Liam's 24th Birthday

Yesterday was Liam's birthday. After I posted yesterday morning, I took him up his breakfast in bed and then after he'd eaten we came downstairs to open presents. All 24 of them! I'd numbered all the presents 1-24 so Izzy was in charge of finding them in the right order...

and Toby helped Liam open the presents...

Toby said "thank you. I bove bou" after each present...we think he thought it was his birthday!!

The 24 presents ...

... mainly little chocolate/stationary/toiletries things - the only ones that cost more than a few pounds were a bottle of Bacardi (plus ginger ale, limes + mint to make his favourite mojitos) and a Costa gift card. Liam really wanted some new clothes but we didn't have time to go shopping together and no way was I going to risk choosing clothes for him, ha, he can do that shopping himself!! Izzy also wrapped Liam up a couple of presents which I didn't know about - her Crealy horse riding 'rosette' and a half eaten packet of Animal biscuits, bless her, such a cute idea!!

It's been such lovely weather this weekend. Mid-morning we headed outside to the park...

Izzy mid-jump onto the zip wire...slightly scary!!!

After a while we left the park and went for a walk along the seafront...

We were going to get some lunch to eat on the beach, but there were so many bugs flying about on the seafront yesterday! Not sure why as there weren't any today, must've been different wind directions or something. We still bought lunch from our favourite sandwich shop as planned, but took it to eat in some nearby gardens instead. I got my favourite egg mayo salad pot...

I had this for lunch on our wedding day too, so many different options within one salad!

Izzy and Toby shared a sandwich. These photos make me laugh!

Despite the fact that I'm clearly trying not to smile too wide in case I have some food stuck on my teeth (!), I kind of like this photo Liam took of me...

I was saying to Liam today, I am just so happy to have sunshine and warmth - to be able to go outside without putting on a zillion layers feels great!! Doubt the weather will last, but nice to make the most of it while it's here!!

Toby had a quick run around in the gardens after lunch...

and then it was time to head home for cake! Liam's Mum and sister came round to see him and share in the chocolatey goodness...not quite sure how we ended up with so much food!!!

Liam adored the rocky road (and now he knows how easy it is to make, will no doubt be requesting it more often!) and the chocolate fudge cake turned out really well too, phew! I always worry about big cakes as you can't test them before serving to guests!!

I had one last surprise in store for Liam for his birthday - Izzy and I got more excited about the day than he did I think, we loved planning things for him and keeping them secret!! She shared the final surprise with him just before his family came round in case they accidentally let something slip - her words "Daddy, you're going to the cinema to see the 'Avenshures'", haha, cutie, luckily Liam realised she meant The Avengers - a film he'd really wanted to see! I'd arranged for Liam's Dad to babysit and he did a great job - the children went to bed on time and went to sleep really easily apparently, thanks Terry!

Liam and I had time for a quick dinner at Giraffe before the film. I had a Pimms Mojito...

Mmmm!

and a Farmers Market Vegetable Burrito...

and sweet potato fries to share...

Unfortunately we were a little disappointed with our meal last night. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as Giraffe usually is. Both our main courses were really good, but the sweet potato fries were on the burnt side. And the service wasn't brilliant - despite being really quiet, with 3 waitresses and a manager on the floor, there was only one person behind the bar so our cocktails took longer to arrive than our food! And when they did arrive Liam's mojito tasted horrible - no sweetness at all. I did the passive-aggressive thing [wimp alert!] of studying the cocktail menu with a puzzled look on my face, so then the manager asked what was wrong and spoke to the person behind the bar and added sugar syrup which solved the problem. I hate having to complain about meals, but we were a bit disappointed last night. Especially with the sweet potato fries - they are the thing I most look forward to from one visit to the next!! ;)

Luckily the film made up for our not-so-great meal! I hadn't really known what the film was about beforehand, just that Liam really wanted to see it. I hadn't even realised it was all about the different super heroes! But I really enjoyed it, it was well done and, with the exception of the fighting near the end which went on a bit too long for me, the plot line kept me interested throughout. Maybe I'll have to let Liam choose the films we go to see more often, but I can't see him ever persuading me to watch one of his beloved zombie films!!! ;)

How have all your weekends been? Does it feel like summer where you are? We've had another day full of sunshine today, but I will write about that tomorrow as this post is already super long!! Izzy and I have decided to ignore the future weather reports and call May the start of summer, but Liam is being more reserved - despite the warmth he spent most of today shivering in a hoodie, haha, definitely more "cold-blooded" than the rest of us! ;)