This weekend was absolutely lovely.

LB was turning 3, and LB's gramps was turning 70 on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

I boogied out of school as quickly as I could on Friday. Grabbed Phil-who managed to be able to work the day at the Glendale office, picked up LB from day care and we headed out.

The worst part of the trip was the drive from Eagle Rock to Redlands Friday afternoon. It took almost 3 times as long as it would on a light traffic day.

But, we eventually made it out to Hal and Karen's house. They had already picked up dinner for us at their local Mexican restaurant. It was yummy!!! Karen had a game to get to that night so she scurried after we arrived, and then it was the three of us, Hal and their two kids (Lizzie and Kate). LB and Kate played for a while and Lizzie hung out with us, mostly. She's an adorable kid (a bit younger than 2). Then it was bedtime and everyone went down without incident. Kate slept in Lizzie's room so that LB, Phil and I could take over Kate's room. LB slept in the bottom bunk and Phil and I slept on an air mattress on the floor.

LB was up a bunch of times that night. I would wake to him peering down at me from the bed. At 1 and 2 am, I was able to convince him to lie down and go back to sleep. But at 3 am, he decided that he needed to go potty, so off we went to the bathroom where he did go and then back to bed. I laid down with him in his bed for a little while, then went back to my bed. Luckily he slept in until around 7:30 or so. I was actually up before he was. Both Phil and I were even able to get up and slip out to use the rest room without waking him. I think part of him waking up so often was the noise factor-once I put his waves on to stay on he seemed to stay down better. There was a bit of street noise (which we have virtually none of at hour house) and then every time Phil or I shifted around, there was lots of sheet noise too.

Once LB woke up, he got to open his birthday present from Mom and Dad. This is a tradition from when I was a kid that I loved. On your birthday, everyone piled into mom and dad's bed and we opened presents first thing in the morning. We've started doing that with LB now too. He loved his semi tractor and semi truck.

We headed downstairs for breakfast-sausage and frozen waffles. LB got 3 candles on his waffle and a few birthday drawings from Kate. He surprised me by blowing out all three candles on the first try. I didn't know he could do that! We ate breakfast, got dressed, packed our stuff up, played out back a little bit and then headed on our way.

It was nice to be able to visit with Hal and Karen and their kids for a while. LB loved it and we don't get to see them often enough. So while the drive was miserable, it was worth it to be able to hang out with the Bowmans for a while.

More to come later...