The Day

I love Paul.  He is truly my favorite, and I hope you're not saddened that I picked him instead of you.  I still am quite fond of you and would have enjoyed your company on our Grand Family Outing today.  It's Paul's Birthday today.  And we've been loving him lots.  Ready for oodles of photos?

Yesterday, I got a chocolate craving, like maybe some chocolate chip cookies would be nice.  But it's in the low 90s here, so one cannot just turn on her oven for a bitty craving.  So No Bake Cookies were the thing to make.

And it just so happens that they are Paul's favorite.  It says so right on the recipe card that Paul's mom gave me ten years ago.  So it must be true.  So my chocolate craving was satisfied and Paul felt special thinking I made them just for him.

This morning, Paul had a bit of work to do, so Pete and I got to work on the Birthday Cookie.  Finished project will be below.

We then RAV4ed it to Turkey Run.  And here it gets funny.  On our way to Turkey Run State Park, a mama turkey and her six babies cross the country road we're cruising on.

I got my camera out in time to get mama's back side, but the babes had scooted into the corn field.  At this point we chuckled as we made the connection that we saw a turkey on the way to Turkey Run on Paul's birthday, who loves (the country of) Turkey.

But there's more...

In our backseat are two boys (you could call them turkeys) wearing their Turkish soccer jerseys.  Peter wore it on purpose because he thought Paul would like it, then Reuben changed to match.

Turkey #1

Turkey #2

(with bug bites on his face from blueberry picking)

We had lunch at the inn where we presented our presents to Paul while our food was being prepared.  Peter could not wait a minute longer.

What did Paul get?

Three books about Turkey at Turkey Run State Park, just minutes after a turkey crossed the road, with two Turkish-jersey-wearing turkeys in our backseat.
See what fun we had?

On to the trails.

Trail 4 today.
 And 5.
And 8.
And 3.

This is just to remind you what I look like since the photographer is rarely photographed.

Cute boys on a log.

Then back home to the Cookie Eating Ceremony.  Peter insisted on the "31" candles.  He and Reuben worked very hard on the icing decor.


That was great.  Paul's great.  I have a lovely family.

Reuben knows that he is next in the birthday lineup, so two and a half months of saying, "No, it's not your birthday today, but soon."  And distracting him onto another topic...

 Like,  "Why were you sleeping under a sleeping bag in the dining room last night?"