At the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

As often as possible, we try to get out of the house on the weekends to keep the kids busy and out of trouble. Last weekend, the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show gave us the perfect excuse to head to SF on a lazy Sunday morning. The Brewster Boys are huge flower and plant fans, and after a 3-hour visit to the Cow Palace, we stopped by our local plant nursery where they picked out some flowers for us to plant that afternoon.

A typical garden display at the Cow Palace

Punky trys his hand at playing an Incan flute

The Real Deal performing at the Flower & Garden Show

Believe it or not, this bonsai cypress tree is 60-years old

Punky is interested in the home vegetable garden display while Russell looks elsewhere

When I'm Forty-Four

Yesterday was my 44th birthday. I was born in 1964, so that makes me one of the last baby boomers. I'm not bragging about that. I still have over 20 years until retirement, which is roughly when Social Security goes bankrupt.

We celebrated by going to our regular Korean restaurant in Oakland and having cake afterwards at home. The number "4" candle on the cake was reused from Jenny's 40th birthday cake, and the Sesame Street cake toppers were from Russell's 5th birthday cake. Only the cake was new.

I'm looking forward to the kids' birthday parties this summer when we can really celebrate as opposed to dreading the day...

Russell examines my birthday cake, which is missing a digit due to budget concerns

Here, I'm trying think of a wish to make. I ending up wishing for a night off, which I am still negotiating with Jenny

Punky cries at some imagined favoritism towards his brother

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Believe it or not, it's Jenny's 40th birthday! To celebrate, we had dinner at the Elephant Bar in Emeryville and cake afterwards at home. The Brewster Boys are used to eating Asian food, so we decided to throw them a curveball by eating at an American restaurant. As usual, they ended up eating mostly french fries and some fried chicken.

My birthday is next week and we're going to try eating at a fancy steakhouse with the boys. Wish us luck!

At the Elephant Bar in Emeryville for the first time

Blowing out the candles!