Picnics, Puffs and Prime Rib fun!

To cap off the celebration of Lester's birthday, we went on a family picnic!

It was cooler than I would have liked and I forgot jackets for the boys, so there was a little bit more "Mommy, I am cold. Mommy, I want my jacket!" than I would have liked.

But honestly, other than that, we had such a great time sitting on the grass, eating cold fried chicken and chicken salad sandwiches (us), Nutella sandwiches (them), chips, fruit and Puffs for Clair!

We found leaves, acorns and even a fat mushroom!

Here he's drinking a juicebox, happily. But ask me about the thermos full of pinot that Dean got ahold of and chugged before we could snatch it from him. Ahem. (Another hashmark in the Badparentingville column!)

 

Clair loves Puffs, but here she's eating leaves. Of course.

Saturday was Clair's first introduction to Puffs. She loves them! (Of course). She still needs help getting them in her mouth, but she can accidentally get them in about 3 out 7 times, which is great because it's just enough reward to keep her trying and trying and trying, thus she is occupied and happy for many, many minutes at a time.

(Note: With this picnic adventure, careful readers will note that we have now crossed one more thing off the boys' Synapse Checklist 2012!

At the picnic, Lester was extremely tired, having been out Thursday night at the football game, and Friday night again with his friend Antwyne (to the casino!!) So he kept saying all day how much he just wanted to go home after the picnic and relax, eat dinner, put the kids to bed earlyish and conk out.

Too bad I had already planned a surprise dinner at The Prime Rib, a super fancy steakhouse in town. Whooops!

But he was a good sport, despite being really pooped, and he didn't whine at all. And, as I suspected, once we got all dressed up, got a few drinks behind us and started eating the soft shell crab, colossal shrimp cocktail, prime rib (him), lobster tail with crab imperial (me), and chocolate mousse cake, he wasn't tired at all anymore!!

We sat down and the waiter said, "Tom and Stephanie Waldron would like to buy your first round of drinks." That's my friend and boss, Tom, and his wife, my friend Stephanie! Isn't that the coolest thing? So here's our first round, thanks to those awesome people!

By Sunday though, we were both tired, with a capital T -- Lester especially so. We went to the boys' music class together, and took Clair, and then went to the Red Canoe for muffins and coffee. We got home around 11:30, gave the boys a half-hearted attempt at lunch, fed Clair and then threw everyone in their beds, and immediately PASSED OUT.

Three hours later, everyone was in a much better mood. We played, watched the football game, ate dinner, put the kids to bed, watched a HORRIBLE movie ("Midnight in Paris" - terrible!) and fell asleep by 10:45.

Now that's my kind of weekend! (Still, I'm so glad Lester's birthday only comes once a year. Whew!)