OMGGGGGG this post is almost a month past due! But I’m finally getting to it.

For Zoe’s birthday last year and this year we didn’t have a big party. Instead, we think of the thing that Zoe is really into at that time and try to pick an event that has to do with it. We invite family and have a grand ol’ time. Then we go get ice cream at Fentons in Oakland in the evening. Fentons has been around since the late 1800s in Oakland. And that’s awesome. My grandma used to go there as a kid. And that’s even awesome-er. I love supporting an Oakland business that’s SUPER tasty as a birthday tradition for the girls.

Last year we took Zoe to the merry-go-round in Tilden Park (a great park in Berkeley that I used to go to a lot as a kid)

This year she has been SUPER into a show on PBS called “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” (it’s the modern day Mr. Rogers). Every day to get around their town all the characters ride a trolley. I thought that was the perfect event for Zoe. SF has a trolley, but the cable car is much more iconic, so we planned a morning to head out to SF and ride the cable car! I was actually pretty excited because despite living in the Bay Area for 27 of my 30 years I have never ridden a cable car.

We got out to SF and met my step dad and his girlfriend Celia. They were awesome and were already in line (because of Copa America there were a lot more tourists than normal). I was a little nervous because the line was really very long and I didn’t know how good the girls would be at waiting

But luckily they were both totally awesome. Which is great because we had to wait almost an hour. It helped that CBH and Celia were there to help us entertain them. And the cable car coming every 5-10 minutes and getting to watch it get turned around was fun too

 

After our wait we got on and got an exterior seat. I was super excited that we were able to get a seat on the outside, because it’s definitely a lot more fun than the inside

We rode down to Fisherman’s Warf (a place I also think I may have never been to) and walked around. I never realized what a complete tourist trap it was. But it was definitely fun with Zoe in tow. She always loves looking at all the sites

We of course got seafood and planted ourselves on a great bench in the middle of everything. There was a man playing music and Merritt loves to “dance” so she was grooving with whoever was holding her. It was a lot of fun to just get to sit and hang out for a little bit and people watch

The way back was fun as well. We were able to catch the first cable car that came by which was good because Merritt was getting EXHAUSTED (she wasn’t quite at one nap yet, but we were pushing her to only take one that day). We got another outside seat – hooray! Merritt was SUPER into how the cable car worked

And the cable car operator was so touched by how excited both Zoe and Merritt were that he gave them fun little ear plugs Zoe kept asking about and even asked her if she wanted to ring the bell when our ride was over

The cable car was definitely a BIG success!

About a week later was our Fentons night

It was really fun to get to celebrate with so much of our family (all of my parents and Chris’ mom).

One of the awesome things Fentons does is when it’s someone’s birthday they announce it to the whole restaurant and everyone sings to you. It’s always a big deal and it seems like every time you go to Fentons there are sure to be at least 2 birthday songs to be sung. It always makes me so happy what a tradition it is for people. Zoe was a little intimidated by so many people singing to her in the beginning, but by the end of the song she loved it 🙂

And of course the ice cream was FABULOUS!

Zoe was so happy. It was a great memory. She was just smiling and laughing and talking and playing. It was a wonderful time. I love that little chickadee. And I love our little family

Happy 3rd birthday you crazy little girl!