My 37th Birthday!

My birthday was on June 13th, like it is every year.

Trinity had to work.

Genevieve and I did not.

She had vacation bible school at our church until noon and then we got all dolled up for afternoon cake at one of my favorite spots.

The Cake Bakeshop in Broad Ripple is so lovely.

I knew the crowd would be light on a Monday around 2, so I thought this would be a good chance to take my little "lady."  

She perused the menu.

She decided on cotton candy cake and I ordered raspberry champagne cake.  

Since I am the cake connoisseur, trust me when I tell you they make the best cake ever.

The buttercream icing is amazing.

Pure buttah.

G was a tad overwhelmed by her piece and her healthy side entree of cotton candy.

She was shocked by how tasty it was!

I tried to look away as she massacred that beautiful confection.  

My child was definitely more Lizzie Borden than Eliza Doolittle.

Who stabs cake?

For such a swanky place, they do quite well with children.  She received a balloon when we arrived.  

After she finished she sang a rip roaring edition of Let's Go Fly a Kite to our fellow cake patrons.  

She spun around in her sundress to show everyone the open back.

Mother found this dress in France.

Clearly I'm talking about the France pavilion in Epcot at Disney World.

G loves that fancy frock and says "oooo la la" each time she wears it.  

We had leftovers to take home in pretty pink boxes.

G kept it together in honor of my special day.  

We finished up our outing by sitting in our driveway for another 30 minutes while she slept.  

Trinity brought home sushi from my favorite spot and I opened my new purse.  

Summer birthdays are the best.  

Tennessee Trip Part 2

Now one would think after the underground disaster of Ruby Falls we might throw in the towel for the day.

Not us!

Trinity had purchased a 3 attraction pass for Ruby Falls, Rock City, and the Tennessee Aquarium.

He saved like $6 total, and he's not one to waste money.

Plus there were lots of signs that just seemed to be encouraging us to go to Rock City.

Just a whisper in the wind straight to our ears…

SEE ROCK CITY.

We heard this whisper and saw this sign a few times, so we figured we should go.

In true threenager form, Genevieve showed us another one of her personalities and this one was very pleasant.

Sometimes I truly feel like my child is Sally Field in Sybil.  I wonder which personality is going to emerge.

This one was nice, could walk very well, and was eager to SEE ROCK CITY.

So we did!

G was a climbing those trails like a little Billy Goat Gruff.  So Big Billy Goat Gruff (T), Middle Billy Goat Gruff (me), and Little Billy Goat Gruff (duh) explored the rock paths and bridges.

I feared that G might emerge as the troll under the bridge at some point, but we were spared that drama.  

After that busy day we checked into the house I rented on airbnb.  It was my first experience, and I was quite pleased.  For the price of a downtown hotel room, we had a whole house.  I figured that way we could put G to bed at a decent time and not have to turn in ourselves at 7 p.m.

Oh, wait.

There are bunk beds?

So I do get to go to bed at 7!

Woot!

G wanted her best friend to sleep with her.

Her dad is not her best friend.

I relived by camp days in that bottom bunk. 

On Tuesday morning I watched my husband Google how to use a french press, how to grind coffee beans, how many beans to grind, etc.

Making a cup of coffee required 25 minutes of research. 

I found this to be quite funny.  

After Trinity was sufficiently fueled with caffeine we dined at Milk & Honey, a darling spot in Chattanooga. 

We had delicious orange juice.

G loved it. I rarely allow my child to drink juice so this was especially exciting for her.  

Juice=obesity and cavities.

I have strict dietary guidelines in my house.

Whenever she requests juice, I just give her a cupcake.

I have maintained optimal health with a daily diet that includes cake of some sort.

I can only hope I pass this along to my daughter.

We went to the aquarium.

If you have been reading this foolish nonsense of a blog for any length of time you know I love aquariums and cats.

There were no cats at the aquarium.

There was another version of a face in a hole/egg.

Face in a tank full of spider crabs! 

Many aquariums offer an overnight experience.  I almost go into a trance when I visit an aquarium.  I could sleep so well staring up at one of those tanks.

If only I wouldn't be sleeping in a sleeping bag surrounded by strangers.  

Yuck.  

We left our hearts in Nooga and went to see Trinity's parents in Kentucky.  

Owensboro is such a sweet little town.  

Genevieve loves their splash pad and park.  

Abby!  

Slow down on that turtle.  

We rounded out our little trip with a night at sister's house.

Cousin Caroline entertained the littles.  Her other cousins came with their Nana. Ava and Grace are twinsies and are almost exactly a year older than G.

She struggled with knowing who was who.  It was rather funny.

She pointed at them and said, "You and you.  Come get in the bath with me."

This was yet another example of childhood chatter that is no longer socially acceptable in adulthood.  

They were more than happy to join in.

It was such a fun week. 

A Tennessee Trip Part 1

We ventured out for a little 2 state mini vacation last week.  We headed south and stopped at Dinosaur World.  It's a lot like Jurassic Park, only with fake dinosaurs:)

I passed this fella each time I drove to see Trinity when we were dating.  

