Happy Birthday Art

Happy 34th birthday Art! This year was not a particularly big celebration, but they can't all be - and next year is a big one!

Art's first birthday well-wisher was not his wife, or sons, or anyone from his family. It was Dexter. This picture shows how Art woke up on his birthday. Yum - cat breath!

Art got 2 birthday celebrations. The first, on his actual birthday, was the "family" celebration. First, Art got breakfast in bed after I took care of the boys and the cat. Art got to sleep until about 8:30 which in itself is a huge treat. Then he opened all his cards and a few small presents. Dinner at - yes, we are ashamed to admit - McDonalds. The reason for there was that 1) easy to drive to (we have borrowed a car for 3 weeks), 2) free parking, and most importantly 3) playground for Zach so we can enjoy a relaxed dinner out. Zach of course had a fabulous time, once he was convinced that the cars from the drive-thru could not get him on the playground. He is SERIOUSLY afraid of cars. Loves them, but doesn't want one moving near him - probably our fault as we are very cautious with him around cars. Anyway, we spent a few hours at McDonalds and let Zach play w/ the kids on the playground. It was a little cold outside - yes, in July! - so it wasn't the best night for sitting around outside.

A week later, Art got his real birthday present - a night out with just his wife. We hired Joanna Trees to babysit the boys while we went to dinner at Curry (Art's favorite currywurst place), then to a cafe to sit outside and have a drink (beer for Art, hot chocolate for me). It was wonderful to be out without the boys. We made it an early evening b/c Art also wanted to watch a movie at home, so we needed to get back at a reasonable time. We have been watching so much Scrubs that we haven't seen a movie in forever. Joanna spent the night, and took care of Wyatt during the movie as well. So nice!

A memorable present came from Jake Shaw. He had bought an Xbox 360 and let Art borrow it (plus some games) for a week. They came over on Saturday after Art's birthday for tea and cakes (they are British, so this isn't a strange thing to do). So Art spent most of Saturday morning, after his birthday dinner with his wife, playing a racing game with Joanna. Later that day he also played w/ the sound on mute while Shayna, Wyatt, and Zach all took a nap.

On Sunday, after Art's birthday, he went to "climb trees" with some guys from work and visiting American professors. Then we went to a BBQ (what Germans call 'grilling out') on Sunday evening with those same guys, and Philip's wife Anne, and 3 kids. This is the family w/ Zach's good friend Luca.

All in all, I think he enjoyed his birthday.