My Birthday

My birthday was on a Tuesday this year, and though 34 is nothing of a landmark year, I felt like celebrating.  In the afternoon, the kids and I met a friend to see the new baby giraffe at the Zoo.  That baby giraffe was born taller than me.  On the evening of my actual birthday, Chuck and I went out on a date.  We had no particular destination in mind, and as it turns out, most things close early on Tuesdays where we live.  So we found ourselves at the Mall of America, and you know what?  It was fun.  We went out for dinner and then on a few amusement park rides.  I highly recommend the Avatar Airbender if you want a thrill.  We also got in on the Toddler Tuesday discount strangely enough.  

The weekend before we all went on a bike ride.  I love bike riding, but have done it far less since we moved from Hopkins.  It really is nice to be right on a bike trail.  While there are a lot of trails near us, most of them are down the bluff, and there is no good way from here to there without a car.  While Charles and I were on one of our car dates towards the end of summer, I'd spotted a promising trail.  The Big Rivers Regional Trail turned out to be just what we were looking for--good scenery, moderate difficulty and close to home--oh, and a good picnic spot too.  We scouted it out and made plans for a biking picnic.   My parents helped us shuttle the bikes and after a few adjustments we were off.  

I got to ride with Charlotte on the tag-a-long.  We were a great pair.  She likes to go fast!  Charles pulled Ariadne (and all our food) in the trailer.  The six of us and my parents all biked and Charles' dad, Barry, met us at the picnic site (Roberta was busy delivering a baby).  The first part of the trail was along the river with the train tracks below.  The second part took us through the woods. The trail ended by opening out into a large overlook built in the WPA era.  The river spread out wide and swampy below--a true wetland.  The airport is just across the river and the planes come quite close.  More city skyline is visible in the distance.   

  

Our picnic was faux fried chicken (cornflake breading baked in the oven), Greek salad and lemonade.  For reasons I can't explain, I was determined to have a chiffon cake with pink frosting.  I used the Joy of Cooking's chiffon recipe, substituting Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake Mix for the flour.  The frosting was butter cream with mashed raspberries to make it pink.  For anyone up for making a chiffon cake, it will be the sturdiest GF cake you will ever make--yet very moist and spongy to taste.  Must be the whipped egg whites.  

We finished up just as it was about to rain, with Ariadne falling asleep in on the bike ride back.  All in all a success.  When we got back to the parking lot my mom declared it my 'first annual' birthday bike ride.  Who knows, she might be right.