Yesterday was Ben's 31st birthday, and we spent the whole weekend celebrating. While every other couple in the world spent the weekend doing all sorts of romantic/fancy things for Valentine's Day, we spent it doing the complete opposite, which is what we've done every year for the past 12 years {every year that we've been together except for the first one!} and which, to be honest, is right up my alley anyways.
On Friday night, Ben's parents came over to watch Jackson so that we could go out on a date. We ended up going to Chez Zee {mostly because I was wanting to try their fried pickles} and then headed over to Beijing Foot Massage. Our neighbors Jeremiah and Lori had gone a few months ago and said that it was both interesting and worth it, and we've been wanting to check it out ever since. When we got there, we chose our services from a laminated sheet of paper at the front desk -- head/arm, foot, and back massages, which would last 1 hour and cost us a grand total of $30 each. They immediately took us back to our massage tables, and I snapped a couple of pictures before our massage therapists came out.
While our feet soaked in warm water, they had us lay on our backs and massaged our scalps, face, arms, and feet and then had us turn over to massage our backs. They used some fairly nontraditional techniques {i.e. I've never before had my nose massaged or had someone grind their elbows into my shoulder blades with quite that amount of force before}, but overall, it was pretty good, and Ben LOVED it. He kept telling the lady how good she was at everything, and at one point, he even asked, "can you do that again?" Apparently "that" was "pop his fingers" because they didn't all pop the first time.
Ben started/finished his massage a couple minutes after I did, but part of me wondered if he was ever going to get up...or if I was going to have to carry him out.
The morning of Ben's birthday, he wanted nothing more than to sleep in. Unfortunately Jackson was up even earlier than normal, but thankfully snuggling while watching cartoons was a nice consolation prize.
Breakfast at Maudie's, and of course, Jackson wanted pancakes.
He also wanted to wear Dada's hardhat and insisted that everyone else in the truck wear one, too.
We decided to check out the Austin Zoo later that morning and had so much fun. We had been warned to not expect much since it's really just an animal sanctuary, but for a 2-year-old, it was perfect! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and he loved walking/running around looking at all of the animals. He was super impressed with almost every one {see his face below} and spent approximately 5 milliseconds in front of each exhibit.
The monkeys were definitely his favorite.
And one particular monkey would stick his tongue out every time that we stood in front of his cage, which Jackson obviously thought was hilarious.
He wasn't sure what to think of this enormous tortoise...
...he didn't really care much about the tiger...
...and he really wasn't a fan of the huge pig.
Looking for the bears...and holding Hobbes up so he could look, too.
They also sold food for the deer, lama, sheep, and goats, and of course, Jackson loved feeding them.
Especially the deer.
And what family outing is complete without a train ride? Jackson loved it but was just a little on the tired side at that point.
Why poop on the toilet when you can poop in your diaper while hiding instead?
Before Jackson went down for his nap, we gave him his Valentine's Day gift from us -- some candy, stickers, and a Thomas the Train tattoo. He pretty much inhaled every piece of candy in the bag {including that sucker}, but thankfully he still slept.
That evening, we hung out with our neighbors and ended up doing a progressive dinner -- chips and queso/guacamole at our house, burgers and hot dogs and so many delicious sides at the McHorses', and dessert and a movie outside on the big screen at the Jenkins. Tyler organized {and won} a very competitive game of Around the World with all of the guys, and the kids had so much fun playing together. We love where we live for so many reasons, but these sweet kids {Evelyn, Megan, Charlie, Kate, Lilia, and Harper} are at the top of the list!
Since the movie was supposed to start right around the same time as Jackson's bedtime, we planned for one of us to stay and party while the other went home early, but at the end of a long week, we both chose to go to bed early. And thankfully we did because Jackson was up three times last night. We think it was just his teeth, but because he and Ben didn't sleep well {I went to bed not feeling 100% so Ben was nice enough to take not one but three for the team!} and because Jackson woke up a little later than normal, we decided to skip church and go over to Ben's parents' house instead. One of Jackson's new favorite spots is the creek.
Throwing rocks and wearing mud on his face.
Another favorite spot is on the Gator with Pops.
"Fishing" with "Memaw" {a.k.a. Grandma}.
Jackson is never hurting for attention when family is around.
This evening, we went over to my mom's house to celebrate Ben's birthday and a belated birthday for Holly, too. I completely forgot to take any pictures, but thankfully, Ben snapped these while Jackson was jamming out to Choo-Choo Soul on the TV.
John came over, too, and of course, dinner was delicious. Jackson wouldn't know though because instead of eating dinner, he spent the majority of his time opening all of our Valentine's Day gifts, which were boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and then sampling each one. Thankfully we were able to get him to eat a little before he went to bed though {rice cake for dessert, anyone?}.
The only thing funnier than the monkey at the zoo who would stick his tongue out is the fact that Jackson will now randomly say "monkey", stick out his tongue, and crack up laughing.
Ben and I agreed that neither one of us would have ever predicted that we'd celebrate his 31st birthday at the zoo and with a train ride, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Ben is such a wonderful husband and dad, and I hope he always knows how much we love and appreciate him...because we were definitely blessed with the best!
No comments:
Post a Comment