hApPy biRthDay mOm! (day 1 of trip)

Maren has hogged the parents this year on their birthdays. She had my dad for his and now my mom for hers. I am glad that I got to come along so I could be with my mom on her birthday. This was the first day of our vacation. The two little girls were still feeling under the weather making it hard to do anything to exciting.

We made crepes for Mom for her breakfast and just hung out all morning talking and holding LuLu. It is great to see Maren as a mom. She really is a wonderful mommy. No shock there since she has always been really cute with my kids.

For my moms birthday she picked the restaurant to eat at. We went to TheCheese Cake Factory. I think that my sister and mom LOVE this place. I think it is highly over rated. Everything I have gotten there has been good but certainly not as wonderful as everyone says it is. There is my rant about the Cheese Cake Factory.

We didn't do much more than just go to dinner because we had to get the rental car and we were SLOW at doing anything. I don't think we made it out of the apartment before 1pm on any of the days. You know, women yapping and all it takes time. Poor Ryan had to deal with a lot of estrogen.

We picked Ryan up from the Pentagon and then went to dinner. I could drive through the streets of DC all day. I love all the buildings. I would love on one trip just walk up and down all the cool streets. It was raining when we got there so there wasn't much window shopping going on. We did pass a fun toy store. (I would have loved to go inside.)

The Cheese Cake Factory was fun. Ryan had school so we took two cars so that he could leave early. We all had something different to eat and hands down Maren's was the best. I think it was Carmel Chicken. Mom got fish taco's (yuck) and Ryan had Carne Asada Skirt Steak which I think if I go there again I should try that. I got Chicken Marsala which is good. We tipped the waiter off just before we left that it was my moms birthday so they brought her a piece of cake and sang to her. Then for her birthday mom got the tab. Poor thing. It was very nice of her to treat us for her birthday.

Mama and Ellie

Ellie, Maren, Lucy, Ryan

Elsie, Megan, Mom

I had to go potty so I left my mom and Maren with all of the kids. The table was set so that Lucy was on the end trapping Maren in, and my purse, and Elsie were trapping mom in. Ellie crawled out under the table and they saw her when it was too late. When they got out they had to run through the restaurant with Lucy and Elsie looking for miss Ellie.

I did not know that this had happened. In walked Ellie into the bathroom. I thought it was strange but thought maybe they told her to come in and saw me washing my hands. I took Ellie potty, washed her hands, fixed my hair and then went out. That is when I saw a panicked Maren and Mom looking in every direction for Ellie. Little stinker took off and some how found the bathroom that was clear across the restaurant from where we were sitting. She really knows how to keep everyone on their toes. I swear I am going to die of a heart attack from all the stress this child puts me through. My poor mom and Maren are not use to it.
After dinner we got this cute picture of the 3 youngest Meads grandkids. Cute little girls. I am glad that I got to spend the day with my mom on her birthday. I feel bad cause the kids were sick, and it made for a rough day. My mom has always made my birthdays special. I hope she felt special today. Even though she did have to pay:) Happy birthday Mommy!