Kevin's 38th Birthday 2018

For Kevin's birthday this year, he wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit on David Hockney. We made a day of it and also went to a good Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and tried a brewery he'd herd good things about in Brooklyn.

David Hockney exhibition

Lots of people at the exhibit

iPad art!

Outside in the regular exhibits

Dark like my mood

Near the Temple of Dendur, an Egyptian temple from 10 B.C.

We actually went to lunch before the museum, but it's my blog, and no one reads it anyway, and I liked the pictures in this order better.

Vietnamese coffee

Everything here is so delicious

After lunch and the museum, we drove out to Other Half Brewing Company in Brooklyn. The crowd was really different than our last brewery, Trillium. Haha. I felt a little-- but not quite too -- old. 

The brewery was completely packed and loud 

The beer was sublime

Kevin's 37th Birthday 2017

Kevin's birthday was yesterday but we celebrated over the weekend with dinner and drinks in Port Jefferson. Fun times!

Burgers at Old Fields

Drinks at Ruvo- really liked this place

Kevin re selfie: But why?

Kevin's 36th Birthday 2016

We celebrated Kevin's birthday on the Sunday the 14th because Grandma was here and we mostly celebrated Valentine's the day before. Kevin slept in two days in row!* We stayed home, had many costume changes, relaxed. I made dinner and Grandma and James made Kevin a chocolate birthday cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Blowing out the candle with help

Yum!

Earlier today, post-frosting-making

Happy birthday to the BEST husband, father, and son! (...And brother and teacher and writer basically the best at everything he attempts...) We love you even more than we love chocolate frosting, which is a lot.

*My sweet husband wakes up with the kids most days.

Update: Kevin also went out on Friday to the Magician with Jon, Nick, and Emily.

Kevin and Jon

Emily and Nick

Kevin's 35th Birthday 2015

Kevin had a low-key birthday at home this year. I made him his favorite for dinner, ropa vieja with rice and black beans. The kids also enjoyed it, though Miranda enjoyed it more. James was mostly interested in making it his birthday instead of Kevin's.

Feeding Miranda rice and black beans

Covered in food and worshipping her Dada

Cuban food joy

Kevin's not a huge fan of cake (I'm not either) but we got a little piece mainly for James's sake. Happy birthday, Kevin! We love you completely and we're so lucky to have you.

Blowing out his birthday candle!

Tasting some cake.

Gobble gobble.

Miranda checking out Kevin's gift from Andrew

• Kevin's 34th birthday at home
• Kevin's 33rd birthday in Manhattan
• Kevin's 32nd birthday in Brooklyn

Kevin's 34th Birthday & Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

Kevin had a laid back birthday this year. Having a winter birthday is particularly a disadvantage this cold and snowy winter.  I let him sleep in and made him breakfast. We enjoyed coffee from the new coffeemaker that Grandma Kathy got us for our birthdays (mine is in a few weeks).

Breakfast with love (blame Pinterest)

I gave him a sweater to expand his wardrobe this cold cold winter. He ran out and picked up some beer for himself that just became available locally.

Gift to himself

It snowed a little the night before (Snow Storm Quintus- really Weather Channel?) so he took James out for a little shoveling and snowman building. Common recreational activities for them this month.

James and the driveway Snowman

Notice that the snowman is drinking (thanks to our recycling bin)

Snowman's hungover now.

Then Lukas and Sarah came over for dinner and Winter Olympics games. I especially enjoyed the ice dancing. I could have lived with less commentary on Bode Miller's love life though, and miking his wife Morgan was especially unnecessary. They treated Kevin to a delicious apple strudel with birthday candles. Happy birthday, Kevin!

Watching the Winter Olympics

Sarah and Lukas with strudel

Blowing out the candles

Hope he gets his wish

Kevin's 33rd Birthday 2013

Happy birthday, Kevin! One of the challenges of being a parent, particularly parents who don't use babysitters, is that it's very difficult to go out together. We had a plan for last weekend and my mother was going to watch James, but Snowstorm Nemo decided to trap us on Long Island without a railroad so we both had to cancel. Rescheduling meant that we couldn't get my mother here on a day that worked for some of Kevin's friends, so I sent Kevin off without me. There was a little symmetry in this since last year I celebrated my 33rd birthday without Kevin while he watched James. But still, it's too bad.

Some of Kevin's friends generously rescheduled with him, and they got drinks and ate BBQ at Mighty Quinn's in Manhattan. Yes, we remain obsessed with southern BBQ and we've noticed more and more places in New York City that serve it. We don't know if they were always there and we just noticed, or if we were at the forefront of a Northern cuisine trend. I digress. Thank you to Jon, Nick, Emily, and Lukas for showing Kevin a nice time on his birthday. We're lucky to have wonderful friends like you!

 

Kevin and Jon at Mighty Quinn's

Emily and Nick on Kevin's birthday

I don't know what's happening here, but there's Lukas

Kevin's 32nd Birthday 2012

Today is Kevin's birthday! Happy birthday!  Sadly, he had a cold and he has to work all day, but we were able to celebrate his birthday this weekend.

