here: 

No, really.  It was nicer on the inside, and there were fresh cookies in the afternoon.

Brennan was a little sad that I was leaving, so I promised to bring him back a present, anything he wanted.  So he asked for an octopus.  Of course.

Her name is Bluebell, by the way.

The next big event was Brennan's 4th Birthday.  I promised we'd spend it doing what he wanted to do, since he's big enough to decide that sort of thing now.  So here's what he picked: 

Playing at "the big playground" at Golden Gate Park.

Riding the carousel for 2 rides, with a change of horse for each ride.

(Lucie got to ride, too - but not on this goat.  This was taken between rides, because she cries when the carousel starts moving.  She prefers to ride on a bench with Mommy.)

Eating dinner at his favorite restaurant, Kamekyo Sushi on Cole St.

Enjoying a chocolate birthday cake, with 4 candles.

No, I did not make the bear cake.  I really meant to make him a cake, but in the previous 2 weeks I had baked a gingerbread birthday cake for Daddy, chocolate mini-cupcakes for Brennan's "Goodbye to Kangaroos Pre-school" party, and chocolate chip cookies for his birthday party at his new pre-school, which I'd just learned the day before was likely to become his new, old pre-school, thanks to a last minute opening at the neighborhood early education center at the public elementary school.  So I was about baked out, among other things, by this point - which I think may show in this photo:

The bear cake was great.  It came from a loopy Asian bakery in the Sunset  and had an odd consistency, like the flour had somehow been reduced to a microscopically fine consistency through some space-age technique.  And it cost $103.95 - $18.95 for the cake, and $85.00 for the parking ticket.  Do NOT forget to feed your meter in the Inner Sunset.

Of course, the best part of his birthday was PRESENTS!  He got lots of books, some snazzy new clothes, a Blue Angel (that he reports he "waited such a long time for"), probably some trains but there are so many I can't be sure, college funds, and a very nice roundhouse for his trains.

One thing the big birthday did not include was ice cream, so I made up for that next week, when the new-old pre-school had a random closure so I dragged Brennan shoe shopping.  Which I actually loathe doing, even without a 4 year old in tow - I don't know if I have particularly problematic feet or a problematic unwillingness to endure pain in the name of style.  But he was really good, if you are can accept a little laying on the floor of the shoe department, pushing trains under chairs, so I thought he deserved a treat.

Shoes for Uncle Gavin's wedding - check.  Chocolate ice cream - check.
Mission accomplished!