Mid-thirties

For as long as I can remember, my friends in high school and I would use the golden age of 35 when talking about what we thought we'd be doing, or wanted to be doing and/or had experienced when forecasting our futures. I think we saw that number as being half your life or something, which of course now seems silly (I hope.) Nevertheless, as I approached and turned 35 this last week, I found myself reminiscing back to those conversations and wondering how close I'd come to my earliest predictions, rather surprised how right on the mark I was back then (married, 1.5 kids, owning a house, and even what kind of dog I'd have:) So all in all, I embraced turning 35 and officially being in my mid-thirties, despite the fact that it still seems older than I feel. My birthday fell on a Monday, and while we had mid-winter break the whole week prior to my birthday, I felt being 36 weeks pregnant warranted a day off of teaching 27 second graders. So, I played hooky and took the day off to spend with my family. Here's how the day played out:

So, I've been to the zoo more times in the last 20 months than in my entire life beforehand, but this visit was quite exceptional in regards to all the animals being out and about and doing their thing. This lion was mesmerized by Magnus, or at least wanted to eat him.Magnus and I check out the Komodo Dragon, who also appears to be salivating at Magnus.Magnus helps me open my gift from Dee.A wetsuit! Planning my first triathlon August 15th. Hopefully I can fit into this by then!Afternoon stop at Trophy cupcakes for a birthday treat and then on to the park to burn some calories running after Magnus.Dee and I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Wild Ginger for dinner. We were both so stuffed afterwards that we passed on dessert. However, while walking back to our car we got completely giddy after seeing a Hard Rock Cafe now open in Seattle and decided a spontaneous stop was a must. We managed to devour a brownie sundae and had some good laughs inside.