Grandpa's Birthday

I am finally catching up on the past two months. In March we celebrated Grandpa's birthday at Tilden Park in Berkeley. It was a perfect day to be outside. We started out the carousel, at the request of the kiddos, which is always a hit. A few of the younger grandkids were uncertain but there was mostly smiles all around. 

After a few rides on the carousel, we made our way to a picnic spot in the woods. It had the perfect amount of shade and sunlight and plenty of space for the kids to explore. The kids had so much fun climbing through the trees, searching for sticks and other treasures. 

When it was time to sing and open presents, the kids were very excited. They made sure that Grandpa felt celebrated by whacking him on the head with party balloons (see above). They also gave him very cute presents and cards. I LOVE this one that Jane made. It's Grandpa and one of the SF Giants baseball players. She thought of this idea on her own and boy does she know her Grandpa! 

After presents and cake, we packed up and headed to the train. The Tilden Park train is one of the best around in my book. It's very reasonably priced, the lines are short and the ride is perfect. I stayed in the car with sleeping Lizzie while the rest of the gang went for a ride. 

The fun continued at Fenton's with ice cream for dinner. Who doesn't want two servings of dessert on their birthday? Lizzie was thrilled to have her own cone and had a great time playing with Grandma at the end of the table.  

 And here is our best group shot at the end of a very fun filled day. Lizzie is not interested in sitting still for anyone amount of time these days.

When everyone headed home, our family stayed and played at a local playground. The kids had a great time playing outside, so we decided to stay until dinner time. Sometimes it's fun to just let the day unfold and the kids were so happy, we didn't want to break up the fun. After the park, we ate at, Cholito Linda, in North Oakland. It was delicious and I would definitely go back!

After dinner, we had an hour to kill before bedtime. We didn't want to get in the car too early, for fear that the kids would fall asleep in the car. It may have been just enough sleep to re-energize them for the night, so we decided to hang out for an extra hour and walk the grounds of the Oakland Temple. As we walked around, I was filled with gratitude to have spent such wonderful day with my family of 5. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day!