Fortieth Birthday Celebration

For my 40th birthday, we had a very busy day of celebrating.

Since it was a Sunday, we first went to church after a nice breakfast. Breakfast was baked oatmeal, which we usually have on Saturday. This week, Jacob and I went to pick up my sister Rosemary from the airport Saturday morning, so we shifted the traditional meal a day later. And we had it with my sister, a very nice plus. What made breakfast even nicer was opening a few presents, a tradition we started a few years ago. I received Doctor Who Uno in a Dalek carrying case, Star Trek Fleet Captains board game, a box of chocolates and a book of zombie love songs (review pending!).

Church went well with the kids. We didn't hang around afterward for tea and treats. Instead, we came home, changed into play clothes, and headed out to Spofforth Castle. Jacob has been talking about showing the castle to Auntie Rosemary for about a week and the weather was nice. The timing couldn't be better. We discovered a small stream out back of the castle and a railway viaduct.

A fence blocked us from exploring the tunnels

Aunt Rosemary coming out of the castle basement

For lunch, we went to a Spofforth pub, The Castle Inn. I had gammon steak, which is like a ham steak, with beans, mushrooms, peas, chips, and pineapple. It was a satisfying meal, including the beer. The pub was very cozy with a little fire in their fireplace. The owners had just come back from a trip all over the States. Chatting was quite lovely. As we were paying our bill, Jacob started singing one of his made up songs. The lady of the Inn said he should go out busking later. If it wasn't nap time, we might have tried it.
We went home and all had naps. After getting up, Jacob, Rosemary, and I headed off to the big local park where Jacob could sail his pirate ship and play on the playground. That was fun until it got dark. We returned home to find Mommy and Lucy cooking up some yummy bangers and mash for dinner.

After dinner we skyped with various relatives in the States and then had my birthday cake. The cake was a delicious caramel apple bundt cake. The children weren't too enthusiastic for it, which means there's plenty of leftovers for us adults tonight!

Once the children were in bed, my wife pleaded exhaustion and toddled off to bed too. I made myself a zombie and played Portal 2 to finish off a wonderful birthday. This birthday will be tough to top in the future!