Double Header Birthday Weekend

Matt’s birthday is July 3rd, so the holiday weekend is always a big one for us! We kicked things off by making Matt an ice cream cake. Avery has never helped me bake before and I didn’t know if she would be grabby – but she was so excited and totally content to watch Emerson.

We used this recipe with gluten free Joe’s Joe’s, mint chip, and vanilla and it was great – hard to cut through the crust but tasty.

We headed to Freedom Park for a walk and a picnic lunch. Saturday was gorgeous with weather reminiscent of fall in the morning. We had lunch overlooking the pond/lake and the girls enjoyed watching the ducks – Avery was making me so nervous running towards the edge – she’s daring. I left Matt and Emerson at the park and took Avery home for her nap. We’re in that phase where if we drive any where within an hour of her nap time, she’ll fall asleep. Matt and Emerson ran/scootered the 3 miles home and I did some yoga while Avery took her nap.

Once Avery was up, we celebrated Matt with a ‘party’ because singing happy birthday with a cake is Emerson’s favorite thing in the world. I gave Matt a Rocketbook reusable notebook since he’s a big pen & paper guy when brainstorming for work-related projects. I think Avery said yum after every bite of her ice cream.

Then we got all dolled up for Matt’s surprise dinner at Counter. We met up with friends at a cool speakeasy before dinner and I had the most amazing mezcal drink.

Then we met up with more friends at Counter to start our tasting menu experience! The concept is rather new to Charlotte and it’s apparently the first restaurant in the world to pair food with music.

We had ten courses and ten songs – the theme was Covers, so all the dishes were ‘cover’ recipes from famous Michelin starred chefs paired with cover songs.

You could choose a wine pairing or bring your own wine. I brought two bottles of organic wine to share with others and Matt did the pairing (I didn’t think I could handle that much wine at this age!) Although I wasn’t able to eat everything the other dinners had, I did have a warm gluten free roll (is it ok to say this was my favorite course?) and gluten free ravioli, which was much appreciated. All the food was excellent and so creative.

I think the two dessert courses were my real favorites. The whole experience was amazing and seriously the most fun I’ve had in a long time!

Sunday was a little rough given that I went to bed at 12:30 (my circadian rhythm is so strong now that even 30 minutes – 1 hour past my usual bedtime and I don’t feel good). #thisis35. But I took a long walk and an afternoon nap and we rallied for a small gathering in a friend’s yard. Also, I immediately felt better upon drinking a beer:)

I brought a giant cheese board from Babe & The Butcher and Avery had her first watermelon. The kids had a blast in multiple pools & a bounce house. We had some small fireworks and Avery was not a fan. I had to take her inside where she cried and said pop over and over again.

Needless to say, we had a spectacular weekend! I was so thankful that Emerson started camp today and Matt had the day off so we could get our life in order though:) We had a broken fridge and a flat tire so we spent the morning dealing with those after an amazing night’s sleep on Sunday night. Excited to be in a bit of a routine for the month of July (Emerson’s school has a summer session) and looking forward to more fun summer weekends!