They Say It’s Your Birthday

Today is Dave’s 40th birthday! He said all he wanted was a happy family (and some house slippers). We started the day with a birthday breakfast. The kids were so tired, I couldn’t bear to wake them! (though they were all sad I didn’t later).
We decided to go to the Luxembourg Gardens and have a picnic to celebrate. Mali, Dillon and I set out to get supplies. It was already SUPER hot outside. We bought a little cooler, lots of cheese, a couple of baguettes and a pretty cake that we had been eying all week. We packed up some fruit and water, then headed out on the Metro. The gardens were AMAZING. Not only were they beautiful, but totally immaculate. We had our lunch on the grass until the policeman came and kicked everyone off. We then headed to sit by the Medici Fountain for awhile. Then, we walked over to the music area where we found a large choir and band group from Denver, Colorado performing. They were really good, so we decided to sit in the shade and enjoy the music for awhile. The choir ended with the Star Spangled Banner, which was interesting to hear in a foreign country. Dave and I wandered off to explore the gardens while the kids listened to some more music. When we were done, the kids were dying of heat, so we went on another gelato hunt. We looked for a long time, and then decided just to go home because kids were burning out. As we were heading out, we found a lady with a cup of gelato and she lead us to the most delicious place! Yeah! So, everyone was happy.
We decided to try the bus to get home. It was nice to be able to see sights on the way, but took a bit longer than the metro. Just as we got on the bus, it started to rain – perfect timing! We came home and hung out for a couple of hours and then Dave and I headed out to dinner.
We had a place in mind that was about 1-2 miles from our home. We reached it just to discover that they had no space for us. So, we headed to another well rated restaurant, also full. We asked for a recommendation, and they sent us to the Cafe des Musees. It turns out, this restaurant was two blocks from our home! In the end, it was pretty funny that we wound up so close to home after all the walking!
Because we were sat downstairs in the restaurant, we had the area all to ourselves. It was really nice to be able to just sit and talk. We were worried we would be forgotten down there, but our waitress was awesome! She was so nice and took great care of us. She spoke English and Spanish, in addition to her French, so we were able to communicate easily. It was a fun night.
We got home and did cake with the kids. Dillon’s allergies were horrible, so it took awhile to get everyone to bed. We are determined to start up a schedule next week to get some kind of structure back in to our lives. Time is slipping away and we want to make sure we take full advantage of all our time here.
Birthday Breakfast

Riding the Metro

Cheese, bread and fruit picnic

The Luxembourg Gardens

Cute kids listening to the music

 Dave – more handsome than ever at 40!

 Family waiting for the bus
Dave’s birthday in French!

Birthday dinner

birthday cake celebration