Birthday, Playday and Zooday

I am three days in to spring break.  It has been marvelous so far (technically it has been no different than a normal work week since I don't work on Thursday or Friday, but it has had a better, more vacationy vibe).

Spencer and I woke up on Thursday morning and were happy to celebrate Ginger's birthday/the 4 year anniversary of us adopting her.  Last year there was a huge storm the day before her birthday and our gate blew open resulting in Ginger running away from home.  We spent her birthday driving from shelter to shelter looking for her.  We found her at a vet's office that night (thanks to the 200 posters I hung around the neighborhood) where we learned that her microchip had never been registered to us even though the rescue organization said it had.  They also gave us the wrong microchip number.  It was a disaster. 

Anyway, this year was much more peaceful.  It involved way less tears. I even woke up with Ginger sunggled up against me, which is my favorite way to wake up (sorry Michael).

I took this picture.

Spencer took this picture.

Then we went to the park for a playdate with Joni and "O".  I was careful to only take back pictures of "O", but in an overabundance of caution I put cute stickers over her head until Joni clears her for public pictures once the adoption is totally final.

After our play date Spencer and I went to the bakery at Chompies to get a little treat for Ginger's birthday.  Sesame Street cupcakes seemed appropriate.  Not because Ginger likes Sesame Street, but because they looked yummy.

Spencer got Cookie Monster,

Michael got Elmo,

and I got Big Bird.

They were a cute bunch.  Ginger didn't get a taste, but we did give her a bone.

Spencer basically took a bite of the frosting and declared he was done.

Friday found us running a bunch of errands to prepare for our spring break arts and crafts.

Saturday we met our friends James, Stephanie, Rainer and Zoe at the zoo.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but that is only because we were having so much fun.

The whole family.  And a goat.

The kids

Zoe and Spencer climbed a tree stump.

James and I used to work at the Senate together.  Rainer and Zoe were 3 and 1 when we first became friends. I used to baby-sit for them.  We don't see them very often because, although we've both always lived within the metro Phoenix area, we have always lived very far apart.  At one point there were 74 miles (one way) in between our houses.  They recently moved to Flagstaff.  We're looking forward to visiting them in their new home soon.