Life as a Yowler

Today is Valentine’s Day/ Brielle’s 6th birthday. Six years ago, I was due on Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t really fear I would have her on my actual due date. Who does? Well, I was proved wrong. For six years Valentine’s Day has been a celebrate Brielle day, instead of a romantic day. I really don’t mind. I’m not overly sappy. Brandon and I are to the point in our marriage that we know we both love each other. We don’t need big expensive gifts, or one on one dates to prove that. Love is a choice. Whatever season we are in, we choose to love each other.  We may not have the opportunity to go on a date one on one often, but that’s where 8pm comes in. You throw those little suckers in bed, and have some adult time.

i cant believe she’s six. Five still seems like a young child. Six seems so big. When her older brother turned six, I thought he was such big stuff. Now here I am with two big kids.

Yesterday, we drove to Napa. We ate at a winery that we had eaten at two years ago. They brought Brielle a special birthday treat and everything. She was in heaven.

Brandon got me a bottle of wine made in Napa for my Valentine’s gift. For the record, I didn’t get him anything. 😬 Since day one Brandon has been the gift giver and I fail miserably every holiday.

We had a great dinner at the winery.

Today, we went to San Fransisco. Brandon had a meeting that Evan helped him with. After, we went to see a couple famous houses, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, go to Muir Wood Forest, and ate out at a nice restaurant for Bri’s birthday.

We drove to the Full House house. We weren’t the only ones who took a picture. There were several others doing the same thing. By the way, I’ve googled. It is not illegal to take pictures in front of famous homes. As long as you’re on public property that is(like the sidewalk).

We saw the Painted Ladies.

Then we went to the Mrs. Doubtfire house. I’ve got to be honest, this was not my favorite experience. When we first walked up, we noticed someone was clearly living here. It looked like a mom had just returned home from school with her two kids. They were getting out of the car and in their garage. They quickly shut their garage door. I felt like a jerk taking a picture in front of their house.

It doesn’t stop there though. Apparently, Brandon was parked and blocking someone’s driveway. She was ticked. I can’t say I blame her. She was yelling at us on the walk back to our van. I couldn’t even make eye contact. I felt terrible. Brandon apologized. She did not accept. I shoved my kids in the van like the speed of lightning. I literally threw them in the door and we got the heck out of there. I might write her an apology letter. I’ll think and pray about that.

Next, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then we went to Muir Woods.

We were going to take Brielle to eat at a fondu restaurant. We called ahead and turns out they were totally booked for the entire night. Makes sense. It’s Friday night in San Fransisco plus Valentine’s Day. So we found another amazing restaurant. It was called Tonga Room. It was a tiki bar. There was a huge pool in the restaurant. We made sure to read our kids the warning sign. It said there was a $500 fine for anyone who jumps in the pool. I had to think to myself, wow! This time it wasn’t my kid! Someone else’s kid had to force the warning. It made me feel good.

It was the coolest place.

I had a kid in the bathroom and Brandon ordered for me. When I came back and my food was staring at me, I was slightly freaked. Honestly, it was very good. It really caused me to branch out. It was fish and veggies. They had all the fish totally off the skeleton. They just included the skeleton for a decoration. Apparently, this is a delicacy.

Brielle got a special dessert, the only part of the meal that was free.

The restaurant was inside the Fairmont Hotel. It was a very high class hotel. On the walk back to the car, Joah jumped up on this couch and goes “ahhhh! What a luxurious couch just for me!”