Our Trip to Carlsbad: Day 5 (Cohen's Birthday)

Our 5th day was our 2nd full day at the beach...


And, it also happened to be this one's 3rd birthday...


Can you think of anything a three-year-old would like to do better on their birthday than play in sand all day? He loved it...

Here's Mike & I showing off our "beach bodies". Yay for P90X! Okay, so we still have a long way to go before someone slaps us on the cover of a swimsuit catalog, but hey, we're working on it...

The sistas sunning it up...

Hey! Where did their legs go? Dan dug this huge pit and then told the boys to stand in it. When they were in, he filled it back up. They seriously had the hardest time getting out of it...

Viv snoozing on the beach again...

The birthday boy even took a little breather from all the beach fun. Yes, Cohen is really asleep under there. You can see just the top of his head poking out. Comfy, huh?

Does life get any better than this? I think not...

Total beach babe...

Seriously so in love with her...

Time to catch a few waves...

I can just hear her thinking, "Can someone turn the heat up a little on this huge bathtub, please?"

Waiting for the next wave...

"Hey Mom! Take a picture of me while I do a really cool pose". Ummmm, okay buddy. Not sure you'll be making the cover of a swimsuit catalog either with that pose. Haha...

Greg building his sand creation of the day. The picture of the final product is at the top of this post...

Later that afternoon, everyone headed back to the condo to get cleaned up (a.k.a. dump a ton of sand out of their swim trunks), get dressed, and head out for some birthday fun.

First, we went to the movies and saw "Cars 2". Cute movie. Not as good as the first one, but still cute. And, it's packed with action so the little boys loved every second of it. In fact, Vivvie really enjoyed it too. She sat on Mike's lap the entire time just watching away. Yep, definitely an angel baby.

After the movie, we headed to the Oceanside Pier for dinner...

There was a cute little diner all the way at the very end of the pier called Ruby's Diner. It was a darling little hamburger joint that looked like it was straight out of the 50s. They had fabulous burgers, fries & shakes...

The waiters and waitresses sang "Happy Birthday" to Cohen and presented him with his very own hot fudge sundae and "pirate hat". At least that's what he called it...

It was such a fun little place! Granted, you had to walk over 1/2 a mile to the end of the pier to get there, but it was worth it. And, you can beat this view while eating dinner...

After dinner, we headed back to the condo for cake, ice cream & presents. I had decided just to get Cohen a cake while we were down there. I assumed that I would be able to walk into any grocery store & find a premade cake that I could just have someone in the bakery write "Happy Birthday Cohen" on the top. You can do that back home without any problem. Well, apparently, you can't do that in Carlsbad. I finally found a grocery store that had one premade cake I could buy. Let's just say it was better suited for a 60-year-old woman than a 3-year-old boy, but we made it work. It was a chocolate cake with big yellow flowers on it. Truthfully, Cohen could have cared less...

Since we were all still stuffed from dinner, we decided to open presents first...

Cohen was spoiled rotten. He got all sorts of Star Wars, Toy Story, and Phineas & Ferb toys...

He was in heaven...

Cohen even got his "Birthday Zurg" that he had been wanting so badly. What's a "Birthday Zurg" you ask? Well, let me explain.

About a month or so before his birthday, Cohen kept telling people that he was getting a big Zurg for his birthday (Zurg is the sworn enemy of Buzz Lightyear in "Toy Story" for those of you who don't know.) None of us really knew what to think of this request since none of us had ever seen a big Zurg & had no clue where to find one. But, he insisted that he was getting Zurg for his birthday. Then he started insisting that Nana & Poppy were going to be the ones to give this Zurg to him. Eventually, Cohen just started referring to him as "Birthday Zurg". Anytime anyone would bring up his birthday, Cohen would say, "Yeah, I'm getting my Birthday Zurg on my birthday." Well, Nana & Poppy came through. They were able to find a Zurg that was about 5 or 6 inches tall. Cohen loved finally getting his "Birthday Zurg"...

After he opened Zurg, we reminded him that he should give Nana & Poppy hugs and kisses for the nice birthday present. So, he did. Then he went back to opening presents. But, after that, with each subsequent present...regardless of who it was from...Cohen would run over to Nana & Poppy and give them a hug and a kiss. We would say, "This present is from Mom & Dad" or "This present is from Tata and Dan", but he would still run over to Nana & Poppy to thank them for the present and give them a hug & a kiss. It was pretty cute...

Once all the presents were opened, we had cake and ice cream. Here's Cohen with his "awesome" cake...

When we sang "Happy Birthday", Cohen decided to join in with the rest of us, singing "Happy Birthday" to himself...

It was so cute! So, that was the 5th day of our vacation. It was a fun one! Happy birthday my little Coconut! We love you so much!!! I've decided that, since I'm writing letters to Vivvie throughout this year, that I would write letters to my boys on their birthdays this year as well. So, look for that in an upcoming post! Until then, it's more days of the vacation. --Lindsay