Quiet Independence

Our Independence Day was very different this year. With both Daniel and Nathan living elsewhere, we were fewer in number than we have ever been before. And Matthew and Malia spent yesterday afternoon and evening with Cory and Michelle and their girls, so it was just Kev and I rattling around the house. We went out for dinner and everything since it was just the two of us. And with no kids at home, we didn’t bother with sparklers or fireworks.

But we didn’t boycott the holiday completely. Our standard patriotic food assortment still occurred. It was just spread out over three days. When I was deciding what form our red, white and blue cuisine would take this year, I realized that neither Matthew nor Malia has ever eaten ice cream cake. Matthew not having sampled this particular delight is not unexpected, but Malia missing out has been in large part due to the fact that she is younger than Matthew and we were pretty much set in our allergen free lifestyle by the time she came along. That made deciding on a dessert really simple. Instead of creating one large ice cream cake, I made individual ones as that was a super easy way to make them each with the appropriate kind of ice cream. We ate them on Sunday evening and let me tell you, they were delightful. My kids have become fast converts to the phenomenon that is ice cream cake. I’m already thinking about what flavor to make next. And they are looking forward to it.

Yesterday we had red, white and blue crepes for breakfast. Ever since I introduced my kids to crepes and the various other super thin, tender pancakes that are traditional throughout Europe that we sampled as part of our Pancakes Around the World adventure last summer, they occasionally start to crave some sort of crepe-like delight. So I decided to make the traditional French pancake American style. 😂 They were fun. And tasty. (Even the very last “tie dyed” one that looked rather unappetizing.) Thumbs up all the way around for that one.

We had our all-American meal this evening. I was planning on hamburgers, but the fam voted for sloppy joes instead. We paired our messy main dish with chips and dip, something I don’t put on the menu very often, and added the kids’ normal tri-colored beverages. We finished up our meal with a repeat of the ice cream cake. Again, yum.

It was a much mellower holiday than usual. It was also a little glimpse of what the future holds for Kev and me as the kids continue to grow up.