Celebrating a birthday
My brother John came to our house recently and we celebrated his birthday with him. Since he lives 7+ hours away, we don't get to see him too often- it was nice to catch up with him and see him.
Our adventure was driving east to Greene County and going to John Bryan State Park on Monday to do some hiking. Monday's weather was perfect- low 70's and mostly overcast. Unless we'd wanted to do something water related like swimming (which we didn't care to do), the cool weather could not have been better. We didn't hike for long but did enjoy the scenic views of the Little Miami River. I hadn't been to John Bryan State Park in years and hardly remembered it. It's a huge park and we barely scratched the surface. I want to return to the area and explore Clifton Gorge and Glen Helen Nature Preserve. The latter are close to John Bryan- I believe they're all connected? John Bryan is close to a 50 minute drive from our house. That's not too far away but I think knowing it's almost a two hour round trip deters me from going. Well, that and having soccer games almost every Saturday and Sunday in the spring and fall when the weather is usually most conducive to hiking. The kids have actually played numerous soccer games in the area. But, (not shockingly) they're aren't up for a hike after their games...
After we hiked, we decided to drive into the town of Yellow Springs. I had never been to Yellow Springs before despite being near it plenty of times for soccer games. From John Bryan Park, we only had to drive about five minutes and we found ourselves in downtown Yellow Springs. We parked and walked up and down the main street. The downtown consists of many small and quirky shops as well as cafes and art galleries. It's a hippie, progressive town- two things that I'm not (hippie and progressive- I'm obviously not a town!!) but it was interesting to explore.
Our next stop was to drive by the campus of Antioch College, also located in Yellow Springs. Antioch has a unique history- Horace Mann was its president for a portion of the 1950's. It had to close its doors several times in its history- most recently in 2008. Then it reopened in 2011 with an unusual twist: students didn't have to pay tuition. Odd. Anyway, the college is known for its, um, left of center ideologies. We noticed on Monday when we were driving around the college that on every Stop sign, someone had spray painted the word "Trump" below the word Stop. I understand not liking a politician and honestly, given the violent tactics/ rhetoric of many anti Trump people, I found the graffiti so innocuous that it was a little bit endearing. Not because I liked the sentiment but because it was not vulgar or violence inciting like so much of the anti Trump rhetoric is.
Back to John's birthday- I think he had a good day. I'd made plenty of birthday treats so we ate copious amounts of sugar while he was here. But, that's part of what a birthday celebration is about so I didn't feel too bad about the sugar consumption :).
Hope John makes the long trek out to Ohio soon...
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that John is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, St. Louis Cardinal fan who doesn't live, nor has ever lived, in Missouri. He was a huge fan as a child and still is in adulthood. For his birthday, John requested an easy to make cheesecake which I made for him. But I also made him this Twix candy bar cake.
I thought it turned out cute despite the wonky "L"
I used the STL logo on the ribbon as my guide when I star tipped the logo on the cake. I used the ribbon to help keep the Twix affixed to the cake and to add some additional St. Louis décor.
I also made these *fantastic* looking things 😆. They are homely and far from how they are supposed to look (round balls with hardened chocolate completely encasing the truffle). The inside is simply crushed Oreo cookies and cream cheese. The outside is chocolate chips, melted and then hardened once refrigerated. They are so rich and good! I first had them at a graduation party and inquired about them. Of course the ones at the grad party were perfect looking and not severely wonky like how mine turned out. I will have to keep making them to perfect their appearance. The ones I made tasted exactly like the one I had at the grad party so I just need to work on their appearance :).
Hiking at John Bryan... Our trail took us along side the Little Miami River
Yeah, no. We didn't let the Bridge Closed sign deter us. I mean, I first tested the integrity of the bridge by holding onto the sides (in case the bottom planks gave way- they didn't). It was completely safe to cross except for where some planks were missing. Then it was just a matter of stepping with care.
Pretty!
