On Thursday, as you can see, Ryland helped me kicked me off 32 with a smile. I know I say it all the time, but I can't help myself... he is such a cutie! My brother, Luke, also stopped by for a visit that morning and brought breakfast with him too... it was very nice to catch up with him for a little while.
Daniel's sponsor parents from the Academy, Nancy Jean and Al, are in town frequently to visit Al's daughter and her family who also live in the area. Whenever they have some free time, we always try to get together with them while they are here in San Diego... thankfully we were able to do just that on my birthday! They took me to lunch at one of my favorite cafes in Del Mar, which was a very special treat!
After lunch, I had to chance to skype with both my sister, Hilary, and my parents, so I got to spend some time with entire family on my birthday :) Isn't technology absolutely amazing?!!! Ryland and I had a quiet afternoon at home, and although Daniel had to work a little late that night, he brought home cheesecake for dessert so it was a definitely a sweet ending to a happy birthday.
On Friday, Daniel actually got off early so we took the opportunity to go on a hike in Torrey Pines State Park, which is just a few miles from our house and one of my favorite places in San Diego. A rain storm was moving into the area later in the evening but thankfully it was a beautiful afternoon. The park sits on a bluff right on the ocean so you have to hike up a rather large hill to get to the trails, but at least you have a nice view of the water from the get-go. Once we made it to the top, another hiker took this pic of the three of us.
From the plateau where the park sits, you get views of both the ocean and inland. Needless to say, it provides for a very lovely hike. We are so glad that Ryland loves the hiking backpack... he is so curious about everything around him, and it gives him a great perspective while also allowing us to go on hikes... definitely a win/win!
As we meandered along the trail, we slowly headed closer to the ocean as well as down towards the beach, all while enjoying the amazing views. Once we got down to the water's edge, we walked along the beach, and I took one last pic of Ry, thinking to myself "This is the best view of all!" Once we made it back to our car, you could tell the storm would be making landfall very soon so we were definitely glad we had gotten the hike in when we did. On the way home, we stopped by our favorite burrito place to grab dinner, which made for a yummy end to a wonderful afternoon.
For one last little bit of birthday celebration, Daniel took me out for a fancy dinner on Saturday night while our friend, Becky, watched Ryland, which we really appreciated! Before we headed into La Jolla for the evening, she took a couple photos for us... one of me and Daniel all dressed and then Ry joined us for a pic too, which is now my new favorite family photo! All in all, it was a great birthday and I feel very blessed. Now I just look forward to Daniel's birthday so he can stop teasing me about being so old :)
Well, we have lots of fun stuff coming up ahead, like a visit from my mom and sister next week and a trip to Chicago for my sister's graduation from graduate school in May... and don't forget of course that our little man is about to turn one on April 10th! So as you can see, I will have lots to blog so please check back again soon. As always, thanks for stopping by!
