The Big 4-0

The June before we were married, Jeff turned 30. We celebrated by driving my convertable- top down- for a long weekend in Solvang. We went wine tasting (got hammerd too- 20 shots of wine will do that), saw a play (http://www.pcpa.org/), and I had a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake delivered to the romantic inn (http://www.peterseninn.com/) we were staying at.

Last Thursday, the next milestone was reached: Jeff turned 40. This time, we stayed home.

Jeff took the day off work, and we embarked on the grand experiment of taking Tenley to the movies for the first time. She wouldn't sit in her own chair- not even with the booster seat. Instead, she sat in her dad's lap. She was antsy before we finished the previews. She watched randomly, wandered up and down the (thankfully empty) row, and 30 min to the end of the film told us emphatically that she was done and it was time to go. We told her "no", and fortunately the last 20 min is pretty action packed so she made it to the end. We will not be repeating that experience anytime soon. After surviving the movie, we picked up Jeff's "Gray Hare" cake from Baskin Robbins, and headed home for lunch and a nap.

The lunch part was fine, but the crazy 3.75 year old pitched the mother of all fits (the current whining and crankiness going into overdrive until it's a full-blown tantrum) about taking her nap. Nap is a problem for Ten: she still needs it, but she doesn't want it. It's a problem for us too: good luck getting her down before 2 (regardless of the time she got up), and she'll sleep 2-3 hours because (despite what she tells you) she's tired. This means she gets up at 5 something and is then up until 10 or 11 at night. You don't want to wake her up either: the screaming, whining and crying will begin immediately and will not let up for at least 2 hours. If she doesn't nap, she'll still stay up until 10, she'll just be a whiny, cranky wretch for hours. In the end, there was alot of yelling and screaming ( by all three of us) but she did take a nap.

Jeff chose the Red Lobster (of all places) for his birthday dinner...turns out he just really wanted steak & shrimp. They don't do birthday dessert, and since we had cake at home, I had a chat with our waiter on the way back from taking Ten to the ladies' room and arranged to have a candle stuck in his mashed potatos and happy birthday sang to him. This would have been very funny and a great little surprise...except that there are no secrets with Tenley around- she ran straight back to the table and told her dad everything. Thanks, Ten.

On Sat. night we met Uncle Kev, Tia Lorena, & baby Alexis for Belated Birthday dinner at Chevy's. Kev made up for the spoiled Red Lobster surprise by having a sombrero plunked on Jeff's head and a loud Mexican birthday song belted out in his honor.

I have no idea what I gave Jeff for his 30th birthday, but it had to be better than the 2 t-shirts, car sunshades, and Chillow (http://www.chillow.com/chillow.html) I gave him this year. Kevin gifted him with the kind of books that should never be put in Jeff's hands (manuals on how to build things that will launch projectiles & blow things up) and a Taters of the Lost Ark Mr. Potatohead. The Moms (his & mine) have donated to the Jeff-wants-an-iPhone fund, and he's anxiously awaiting the July purchase date. But the grand prize for "Best Gift" really goes to Kev's mom who sent along the basket pictued below in retaliation for the year Jeff gave her Depends.


Happy Birthday honey. Here's looking forward to 40+ more!!