My Birthday, The North Pole, The Zoo, & The Springs...Oh My!

I celebrated my 35th birthday on Sunday, July29th with John, Cedric, my parents, my brother--Andy, and his girlfriend--Corinne over the weekend. We stayed at the Embassy Suites courtesy of my parents (oh so nice of them). We went up on Saturday to Colorado Springs and went to the North Pole. Of course, not the real one, but a little amusement park (mainly for small children) near Colorado Springs. Cedric rode two rides: A carousel with mommy (pic is of us beside the carousel) and a taxi car with daddy and grandma (see below). Afterwards, we went to a nice restaurant called Sunbird. It overlooks Colorado Springs, and I enjoyed a delicious lobster tail. Later on, we went swimming in the pool which we only caught on video not the camera. Cedric loved his first excursion in the pool!
Taxi ride with daddy and grandma


First Carousel Ride


Cedric with Uncle Andy and Aunt Corinne

An elf that reminds John of me


John and Santa

Cedric with grandma and grandpa


"Tina, you fat lard, come eat some ham!"


Us stuffing our faces over the weekend...okay, me stuffing my face!


On Sunday, my actual birthday, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. I like the more woodsy feel over the Denver Zoo but both zoos have their pros and cons...not worth getting into. I loved the giraffe exhibit...you can feed them special crackers. We saw lots of other cute animals, too! We went to the gift shop where Cedric got some goodies including a stuffed animal orangutan from grandparents and a stuffed animal leopard from us. Afterwards, we went to Carrabba's for some great Italian food. One of our favorite places to eat!
Me feeding a giraffe a cracker


Me with my mom and Cedric...I'm half-way through my thirties! *shudder*


"Hey, daddy...did you know one of the definitions of primate is an archbishop or bishop ranking first among the bishops of a province or country, i.e. The Pope?"
"I'll make sure if I ever meet this O'Reilly guy I'll spit up on him!"hehehehe


Cute Meerkat sun bathing


I can relate to this giraffe and Cedric can relate to the baby.


We said goodbye to Andy and Corinne, and we hung out with my parents for a while in Old Colorado Springs near Manitou. John left Monday morning to go straight to work, and Cedric and I rode back with grandma and grandpa. It was a fun weekend and my parents paid for most of it...John and I agree we need to take them to a nice restaurant as a thank you.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory with daddy and this giant bear..."Got to get me one of those!"


Overall, I had a very happy birthday. John bought me a professional massage at a spa place, Cedric bought me a cute teddy bear holding a baby bear, Andy and Corinne gave me two gift cards, and my parents paid for the weekend and a tree for our backyard. I would have to say though not to trump my gifts from family, but my best present of all was my sweet, baby...Cedric. :)
Cutest baby in the world! :)