choco_frosh | Realm: Festivities - Subrealm: Birthday: the final stretch.

It has been a weekend of many epic meals. Stephen,

straussmonster drove up on Friday, slightly delayed by a "Yo quiero Taco Bell" moment (at which point they had to call me for directions--something that happened too many times that weekend), but still earlier than I'd originally expected them, so that was pleasant. We spent the afternoon, however, making plans and then going to the NH State Liquor Store, because we all wanted to stock up on reduced-price booze. They were having a sale on Bordeaux. And we all cooked dinner (chicken and sausage pasta with cream, squash soup,* and a late birthday cake, all composed in the companionable chaos and harassment that accompanies such joint cooking ventures.

And then got up very early, because we were heading off to climb a mountain, and wanted to eat oatcakes first. (And bacon). We'd eventually managed to persuade

straussmonster that climbing Lafayette (9 miles) might not be a good idea. Osceola, we all decided afterward, was the right choice. Still 4000', still a decent view, and only SIX miles of carrying 20 pounds of baby, plus backpack and assorted paraphernalia. We traded off. This meant that on one or two occasions we sort of wished we'd got

straussmonster a t-shirt that said "I'm not the Mom".
It was an absolutely glorious day. A slightly less positive result of this (and the autumn color) was that everybody and their uncle was hiking Osceola as well: there were about two dozen people on the top, on the ledge with the view out over Waterville Valley and the Sandwich Range (with the Presidentials further off to the left, and hidden behind some trees until you got out to the edge); and then there were more whom we saw on the way up or down. So more than I've seen, even on summer weekends, anywhere but Washington or Chocorua. But hey, all of them nice.

straussmonster requested a slight detour to actually see Franconia notch, once we got down. We just had time. (We would have had slightly more time if I'd remembered where the exits on that chunk of 93 were!) This gave her some sense of why they call it a Notch, and why Lafayette might not have been the best idea.
We headed home, linked up with

maweisse and Grace (who'd wished she could come, but had had a parish event), and ordered pizza. And didn't get stinking drunk, being too tired. Unfortunately, the day's hiking had thrown Peter's schedule completely out of whack. In the previous few days he'd been sleeping through the night but taking almost no naps, but he fell asleep twice on the road and twice while being toted around in the backpack, and perhaps because of this (and the relative lack of exercise among all this excitement) he didn't want to go to bed, and then decided that 4 AM would be a good time to get up again. I spent about half an hour trying to get him back to sleep: successful in that he eventually did, but futile in that a) he woke up again about an hour later, and b) the adults in the apartment completely failed to get back to sleep at all. So Grace got up after about half an hour of squawking: and promptly had to deal with him, then handed him off to me, at which point

straussmonster and I hauled ourselves out of bed, groaned, and set about brewing some strong tea.

Grace went to church; Stephen and

maweisse arrived (after getting spectacularly lost) from their hotel; we ate pancakes, capably cooked by the omnicompetent Stephen. (He also managed to unplug the toilet, which would otherwise have put a bit of a damper on the day.) We went for a walk by the river, rendez-vous'd with Grace, and eventually went back to our neighborhood for lunch at the local diner. Then we saw them on their way, and had a few minutes to breathe before Grace's family arrived on our doorstep!

So now we're back from another lovely--and rich--meal, courtesy of them. Marion squealed at the baby; Gretchen coo'd; Arnie told him bad jokes; and the baby did the Ravenous Void routine. I told the waitresses he liked the food. Now he is in bed. And I think we may eat nothing but vegetables and whole-grain-whatever for the next two days.

Meantime, I think my birthday is finally over. In a way, it's a relief: trying to DO all these things has been wonderful, but tiring. I think next year I may confine birthday to a cake over an ordinary dinner with Grace and Peter: do the hiking in Summer, or in September (or preferably both); possibly spend a week of October in England visiting assorted friends and relations, and definitely attend

sovay's annual Hallowe'en party, which I have had to miss these past two years. But no birthday parties.
On the other hand, I am now staring at the largish pile of books (in German) that

maweisse was kind enough to bring up for me. The rest of the month is definitely not going to be as fun.

* Because we have a lot of squash. Mostly acquired as baby food. He devoured another half squash on the way up the mountain.