Saturday, December 7, 2024

Sarah’s 20th Birthday

 

Sarah celebrated her 20th birthday on December 1. Her birthday fell on Thanksgiving weekend this year which meant we had about 20 people in the house from Wednesday - Saturday with Sarah's birthday on Sunday. The turn-around was a bit rough, but we managed it as best we could. 

Sarah decided that she wanted to go for a local hike and then head to a pottery store down the road to paint pottery. After that she wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant in our old neighborhood for dinner followed by an ice cream cake. 

We have a policy in our house, now that the kids are older, that no one has to participate in anyone else's birthday activities if he/she doesn't want to. This way the birthday person does not have to deal with sulky siblings on his special day while doing the things that she enjoys, but his siblings may not. Because of this rule, Josh sat out the morning hike and Andy sat out the afternoon pottery session, but Elizabeth, Bobby, and I joined Sarah for her whole day. 

When painting pottery, Elizabeth chose to paint a mushroom, Sarah chose a small lizard and a shark (her favorite animal besides her puppies), I chose to paint a potted cacti plant, and Josh chose to paint a gift for his girlfriend, Liz. Bobby did not paint anything, but instead just came along for the birthday girl.

The Mexican food we ate was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy her/his food. We had a special guest come along with us, our Norwegian son, Endre, who was staying with us for about a week after the semester ended before he flew home. 

And of course, the ice cream cake was delicious. Overall, I think Sarah had a good birthday. I definitely think she likes her birthdays better when they do not come right on the heel of a long weekend full of family, but she made the most of it, like she usually does. 

A selfie of you and me on our hike. You are standing on the left and I am standing on the right of the photo. You are wearing your blue hoodie with your hair pulled back and I am wearing a gray fleece sweatshirt type thing with my hair also pulled back and sunglasses on. It is sunny(ish) out and we are standing in the woods with trees surrounding us.

A view of one of the abandoned wooden buildings that we saw on the trail. It appears to have been some type of building a farmer would have to maybe house animals, but I am not sure. It is falling apart now as the woods have grown up around the trees and the land was abandoned of farming allowing the wilderness to take over.
This dilapidated building can be seen from the trail. At one point the forest we are walking through must have been farmland. 

A view of the trail with glimpses of you, Andy, and Dad far ahead of me. There are numerous trees surrounding us in a wooded wonderland, but with the leaves almost entirely gone from their branches the woods feel bare in spite of the number of trees all around us.



Dad helping your cross the rock "bridge" over the stream. You are gingerly stepping while using your cane to guide you to your next step. Dad has his hand out in case you need it.
Sarah's independence is astounding. 

A view of the creek up stream. The water looks a dark brown from my view, but in reality is quite clear up close. The tree trunks are gray, but give off a dull appearance as all of the numerous leaves on the ground are brown. The photo seems void of color. The leaves are so many that they appear to carpet the ground as far as the eye can see.



A view of a different part of the trail. This one is void of any people. The photo was taken from a clearing in the woods and is of the trail getting closed in by trees up ahead. The sun is shining behind me casting the shadows of several trees in front of me. Brown leaves litter the forest floor.

This is the fairyland we found in the woods. This first picture is of the houses to the right of the tree trunk. There are four mushroom fairy houses sitting side-by-side. In between two of them is some sort of plastic, tiny handheld doll.
The fairy neighborhood we stumbled upon in the woods. 

This second picture is of the left side of the tree. There appear to be 3 fairy houses, but all are spread out. The first one is placed under the root system. It is mainly comprised of dark colors and looks a bit like an acorn. The second and third fairy houses look like mushrooms with red tops, white spots, and white stems. Each of these figures is one behind the other, but with enough space between the two of them that makes them look like they would be "country" fairy houses.



A view of the back of Andy, wrapped up in his black winter coat, with a hoodie over his head and jeans. The forest is splayed out on all sides of Andy as the dogs run like psychos ahead of him. The sun is shining brightly between the trees.

The four of us - from left to right - Andy, Me, You, Dad - all smiling for a selfie in the woods. Andy is wearing his black winter coat with a gray hoodie and jeans. I have my hair pulled back, sunglasses off, gray hoodie off, and am wearing a sky blue t-shirt, you have your hair pulled back and a blue sweatshirt on, Dad is wearing his glasses and his green winter coat.

A close-up of Andy's hand with a fully intact teeny, tiny clam shell.

The picture does not do this tree justice, but I found a huge tree on the way out of the hike to the car. It reminded me of a baby sequoia. It was the largest tree that I could see in any direction and stood out clearly among its neighbors in the forest.
Although it is so hard to tell, this tree was ginormous looking among all of its neighbors. 











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