Kevin and I were super excited to go out for his birthday.  This is because we have a baby and it's extremely difficult to go out together.  We're not comfortable leaving James with someone we don't know. We basically only go out together when one of our moms comes to visit and watch James.  Last month, Kevin's mom kindly let us go out for New Years Eve. My mom came later in the month, so we were able to collect on our Christmas present to each other- a couples massage (thank you Groupon deal).

Kevin and Briggs enjoying the bourbon at Fette Sau in Williamsburg

Kevin wanted to go to Williamsburg to try barbecue and bourbon at Fette Sau and to return to one of his favorite bars Barcade to play his favorite game, Ms. Pac-man. Briggs, Lukas, and Sarah met us at Fette Sau. The men got in line for the food and bourbon samplers, while Sarah and I unsuccessfully saved bench seats and sipped our half pints of cider. Pounds of delicious brisket, pork shoulder, and mac and cheese later, Sarah and I decided we also needed cookies from Momofuku's Milk Bar. (If I never lose the baby weight, you'll know why.)

Me, Sarah, and Lukas enjoying  the barbecue

All the food and drink didn't keep us from dominating at the arcade games at Barcade. And by dominating, I mean getting fired as the neighborhood Paperboy again and again.

The High score board at Barcade

Kevin playing his favorite game- Ms. Pac-man

On Kevin's 31st birthday, a few of us went to BXL Cafe in Manhattan for Belgian food and Belgian beer on draft. I didn't have any beer of course, because I was super pregnant, but I seriously enjoyed the food. For his 30th birthday, we had a multi-day extravaganza that we kicked off with steaks at Peter Lugers and then to the Brooklyn Inn for beers. Do you see a theme in his birthdays?

Kevin's 31st Birthday 2011

To celebrate Kevin's 31st birthday, a few of us went to BXL Cafe for Belgian food and Belgian beer on draft. It was all very adult and mature probably because we're officially old. At least we had an immature blowout for Kevin's birthday last year. Belgian beer is always great, unless you're pregnant, and then it just makes you jealous. The food was ohhkay though the cheese croquets were so awesome that I will definitely go back just for that.Afterward a few of us went to Jimmy's Corner for more beer for the boys and a little abuse from the staff there. That's how it's done in Manhattan.

Everyone at dinner


The two of us

Off to Jimmy's Corner...

For his actual birthday today, I made him bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast, I tried to not complain about anything. The evening is the best though, we ordered Chinese and we're watching The State dvd his mom sent him. It feels like my birthday too now. Happy birthday, Kevin!

Kevin's 30th Birthday 2010, Part 2

Since he had so many friends in town we basically continued the celebration from Friday through Monday. We had dinner on Friday, lunch and drinks on Saturday, brunch on Sunday, and a big walk around some of his favorite places in Manhattan on Monday.

On Monday, a lot of people had off for President's Day, plus it was Kevin's actual birthday date, so we went big. We started at the new park in Chelsea, the High Line Elevated Park.  It's weird and urban, but definitely cool with a nice view of the city.  Afterwards, we went to Chelsea Market to warm up and get lunch.

Kevin's friends in High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea

Observation deck area of High Line with bleacher-like seating

Being a writer, Kevin is really into bookstores.  So we went over to the Strand, a huge bookstore in the East Village with the city's largest collection of rare books. It's maybe the second-largest used bookstore in the world (after Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon), and it's family-owned.

Perusing books at the Strand

We dipped into a costume store, and I thought it would be funny to buy this mask for a gag because we're always singing "Fox in the Snow." It a long story, but it was funny. It's New York, so no one even noticed.  Finally we ended up drinking at Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village. Such a fun active day!

Jon, Fox in the Snow, Briggs

At the Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village

Kevin's 30th Birthday 2010, Part 1

Kevin's birthday was really fabulous, if I'm allowed to say that as the organizer. First his buddy Jim from LA surprised him, then his brother Andrew flew in from Florida, and for his third surprise his friend Briggs showed up from Austin. It was a national party.

A few of us went to eat the most delicious steak and cheesecake at Luger's. We ate everything family style, and even though wee were there at lunchtimeJon gave him a fourth surprise. Jon got Kevin's childhood Dee Brown jersey signed by Dee Brown, the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest winner.

Outside Luger's

Kevin loved Dee Brown's signature. Best present ever, Jon!

Self-portrait of us on the subway by Jon (bottom right).  I learned this trick from Ash.

Then we had a lot of time to kill in the afternoon so we went back to our apartment, drank, and watched the Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony. We particularly enjoyed the difficulty the torch bearers had lighting the torch. Finally, a larger group went out to his favorite bar in near home, the Brooklyn Inn, where we spent a shocking number of hours. I encouraged people to "dress like a professor" as the theme.  Here are some of the best dressed.

Rocking the professor theme

With the pipe that Ash lent him for the occasion

The guys at Brooklyn Inn

The ladies, "bringing it"

  What a great all-day celebration!  I had a fabulous time and it looked like other people were loving it too.  But this was just Saturday... the fun continued through Monday!