Birthday Weekend!

Normally I'm not a huge fans of my birthday, but Justin is well aware of this and consistently goes above and beyond to make sure I have a special day... and since he's extra wonderful he even gives me an entire Birthday Weekend! Saturday started with a morning full of Bella, an afternoon of shopping and then a birthday dinner with friends from work at Cheesecake Factory (delish!) Sunday was my actual birthday so we started at First Watch (my favorite place for breakfast) and after a quick afternoon nap for me and Bella we headed to the East Side for this huge (free!) Christian festival that encouraged families to arrive with a cooler and a blanket for an afternoon listening to Matthew West, Brandon Heath and Jars of Clay - it. was. awesome.

okay, it was awesome, and ridiculously hot. poor girl, she had a good time though!

keeping herself busy between sets...

After the long day Sunday we decided to extend my birthday weekend (like I was going to say no when J suggested it!) and putzed around in the morning before taking Bella to the zoo in the afternoon. it was especially awesome because it was another free activity as our county gets free admission on Mondays, alright! It was less awesome when a terrential downpour randomly came and soaked us to the core (you should have seen us trying to run from one exhibit to another searching for any kind of cover... me jumping over puddles so my flipflops wouldn't get wet - like it mattered since it was raining so hard anyway - and Justin trying to manuever a crying baby in her stroller, it was ridiculous!) and the day concluded with a dinner at Dave & Busters, which turned out much better than we expected because Bella was mostly content just chillin' in her stroller while we played games! Happy Birthday to me!

BIG fan of the giraffes!pointing out the fish once we finally found cover from the rain!
not nearly as exciting as giraffes as it turns out...
she did enjoy squirting the water... all that power in those little hands!
WINNER!
picking out her prize with all our winnings...

can't. quite. decide.

her new fuzzy friend! ...that she's already forgotten about :)