birthday fun

Last week we celebrated birthdays: Hillarys (Fri) and Wesley's (Thurs. with a Sat. party). It was a lot of fun as I was able to take Saturday off for the party and have some time Friday afternoon to take Hillary out to lunch and spend around the the home. Family came into town Saturday for Wesley's party and had a lot of fun with him. As you can see Wesley enjoyed the birtday cupcake. Prior to this he was playing in the dirt, then the water, and then he combined the two until he was a complete mess. We stripped him down and hosed him off in our driveway and then the fun continued. His cousin Lindsay, who is normally pretty clean, was caught up in the fun as Wesley was throwing dirt around and got her. Most of the family were able to have some time with him and he did really well. When it came to opening presents, he liked tearing the paper but was distracted by all that was going on. As Hillary and I were looking back on on last year, it seems like so long ago. It has been an amazing and kinda crazy year. Asking Hillary what she thinks of the year, she said that she is beginning to feel more settled. When I asked her what she meant, she mentioned being here almost three years now, getting used to being a mom, and more tied into life here. As we talked about it, I have a similar feeling as to our experience here. Though it seems like there is something we're always figuring out or adjusting for, there is a greater sense of stability and it is nice.
Yesterday we, also had some birthday fun as we traveled up to Bridgewater, MA to visit an art gallery. Hillary found out about this guy and his studio on Craig's list when she was looking for a sandbox for Wesley. To make a long story short she bought me one of his paintings for my birthday. I turn 30 this November and we thought it would be a neat way to celebrate. John Deihl, is the artist and he has a grand opening tomorrow. Since his works are reasonably priced we wanted to get there before the opening so we took Wesley up yestarday. It was a fun excursion and somewhat of a test case for bigger trips to Boston or NYC. I'm not sure where I'll hang this yet, but I've got some ideas.