What's a birthday without a little splash?

After a particularly hefty babysitting-expense week, we decided to pick a kid-friendly restaurant and make it a family outing for Ian's birthday dinner. And really, what's more kid-tastic than Universal CityWalk?

OK, yes, there's Disneyland, but that's all the way in Anaheim, and what are their dinner options, anyway?

We had barely driven into the Universal parking structure (Jurassic Parking, natch) before CC was completely enthralled by the T-Rexes lining the joint. "What's that? What's that?" she pointed and squealed.

Once we entered the tourist hot spot proper, she didn't know where to look first. There was the huge Imax theater, with a band out front promoting a video game debut at the neighboring GameStop. The massive guitar outside the Hard Rock. The indoor skydiving insanity. And, oh yes, the huge gorilla hanging off the side of a building that CC pointed to and said ... what else? ... "Mamma!"

We finally landed at the Daily Grill and tested the patience of yet another wait staff. As you can see in the video above, we were very happy we'd remembered the stickers that Grandma sent. I, however, was not very happy about being mistaken for yet another wild animal.

The night's coup de grace, though, was when CC made a beeline over to the jumping fountains and got completely soaked. She, of course, loved it.

Happy Birthday, indeed.