Eliza's Birthday

Eliza's birthday always creeps up on us after the Christmas season. I do double shopping for her throughout the fall, so that's not the issue. It's just that we get kind of partied out by the end of December 25th. So December 28th seems very soon to be planning more festivities. BUT, we knew we wanted to do something special for our girl, and promised her a fun surprise. So after the kids went to bed on December 27th, Jeff and I finally sat down and put a plan together - a day trip to San Francisco. We recruited Grandma Joan and two Hiatt cousins to come along. When Eliza woke up we knew it was going to be an interesting day. She was a total emotional mess. I think the anticipation of a surprise adventure was too much for this usually very flexible, adaptable girl. But we pushed on, through meltdown after meltdown.

We stopped at the Hiatts to trade cars for the day since they have one more seat belt than us (still not enough, but we were livin' life on the edge that day, I guess.) We also collected every scarf, hat and set of gloves we could find because it was SO COLD (another cause for emotional release by Miss Birthday Girl). Then off we went!

First stop, for Jeff to drop off all but Ben to ride a cable car from Union Square to Pier 39. We got in line and were quickly informed that it was Free Cable Car day. Say what?! How lucky was that?! We saved at least $50 on the one day a year that cable car rides are free :)

Everyone loved the cable car ride - taking turns standing in the open air at the back of the car. Then we walked from the cable car turnabout at Ghiradelli Square to Pier 39 where we met up with Jeff and Ben.

We did some browsing around shops and vendors, saw the sea lions, and visited the Aquarium of the Bay. It was a lovely day, and Eliza did finally settle in to happiness on her special day. It did take a while :) On the way home we stopped at Grandma Joan's house for dinner and birthday cake!

A week later, we had a spontaneous friend birthday party for Eliza. A few girls came over a cooked their own lunch. I loved hearing them say "my mom never lets me do this!" as we sliced, stirred, sauteed and simmered some yummy snacks. It was a perfectly sized party with darling girls. Eliza insisted on another fancy pink cake.

Happy 7th Birthday, our dear Eliza!