One year older (but not necessarily wiser.... )

For my birthday last week (the big 25) Jake took me to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. For the first time in a long time, we had a whole day to ourselves, thanks to Grammy and Grandpa Barnes! After riding our first roller coaster, we got in line for another. After about 45 minutes, with no hope of riding in the next hour, I suggested we see all the animal shows and then come back for the coasters in the evening, thinking there might be less people. We saw so many cool animals including a killer whale and dolphins (my camera was in a locker during those two), seal lions and seals, walruses, butterflies, a giraffe and an elephant, which I got to pet!

After watching all the shows, we grabbed a bite to eat ($26 for a burger and some chicken strips?! yikes!) and we headed back to the line for the ride that we had previously skipped out on. We waited an hour and a half (guess my theory about less people in the evening was wrong) and just as we were getting close to the end, the operator announced there would be a slight delay. We saw that the ride had stopped immediately after taking off! A mechanic came out and the ride started again. However, after the group of people deboarded, the mechanic came back to take a closer look. At that point, Jake and I opted out again, not really feeling comfortable that we were about to ride a problem roller coaster. So, we decided to be adventerous and take a different route home. I really don't know where we were but it was pretty! Here are some views from the car:

Porter, this one is for you!

(What I am not posting is the video I secrectly took of Jake singing "Bleeding Love" while he was driving home. I will probably be in trouble for even mentioning that he was singing that song, let alone that I have video of it! hehe!) We ate a free dinner at the Olive Garden, thanks to a gift card from Jake's dad and came home to hear that Jenna had a perfect day. Yeah! On my actual birthday, Jake's mom made homemade mac-n-cheese (my favorite) and a german chocolate cake. It was a great birthday weekend!