John, Alyssa and Abby. Abby wasn't feeling well but she was a trooper and did the hike with us. Jacob had to work so he couldn't come with us.
We encountered lots of limestone rocks
…. and saw one decent sized fish in the river
Yellow Springing...
Anti- Trumping...
Our adventure was driving east to Greene County and going to John Bryan State Park on Monday to do some hiking. Monday's weather was perfect- low 70's and mostly overcast. Unless we'd wanted to do something water related like swimming (which we didn't care to do), the cool weather could not have been better. We didn't hike for long but did enjoy the scenic views of the Little Miami River. I hadn't been to John Bryan State Park in years and hardly remembered it. It's a huge park and we barely scratched the surface. I want to return to the area and explore Clifton Gorge and Glen Helen Nature Preserve. The latter are close to John Bryan- I believe they're all connected? John Bryan is close to a 50 minute drive from our house. That's not too far away but I think knowing it's almost a two hour round trip deters me from going. Well, that and having soccer games almost every Saturday and Sunday in the spring and fall when the weather is usually most conducive to hiking. The kids have actually played numerous soccer games in the area. But, (not shockingly) they're aren't up for a hike after their games...
After we hiked, we decided to drive into the town of Yellow Springs. I had never been to Yellow Springs before despite being near it plenty of times for soccer games. From John Bryan Park, we only had to drive about five minutes and we found ourselves in downtown Yellow Springs. We parked and walked up and down the main street. The downtown consists of many small and quirky shops as well as cafes and art galleries. It's a hippie, progressive town- two things that I'm not (hippie and progressive- I'm obviously not a town!!) but it was interesting to explore.
Our next stop was to drive by the campus of Antioch College, also located in Yellow Springs. Antioch has a unique history- Horace Mann was its president for a portion of the 1950's. It had to close its doors several times in its history- most recently in 2008. Then it reopened in 2011 with an unusual twist: students didn't have to pay tuition. Odd. Anyway, the college is known for its, um, left of center ideologies. We noticed on Monday when we were driving around the college that on every Stop sign, someone had spray painted the word "Trump" below the word Stop. I understand not liking a politician and honestly, given the violent tactics/ rhetoric of many anti Trump people, I found the graffiti so innocuous that it was a little bit endearing. Not because I liked the sentiment but because it was not vulgar or violence inciting like so much of the anti Trump rhetoric is.
Back to John's birthday- I think he had a good day. I'd made plenty of birthday treats so we ate copious amounts of sugar while he was here. But, that's part of what a birthday celebration is about so I didn't feel too bad about the sugar consumption :).
Hope John makes the long trek out to Ohio soon...
I thought it turned out cute despite the wonky "L"
I also made these *fantastic* looking things 😆. They are homely and far from how they are supposed to look (round balls with hardened chocolate completely encasing the truffle). The inside is simply crushed Oreo cookies and cream cheese. The outside is chocolate chips, melted and then hardened once refrigerated. They are so rich and good! I first had them at a graduation party and inquired about them. Of course the ones at the grad party were perfect looking and not severely wonky like how mine turned out. I will have to keep making them to perfect their appearance. The ones I made tasted exactly like the one I had at the grad party so I just need to work on their appearance :).
Yeah, no. We didn't let the Bridge Closed sign deter us. I mean, I first tested the integrity of the bridge by holding onto the sides (in case the bottom planks gave way- they didn't). It was completely safe to cross except for where some planks were missing. Then it was just a matter of stepping with care.
John, Alyssa and Abby. Abby wasn't feeling well but she was a trooper and did the hike with us. Jacob had to work so he couldn't come with us.
We encountered lots of limestone rocks
Yellow Springing...
Anti- Trumping...
Who is that fat middle aged guy next to the rineer kids? Kinda creepy. Anyway. Thanks for a nice birthday and all the great food. The pasties we're delicious
ReplyDeleteI'll only agree on the middle age part...Will have to make pasties a tradition when you come to visit.
ReplyDelete