Every year, when my birthday rolls around, I feel its a good time for Trinity and I to take time off work. Pre-kids, it might mean a vacation — like the week we went up the coast to check out Hearst Castle and the Monterey Aquarium — but now that we have kids, it means staying home while the boys are at daycare.

My birthday happened to fall on Memorial Day this year, so we of course stayed home and fired up the barbecue. Later in the day, after the boys had napped and we had our big lunch, we went to Barnes and Noble and bought Mike some new Dr. Seuss books.

Later in the week, we made our way to the Cleopatra exhibit at the California Science Center. I am a huge fan of the ancient cultures, especially Egypt, Greece and Rome. I have read several historical fictionalized accounts of Cleopatra’s life, so I was totally excited to see the exhibit. And, when planning this visit, I initially wanted to get seafood at The Boiling Crab, which I’d been hearing about from so many friends and was dying to try. But I was tired (we’d had a tiring day with my sisters and the kids the day before), so we just went across the street to Chick-fil-A after the museum, which was so much better.

Then we capped off our week off with a trip to the beach, Chris’ first. We took the boys to Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, which in my opinion is the best beach for young children — soft sand, super calm waves and tide pools to explore. It was overcast, sure, but it was fine — weather was still balmy and warm, and not too hot, thanks to no sun. We ended our beach day with lunch at Neptune’s Net. Total win.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete vacation without coming down with a cold. Something always has to happen, right? So, yeah, I’m nursing a sore throat and I’m all congested and I’ve been downing tea and honey by the gallon. Yep, its back to work, I guess.