My Last Hurrah

This past Friday was my 29th birthday. Only one last year in my twenties, then I bein the downward spiral into oldfogeyness. I have o make this my best year yet!

For my birthday, my family and I went to Jacksonville (FL). We had a fantasic time even if it was cool and windy. We stayed at the Sea Turtle Inn. It was right on the beach and right at the end of Atlantic Ave were all the great food and shops are. Our first Night was spent playing in the waves with Sophia. I absolutely love watching her laugh hysterically at the waves. I never see more happier than at the beach. We then had pizza at AL's Pizza (yummy).

The next day we spent the morning at MOSH (museum of science and history). Sophia was hit or miss on some of the displays. She really liked the dinosaur and animals. I thought the "grossology" special was super fun, many of the loud bodily noises scared her. We had lunch at Qudoba (a k-zoo tradition, long missed). Then we spent the rest of the afternoon getting in some shopping at "real" stores. Then we went to Mesa Luna (half a block from the hotel). The atmosphere was great. It smelled cozy with the wood burning stove for the pizza. The food was amazing. I think it is my new favorite restaurant (move over Angelina's...Mesa Luna has better atmoshpere). Since it was my birthday dinner Sean ordered this $45 dollar bottle of red Italian wine. They brought out fresh baked artisian bread w oil and balsamic vineger. They had some of the best calamari (garnished with fried lemon slices!). For dinner I had my grandfather's favorite, gnocchi. I had it with a very creamy Alfredo sauce that had been cooked with my meat choice (more calamari...yummy), so the sauce had a seafood twinge. The meal was huge and the gnocchi was perfect. Hint: get the appetiser size.

Our last day in Jacksonville was equally fun. We spend the morning relaxing and playing on the beach (the sun had finally come back out). After a sad farewell to the Sea Turtle Inn and the beach, we drove to the Jacksonville Zoo. It had a great layout and many of the displays were amazing and creative. My baby girl got to pet a giraffe and made a huge mess in the restaurant. After the zoo we were exhausted and decided to drive home.

And now we're using my new turn-table w/ USB cord to record my record collection to my computer, because some artists need to be heard on vinyl.

My vow for this year to because of crazy, outrageous things. 29 is going out with a bang!!!