31st Birthday Celebration

My 31st birthday was last Thursday and I was lucky to extend the celebration over 3 days.  On Thursday, it was business as usual as I was up early to teach Spin/TRX and then head to work.  After I picked Lucy up from my mom, we spent the afternoon playing inside since it was pretty chilly and dreary outside.  Todd came home from work a little bit early and we met my parents for dinner at Local Roots in Powell.  It's less than a mile from our house and a restaurant we've been wanting to try for years so I was excited when my mom suggested it for my birthday dinner.

 

Local Roots

 

 Todd & I 

Lucy enjoying some puffs as an appetizer

I got a calzone which was really tasty

After dinner, we came back to our house for cake and presents.  My mom made me a cake (I love her homemade icing) so I blew out the candles and opened presents with Lucy and then we were able to eat the cake & ice cream once she was asleep.

Birthday smiles

My girl & me

She was very interested in the candles

but not that interested in helping me blow them out

Chewing on a card per usual as I show off my new handlebar console for the BOB stroller

Todd did good with the lululemon shorts

Todd took Friday off of work so we could all spend the day together and celebrate some more.  He had thrown around a bunch of different ideas, including going to Pittsburgh for the day or up to Put-In-Bay but since I knew we would be in the car for almost 6 hours on Sunday for our niece's birthday party, I kinda just wanted to stay somewhat local.  He did a great job planning the day and again, despite the colder temps, we had a blast! 

We picked up pastries at Panera and some coffee drinks at Starbucks and then headed over to Glick Park to eat breakfast.  Glick Park is where the O'Shaughnessy Dam overlook is at.  To be honest, I'd never even noticed this area before but since it had rained a lot recently, it was amazing with all the water and blue skies.

O'Shaughnessy Dam

Me & Lucy

Todd & Lucy enjoying breakfast

A view of the dam from our picnic table

Our next stop was to Hayden Falls Park to see the waterfall.  This is a place I always say I want to stop at whenever I drive past it but never have.  The waterfall was huge and we were actually getting wet standing at the end of the walkway.

Hayden Falls

View of the path we walked up to get to the waterfall

Pretty much had to force Lucy to look at the camera because she was so mesmerized by the waterfall

Todd & Lucy

Waterfall in the background....and I can honestly say I think this is the coldest it's been for my birthday in a long time.  I can't ever remember wearing a coat and scarf in the middle of May!

View of the waterfall from street level

Todd had originally planned on having a picnic lunch in Schiller Park but we were afraid Lucy might get too cold so we headed back home for one of my favorite meals, Japanese Chicken Salad, before one last birthday excursion.

Japanese Chicken Salad and Sourdough bread

Todd's last surprise of the day was to drive to Utica to visit the Ye Olde Mill at Velvet Ice Cream and take a factory tour.  It was about a 50 minute drive there and we lucked out that even though we were a few minutes late for the tour, no one else showed up so we were still able to get a tour.

Ye Olde Mill

View of the factory where they make the ice cream....it was crazy how small of an area it was considering they make 5 million gallons of ice cream each year!

One of the older pieces of equipment they used to make the ice cream

Family photo

My favorite part of the trip was going to the on-site restaurant to get an ice cream cone

Lucy enjoyed her first taste of ice cream which was Todd's peach ice cream

And she also enjoyed a few bites of my Golden Cookies 'n Cream

It was really good!

Todd had one last birthday celebration planned which was a date night out to dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery at Easton.  My parents came over to our house to watch Lucy so we could enjoy a night out.  This was our first date night out since Valentine's Day and was much needed!  Cooper's Hawk Winery has been on my list of restaurants to try out for the past year or so and I was excited when Todd picked it out for us.

We started with complimentary pretzel bread which was an absolute winner

 

Couldn't pass up a wine flight for date night...I got Pinot Gris, Riesling, Lux Chardonnay (which was my favorite), and Sparkling Almond

Nothing better than enjoying a chilled glass of white wine with my husband

Todd got the Gnocchi Carbonara for dinner...

and I got the Cooper's Hawk Chicken Giardiniera

And of course no meal is complete without dessert so we got the Reese's Ice Cream Cookie to split

The end to a wonderful birthday celebration

 

I think Todd definitely outdid himself in planning and made my 31st birthday a special one!  I need to step it up for his 34th (!!) birthday in November!