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  Last month we celebrated my birthday in style.  We had a fun party the night before with our friends and then skipped church on sunday to go up to San Francisco in hopes of sighting some humpback whales by the Golden Gate.  It was a long shot, but it was worth it to me.  Not to mention one last fun hurrah before Mike was to leave on a business trip the next day.

  We crossed the bridge and scouted for some parking...that was the limiting factor here and thankfully found a spot not too far up the hill from the bridge.

   As we walked down to the viewing spot and I was praying that this all wouldn't be a bust I saw a big spray in the water followed by some splashing and I squealed/shrieked/embarassed Mike.  It was far away, but it was definitely a whale.  Possibly two of them, right in front of the Golden Gate and right next to it.

   There's one NE of the sail boat.  Just want to point it out really clearly in case you are like Joel who never could quite find what I was pointing at.  It could have been because he was looking at the dirt, but my instructions might also could have been faulty.  Who really knows.

  

     After the whales, we drove down to Hayes Valley for lunch and a little shopping.  Mike fell in love with Will Leather Goods that has a storefront here and the kids bought me the coolest ceramic cups for my birthday from a boutique next door.  They also have some really fantastic jewelry (*cough cough*).  They all were really happy by this point now that they had eaten, but there might have been some ultimatums spoken before we left the car that ended with, "Well, then let's have fun!"  We always pay the price for "super fun, stay up way too late with your friends" parties the next day.  Anyway, Ava was being a ham at this moment and had the boys (and the rest of us) rolling in their seats.  #extra

   The next day, I got one last swim in before Mike left on his trip and we did a Lindsay-inspired workout for my birthday.  I love my swim team!  YAY

  It was a good birthday and hopefully it be just as good of a year!  Thanks for following along with me!