Happy Birthday Daddy

We always get to kick off the year with Daddy's birthday.  I think I can safely say that the highlight of Eric's birthday this year was going mountain biking!  I actually got a babysitter so I could go with him... my first time getting to share with him one of his greatest passions.  And he is really good at it!  It was fun to see the terrain he loves and watching first hand, even experiencing, the thrill of it all.  Can I just say that mountain biking is not for the faint of heart? And I would never consider myself in that group... but goodness, it is definitely what I'd call an adrenaline sport.  I have never been so scared in my life as when I was careening down the mountain on a 6 inch wide trail full of rocks and roots as it twisted, turned, shot up, and literally dropped straight down. I would have been screaming if I had been able to catch my breath. And I wasn't even doing the hard stuff! I would pull off to the side of any jumps or drops or crazy-looking, elevated, wooden-bridge things... but Eric was doing it all.  Geez.  The reason it's so scary is because you are in control (as opposed to being strapped into a rollercoaster). Perhaps I should say "in control" since it really is hypothetical, at least for me.  At one point we were on a trail that was draping up and down across a narrow ravine - so you were blasting down one minute then immediately charging straight up again. And if you went too slow going down, you would get stuck going up and literally fall backward down the mountain.  Anyway, to make a long story short, I panicked at a fork and hit the brakes... let's just say I'm glad I was wearing a helmet.  Poor Eric thought I had broken my neck and I still remember him barreling through the trees to get to me in a panic.  It's actually kinda a sweet memory, just for that. :) So I didn't look too pretty on our date that night, with a swollen nose and scraped up face... but we still had a wonderful time.  We went to The Metropolitan, a famous steak house in Seattle, then out to a movie.  I'm pretty sure my sweet hubby had a great birthday.

On Sunday (Eric's actual birthday) our friends had us over for dinner and I brought his birthday cheesecake and took some pictures. I love this first one... it captures how much those 2 love their Daddy.