Golden Boy!

 10/14: Quinn’s golden birthday! Bob and I awoke to another picturesque scene, and took a walk before the kids got up.

This may be our favorite of the trip. We sure do love mountains!

More roadside religious monuments

Bob enjoying the spring water spigot roadside

We stopped at the grocery store for pastries, and then home to wake the birthday boy. Simone had been busy blowing up balloons.

All the golden/yellow/orange treats we could find!

His favorite!

Fortunately, it was a teacher work day, so no school for the kids. We enjoyed laying low at our place; the kids loved playing football and “running routes” with Quinn’s birthday gift Packers shirt on (I brought it back from WI when I was there in August).

I did a lot of dishes all day. The kitchen was miniature, and there was no dishwasher and no counter space, so no room to let dirty dishes sit. Not that we would’ve changed course, but Bob never thought to check the box for ‘dishwasher’ on Airbnb!

Simone’s birthday gift to Quinn was finding a simple recipe for a Nutella soufflé requiring only two ingredients. It was such a sweet idea, and seemed easy enough, until you try to find ‘simple’ items in different kitchens (oven safe containers, a mixer). I find myself spending so much time in each new place figuring out how different appliances work (washing machines, gas stovetops) and now looking up brands of glassware to see if it’s oven safe for our Nutella soufflé! I figured out that the stainless steel cookware was oven safe, so that would have to suffice instead of ramekins or glass dishes that I didn’t want to shatter in the oven. And, in digging through the clutter in some cabinets, I found a hand mixer! This was unbelievable. I’m not sure we’ve seen a hand mixer yet, and now in our countryside home we have one!

I’m carrying measuring cups along with me since I made carrot cake for Simone’s birthday :-)

We all had a great chat with Grandma and Grandpa, and Bob and I took a hike up the mountainside behind our place while the kids ran routes and talked with Owen in Ohio.

We had HH on our patio, and walked to the local pizza place when they opened at 6:30. We were immediately seated, and soon after the place was packed and there was a line out the door.

Home for Nutella dessert and the Wonder Years