Happy Birthday to my love!

Today is Aaron's birthday!

This was about 5 years ago and I made him a Raiders cake (ignore the sloppy icing) and he got to be all the players.  I think I still have those little guys in storage somewhere.

Unfortunately, this year he is in Hawaii for work on his special day.  I did plan a birthday dinner for his family at BJ's right before he left:

Yes, I'm the only one wearing a cone hat in this picture, but to be fair I bought them at the Dollar Tree and they sucked and kept breaking off of everyone's heads.  That's your warning folks: don't buy party hats at the dollar store!  They are total crap!  I guess that should be obvious, but they actually have some decent party stuff most of the time, it's just the hats that are trash.

Like I said, Aaron is in Hawaii and he sends me pictures all the time of his travels.  He actually just left on Tuesday, so the gaping hole in my heart is still fresh.
Here are pictures from the plane:

He said it's HOT!  HOT!  HOT!  Lucky for him (I think?), he's working nights, so he gets to keep out of the hot sun every day (although humidity is anther story).
He's staying in Waikiki (tourist trap!) and here are some pics of the city scene:

So pretty!
Some work pals:

His hotel:

He's sharing a room with someone working the day shift, so they're never there at the same time and the room gets cleaned every day, so it's like having a fresh, private room every day for half the price.  Yay!

Food:

Mmmmmmm!  Jealous yet??

Since I can't be with my boyfriend on his birthday and sending him a small package would cost upwards of $40 (yes, I looked into it), I just made him this card online, which is so lame, but at least it was free.

It's a mix of very old pictures and more recent ones.  He seemed to like it.  I also bought him tickets to see Bill Burr, one of his favorite comedians, for late August (he better be home by then!!).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!

Santa Cruz

Happy 4th everyone!  I know I'm slightly late, but Aaron and I rented a tiny cottage in the Santa Cruz mountains for a couple days and it was the perfect little family getaway before Aaron leaves for work (he leaves for Hawaii on the 12th).  I'm so super bummed he's leaving again, but I was so glad to have some quality time with all my boos.  For it being a relaxing couple of days, I sure did take a bunch of pictures!

Here we are hitting the road:

Just FYI, I'm not colorblind.  I didn't have a red sweater (all my fricken clothes are still in storage...sigh), so I settled for a pink, white and blue ensemble.  Oh well, just go with it please.

Capone likes to sprawl across the back and front seats, as his way of abiding by daddy's "stay in the back" rule:

and since Kane likes to lay on the floor, Capone's front legs use his brother like a footrest:

It's so weird and looks majorly uncomfortable, but he's really into it:

Whatever, buddy.

An hour and a half later, we were here!

Nestled right in the middle of the redwoods!

We made it!

While Capone and I explored the house, Aaron and Kane explored the grounds a bit.  We met up in this field behind our house.

Reunited and it feels so gooooooood!

Man, it is so peaceful here!

We went into town for a bit, but at the end decided to just come back to the cottage and avoid the crowds.  I knew at the end of the day, the dogs weren't going to handle the fireworks well and I felt better about them just being at home.

I made spaghetti for dinner:

and we ate in front of the window:

We took a quick stroll after dinner and saw a momma and baby deer:

So cool!

Little did I know, there are deer all over here!  AND there's a cherry tree right outside our door, which attracted them WAY closer.

Because of this tree, we had all sorts of birds, deer and squirrels right outside our door.

We sat outside on the porch and I saw a banana slug!!

I went to UC Santa Cruz and the rule was: if you ever see a banana slug, you're supposed to kiss it.  I totally chickened out (this isn't the first time), but I pet his slimy body a little and left him alone to snack on grass.

Yay!  I love banana slugs!

More deer:

The boys are finally resting and ready for bed!  I had the floor all prepared with their blanket and they opted for the comfy chair.  Spoiled brats.

Aaron made us a cozy fire:

We stayed up late, watching the fire and drinking wine.  Aaron's version of wine:

Nighty night!

Good morning sleepy heads!

I made breakfast and we sat in front of the window again:

This guy walked by right as we were eating:

Then this one came by and he had huge antlers:

Nice!

The dogs missed the deer every time because Kane is way too clunky and loud!  It's probably for the best anyway.  Even though they missed all the deer, they just loved being out there!  All the smells and critters and different kinds of grass, they were in heaven!

We even saw a Bambi!

How cute!!

We ate leftover spaghetti for lunch and for dinner I made chicken with a mustard sauce and bok choy with bacon:

Mmmmmm.

We just had a lazy day of being cozy by the fire and taking a couple short hikes around the property, but by the end of it we were all tired.  The boys got into bed early:

and we sat by the fire again.  It wasn't even cold, we just really like making fires and sitting in front of them.

Pardon my boyfriend's offensive shirt.  It's from the movie House of 1000 Corpses.  Lord, help us all.

Ohhhh I love it!

We got up the next day, I made breakfast and we packed up our stuff.

Goodbye cozy cottage!

We had the best time relaxing amongst the peace and quiet of the redwoods.  It was the perfect mini vacation with the dogs.  I love Santa Cruz and we can't wait to come back again soon!