Happy Birthday Evie!

Another year has come and gone.  Funny how when you get older your idea of 'celebrating' changes a bit :).  I wanted to just take it easy and spend some time with the dearest people in the world to me.  Brandon actually took a vacation day for my birthday (he actually had two shifts that he had to take off, so technically he took TWO days off) and that was birthday present enough for me, but when he asked what I wanted to do I really just wanted to get away for a day from the hustle and bustle that has been our lives lately.

The night before my birthday we had some close friends and family over for cake.  I've wanted to make this particular cake for a while now and it was well worth the wait!  Thin chocolate chip cookies layered between chocolate mocha mousse layers...so good!  Despite making the cookies a few days in advance it came together pretty easily and it was well worth every calorie...yum!

My birthday morning we got ready for the day and headed out to one of our favorite local breakfast places for my favorites...eggs benedict and pancakes.  I'm a sucker for breakfast and baked goods any time of the day :).

We then headed out to San Francisco for the day to look at Christmas lights and take the ferry to Sausilito.  I had never gone on the ferry and had always wanted to.  Birthday getaway day seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Of course, we anticipated getting traffic, but we didn't anticipate every parking garage around the ferry building to be full which led to us missing our ferry :(. 

There were a couple of very sweet moments that we would have totally missed out on if we had actually gotten on the ferry.  One, as we were running through the streets to try and catch the boat, we stopped at a stop light and all of a sudden a very festive, vintage fire truck came by us, a sweet lady came out and handed one teddy bear to each on the girls.  "Merry early Christmas!" she said.  So awesome and you couldn't wipe the smiles off of the girls' faces.  If nothing else went right for the day, this one thing made up for it :).


 

 

They held onto those bears all day, named them and now have become part of the sleeping buddies at bedtime :).

 



Secondly, since we missed out on getting a little bite to eat when we got to Sausalito, we decided to get some bread and snack at Boudin across from the ferry building.  We were sitting and all of a sudden we heard a, "Hi guys!"

 

It was our friend Linda whose family had moved to Colorado about 3 years ago!  She's a pilot and was on a layover from her last flight, and what are the chances that she would be in that restaurant the same time we were?!  It was so neat to see her in person and get to congratulate her on their upcoming second little baby!  It's funny, she comes into Sacramento from time to time and Brandon talks to her over frequency at work, but we haven't actually seen her in years and it such a great surprise that afternoon!  I still regret not getting a picture with her that day.  I guess we were all a little rushed and surprised :).

 

After our snack and surprise visit, we headed out to catch the next upcoming ferry and this time we made it on.

It was overcast and little chilly, but the water was calm and the ride was smooth.  It was wonderful.

 

 

The girls enjoyed being on a boat and their excitement showed with every minute.  We couldn't keep them still, but luckily the ferry was pretty empty and the girls had the space to free their excitement!

 



 

Oh, how I love these two!

We got to Sausalito, bought some taffy, got a warm drink, and walked around eyeing the beautiful pictures and shops.  

We found these stairs along the way and it just looked like a perfect little picture spot.  I was pretty excited we actually got a great picture of the girls and I...everyone looking and smiling!  

 

I'll cherish this little gem :).

 

As our time came to an end and our ferry had pulled up, we made our way past this fountain to let the girls run some energy out before the ride and drive back home.

 

It was a wonderful day and just the perfect way to spend my birthday.  Thank you Brandon for making me feel so special and so much of a priority to celebrate.  I love you and everyone who sent me birthday wishes and celebrated with me.  I know December is kind of a blur for everyone and the wishes really meant a lot to me this particular year :).  Here's to being in the '30 something' club and for what this year holds.  I am beyond blessed and could not ask for anything more :).