After a fabulous hike, Hannah decided to make my birthday extra special and make home made pasta! We had a pasta machine, but had never used it before. Today was the day to try it out. Hannah started with a lemon pasta mix.
From there, Hannah, Sonora, and Danelle took turns running the dough through the flattener and then finally through the splitter.
There is the pasta coming out split.
We were fortunate that this recipe doesn’t require drying the pasta much, so we were able to shortly put it in a pot and start a fantastic dinner!
Who doesn’t want to take a day off of work. Add to that the fact that its their birthday, and you can see why I took the day off work. I also noticed that my driver’s license expired today. With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, I waited a bit too long to get to the DMV and renew my license. I decided I needed to go early and get a spot to take care of it. I made it to the office 1/2 hour before they opened, but it was too late. There were at least 75 people in line socially distanced outside waiting to get in and take care of government business 🙁
I looked on my phone and it turned out you could be somewhere around 30 days late and still not have a penalty for renewal. With that fantastic, news, I was out of there and headed back home. Unfortunately for me, the kids were both in summer school and Danelle was working. But luck for my, my sister, Hannah, was in town visiting. I can talk Hannah into just about anything. I decided we would drive to Hughes Mountain and hike to the top.
We had a laugh driving out there and hanging out catching up. I had been there before, but didn’t make it to the top. So this was my chance to hike all the way up.
It turns out that my last visit, we turned around very close to the top! Just the same, the view was fantastic!
It may seem crazy to some, but I drove over 4 hours to hike about 2 miles of trail. I wish I could say I did more, but the day was worth it. And we were back at the house before the work day was over, giving me plenty of time to spend with Danelle and the kids on my birthday!
I think we need to have Hannah in town more often. I’m paddling more than ever. Better than that, I’m bring lots of people with me. Today, Hannah and I paddled the turd while Danelle and Melissa paddled our small aluminum boat up the Meramec river. we didn’t go too far,but had lots of fun!
Hannah is looking at the damn that keeps Simpson lake from dumping straight into the Meramec river.
Danelle and Melissa checking out the damn as well.
And darn Hannah for grabbing a photo with me. I do my best to be the one behind the camera… You can tell I sure don’t like it!
We decided to paddle a second day in a row. With 3 boats loaded on the trailer and a 10×10 pop up, we were ready to weather the sun and hang out for the morning.
Corvin and I hung out in the shade while Danelle and Maggie paddled in the canoe.
Sonora followed next in Tangelo
And Hannah came in last. But to be fair, she was in the slowest boat!
Eventually, Kelly, Jeff, and Mason came out to join us. Kelly, Mason, and I paddled the canoe around the lake for a bit having a good time. Jeff didn’t want to get in the water, but he did walk around the lake! It was a nice refreshing day to share with friends and family.
Paddling is something that I mostly do and the rest of the family puts up with. We don’t do it enough together even though we have enough boats. Since we got a trailer earlier this year, there is no excuse not to get the family out together and paddle! So here we go!
You can see that we have 3 boats on the trailer, 2 up top and one below. When I say family paddle, I mean substitute Danelle for Maggie and Corvin for Hannah 🙂 You can see 3 of the 4 of us in this shot going up Grand Glaze Creek.
It was great seeing the girls enjoy the freedom of paddling. Maggie and Hannah don’t get much time in a kayak and it took a long time after we finished for their smiles to fade! I”m glad I was able to bring more of our boats our tonight and bring joy to our extended family!