It turns out this T Rex resides with about 200 other dinosaurs and it only costs like $15 a person to get in!  90 degrees and a tour of dinosaur statues?  Sign us up.

They don't advertise the cost.  T Rex lures you in with those tiny arms that beckon weary travelers (we were 3 hours from home) and traps you in a crappy gift shop where you can't tell your kid no.  

We told ourselves it was a bargain.

I mean it was kind of like Disney and like $190 cheaper for each of us!

Win!

My face in a hole obsession was replaced by a face in an egg.  

G was worn out after the tour and a romp on the Dinosaur playground and she napped all the way to Nashville.

We hung out in the 12South area and enjoyed Las Paletas.  Their popsicles are another favorite for me and T.  

I hit up Draper James again, but did not find anything that I needed or wanted.

We journeyed south to Manchester, Trinity's old town of residence.  He was living there when we met and dated for 2 years long distance.  We are quite certain we were meant to be because 6 years of marriage later we were shocked about how long the drive was.  

I really think it was longer due to a whiney 3 year old.  

It was a breeze when I was a carefree 28 year old who drove a BMW but needed my parents to buy me a new furnace.

Oh, the memories.  

We hiked T's weekly trail.  

We stayed the night at the Sewanee Inn.  Sewanee, The University of the South, is such an idyllic little campus.  This was another place we visited when we were young.  

We all went to bed at 8:00 local time.  

Traveling with Genevieve is no joke.  

The next morning we decided to visit Ruby Falls as part of our tour de Chattanooga.  

My parents took me as a child, but I didn't remember much otherwise I would have kept my tail out of that damn cave.

After Mammoth Cave I claimed I would never darken the door (as if those ground pits could get any darker) of another cave.

I lied.

After this trek I swear I will NEVER GO IN ANOTHER CAVE.  

I managed not to have an anxiety attack as I squeezed through some tight passages on the heels of Lady G, who kept saying, "are we almost there?"  

We saw the Falls.

There were no rubies.  

G loved it!  The colors!  The sound!  It was marvelous.

Then we had to get out of it.

This is where/when my child suddenly rendered herself unable to walk.

She suffered from this malady about 5 minutes after we started back.

Now, please realize we were going single file through this hole in the Earth.  She simply dropped to her knees and screamed, "I can't waaaaaaallllllllllkkkkkkk!!!!"

Oh hell. 

Trinity tried to pick her up and get her to walk.  He looked like a demented marionette handler as he walked and she let her toes drag on the ground and screamed.

We passed other groups who openly cackled at us.  

We promised her ice cream if she walked.  She then walked sporadically while crying about wanting ice cream.

Hecklers yelled things like "Get that kid some ice cream!'

"Oh, poor little girl, she's so tired!  Yada, yada, yada.

This did not help the situation.

 It was a most miserable 20 minute walk of shame.  

When we reached the surface of humanity I grabbed T's shoulders and started pushing him and shouting "Chile!  Chile" like those poor Chilean miners who were saved after like 79 days underground.  

I sympathize with them more than ever after that hour of torture.

G didn't get her ice cream.

Part 2 to come!

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer

We had our magical night of dance on May 31st.

I say "our" because the whole experience turned me into a dance mom.  A dance mom who cannot dance.

G's recital evening started with a delivery from Abby and Papi.  They could not attend the show since it was on a Tuesday night.  That scheduling was really my only complaint.  It was a pain for people to get there during the week.

I'm posting this picture because it captures the awesomeness of my little family.  We take some of the most awkward pictures.  My hair looks really good though.  

Hello to Betsy's bicep.

It's really not that big.

At least I hope not.  

I was an amateur and was clueless about hair and makeup.  Just kidding.  I knew if I claimed helplessness then people would do everything for me.   It's called learned helplessness.  Many children suffer from it, including several former students.  We work that kink out quickly.

In reality, I knew she had to be dolled up but I didn't know how to do any of it.  I just brought makeup, hairspray, and enough bobby pins to pin a lot of bobbies.  

My fellow dance moms got to work.

One mom made G's face more visible without making her look like a 3 year old tart.  

Another fellow mother totally Macgyvered her hair by having me cut a hole in a sock to help "define her hair with a bun."  My job was to hand her bobby pins.  She said I was pretty bad at that.  

I got distracted.  

The finished look-

She tapped her little heart out.

Actually, she stomped.

But boy she stomped well.  9 months of stomping lessons really paid off!  

Next we quick changed for ballet.  

The ballet portion of the recital had an Alice in Wonderland theme.  G and her classmate Cordelia sidled up to Dinah, the cat.  

That's cute.  

The show was lovely and G loved every second of it.  

YaYa and Bob came to shower her with flowers.  They just handed them to her after the show.  I was kind of hoping for more drama, like throwing flowers to her on the stage.  I mean, is there anything better than that scene in Ice Castles where they throw the flowers and she trips and everyone realizes that she was blind?

Cinematic genius!  

Trinity brought flowers too.

My hair was looking way less fabulous after my overexertion due to pinning bobbies.  

Robby and Meghan cheered her on too!

I totally signed her up for year 2.