This Kid is 4 Years Old

Intent on making her birthday, a day filled with all of her favorite things, we began with birthday pancakes. Birthday pancakes are different from ordinary pancakes because they are filled with sprinkles, then covered in whip cream and more sprinkles.

Then, in an attempt to burn off a little sugar, we went down to the river. Lola enjoying throwing rocks in the river with her grandma and aunt.

Later, we met up with two of Lola's friends at the local children's museum. They had a great time playing, painting, and eating dinosaur cupcakes. 

That night for dinner, we ate her favorite food, gnocchi with gorgonzola. Afterwards, Lola opened a few gifts before we ended the night with peanut butter ice cream, and of course, more cupcakes.

Lola's Birthday Fun in San Francisco

Every year, I tell myself that I'm just going to do something small for Lola's birthday. I'll plan one activity, but then, I'll want to add a party, you know something involving friends, and then of course there is the actual day itself beginning with the birthday breakfast, birthday lunch, and birthday dinner. And yes, all of them involve dessert and singing Happy Birthday. So when it's 10 o'clock the night before the big day, and I'm in the floral department of the grocery store because I decided at the last minute that I want to surprise her in the morning with birthday balloons, I really shouldn't be surprised.

I create my own stress.
I own that.

This year, I began the festivities a week early by taking Lola to San Francisco to see "Dinosaur Petting Zoo," a performance by ERTH, a Sydney-based puppet troop. I feel strange calling it a puppet show, because these are no ordinary puppets.  Inside the auditorium, I wasn't able to get a very good photo, but you can at least tell that this T-Rex was pretty big. Big enough to intimidate a room full of small kids.

One of my favorite parts of the show involved when they would ask the audience questions. One question was, "When did dinosaurs become extinct?" and a child answered, "The 80s!"

After the show, we were able to meet a baby dinosaur in the lobby. I petted it too. I was surprised at how much it felt like a real animal. (The keeper commented on how he loved Lola's dino hoodie)

Then, we met Amy, Adam, and Shirley at Thorough Bread and Pastry for lunch. I fulfilled Lola's request to have a dinosaur birthday cake by purchasing a yummy chocolate cake from the bakery and throwing a small plastic dinosaur (one that she already owned, but didn't seem to recognize) on top of the cake. 

She was very please with the cake.

After lunch, we took a quick family photo to commemorate the occasion.  Happy SF birthday, Lola.