Contentment and Art

Do you have those days when everything seems to fall into place? When life seems suddenly easy and your kids seem perfect and life is just good? It doesn't even have to be the whole day -- just a few hours that are so good that they overshadow any of the not-so-fun parts of the rest of the day. 

I want to bottle that feeling of contentment. I want to tear off a scrap of it and carry it in my pocket. I want to figure out its recipe and make more of it day after day. 

It feels so simple, really. We decided to finally hit the artist-designed mini golf course at the Walker Art Center this morning. It was the perfect day for it. Not too hot, beautiful blue skies...perfect. We all had a good time on the course, although my personal review is that it wasn't a very good value. For $26, we only got to play 7 holes. If we'd wanted to play the other course (another 6 holes), we would have had to pay an additional $13. No thanks. 

When we were done putting, we walked across the street to the Sculpture Garden, which the boys had never seen (which is ridiculous now that I think about it). The boys became unexpectedly giddy as we walked through the sculptures and arrived at Spoonbridge and Cherry.

Needless to say, we will be returning to the Sculpture Garden soon, as I can't think of any other free activity that's elicited this much excitement from the kids lately.

After our art adventure, we took the kids to Chiang Mai Thai for lunch. I had pad thai on my mind because I just started reading "Death by Pad Thai." (I haven't actually gotten to anything about pad thai yet, but the name was enough to start the craving.) The boys had never had Thai food, but I was undaunted. 

One order of chicken satay, cream cheese wontons, pad thai, a banana smoothie, and a Sprite later and we were all nice and full without a single tantrum or refusal to eat - even from Mr. "Do they have macaroni and cheese?" Owen. 

Maybe it's silly, but I couldn't have been more proud. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you can take your kids to new places -- "grown-up" places -- and that all of you can actually enjoy yourselves. It's that feeling that our lives are fully integrated...that we are still people and that parenthood isn't just a constant loop of cartoons and ketchup and interminable games of Chutes & Ladders. Not that we don't still have all those things, but it's nice to know that there's more.

The Morning After

Now that the birthday festivities are over (for a couple weeks, anyway), let us reflect...

This is how I celebrated my birthday.

This is how the boys celebrated theirs.

For me, it was lots of eating. It began with family breakfast at the Good Day Cafe, where my beautiful boys actually cleaned their plates (happy birthday to me)! Then it was on to a four-hour "lunch" extravaganza with my cosmic twin Kevin -- we share a birthday and initials -- during which there was a very high drink-to-food ratio.

But the highlight was the fancy romantic dinner with my husband at La Belle Vie. I've been wanting to get to this restaurant for years, but apparently got sidetracked by planning fancy dinners in Las Vegas...I don't know. Anyway, I really didn't know what I had been missing.

It was phenomenal. We had the five-course tasting menu. There was king crab, pork belly, beef tenderloin...the individual ingredients were great, sure, but this was really about the experience in its entirety. We just nodded our heads as we were presented with yet another gorgeous plate and proceeded to be amazed at how good everything was. Add to that a waiter who seemed to actually want us to have a good time...who surprised me with champagne because it was my birthday...who insisted that my husband have a taste of the wine I was having because he didn't think the birthday girl should drink alone. :)

I have eaten some fabulous meals -- mostly out of town -- but this shoots right up to the top of the list. We've already agreed that this is special occasion central from now on. Any excuse to go back will be taken. Btw, that poorly taken photo above is orange chiffon cake with orange basil sherbet. Divine.

And then it was full speed ahead into the boys' birthday. The above pictured bouncy house arrived in the morning even though the party wasn't until the evening. Turns out this was a good thing, as the afternoon brought severe thunderstorms and we were forced to deflate the damn thing. Between bounces, however, we managed to work in another family breakfast -- this time at Perkins (when told they could have anything they wanted for breakfast, that is what they chose) -- and a round of educational minigolf at the Science Museum.

As the afternoon approached, my party anxiety was high because I really didn't have a plan B...like my outdoor wedding, I just figured that it simply could not rain (and it didn't that day, thank goodness).

Of course, it was pouring when the boys' little friends arrived, so we just sort of accelerated the proceedings, jumping right into dinner, then presents, then cake. (the gold cupcake-cake shaped like a 5 was awesome) After all that was over, things were looking a bit desperate (how do you tell your guests to just go home?) until the men folk decided that the rain had let up enough to try to re-inflate the bouncer. Success! The kids got to bounce for maybe 30 minutes. They were soaked, but didn't seem to mind a bit. We did, however, have to deflate it again when the lightning started. Still, the party was saved and I was happy mom with happy kids.

Now we can all rest up for two weeks until it's time to celebrate the husband's birthday...he will not be having a bouncy house.