Roma and Rubia's Birthday

Earlier this month, we celebrated Roma and Rubia’s birthday! We actually celebrated it a bit early. We’ve been celebrating birthdays on the weekends so that Dad can be with us (he doesn’t have as much vacation time as he used to, so he can’t always take the day off during the week.)

We started off our morning with cinnamon rolls, fruit, and cheese (not pictured.) Thankfully, unlike the last birthday, we did NOT melt anything in the oven. J

Keeping with tradition, the twins got to open one gift at breakfast. They were quite excited to get new ear buds for their MP3 players!

Shortly after breakfast, we dropped the dog off at the kennel and headed towards. . . well. . . we kids didn’t know! J (Our birthday trip destinations are always a surprise.) We later found ourselves at the Dallas Heritage Village! This historical village is filled with buildings from the Dallas area that were built between 1840-1910.

Thankfully the weather was good for being outside, but I have to say that it was just a little warm for these still-thick-blooded-Northerners. J The temperature hovered at 90 all day with pretty high humidity levels and not much wind. But thankfully all the buildings were air-conditioned (so they’re not *completely* historically accurate, but here in Texas, you need climate-control!)

Our first stop was the De Leon House. This little house would have been home to railroad workers, who were mostly Mexican. Some of us tried grinding corn into cornmeal. It was NOT easy!

Next we toured a Shotgun House which came from an African-American neighborhood from the north side of Dallas. I don’t know how well I would adapt to living in a home of this style! But I thought of my friend, Sarah, when I saw this trunk because of her project to restore a trunk of her own. J

I wish this picture came from a woodworking shop or something like that, but unfortunately it comes from the Doctors office. My limbs begin to ache and quiver when I think of them being sawed off!

Mom and Dad in the carriage house.

Roma and Rubia with Nip and Tuck, two Mammoth Jack Donkeys. These guys are as big as horses!

My favorite house of the day was the Gano Farmstead, after Richard Gano. The layout of this home is known as “Dog Trot” because of the open breezeway down the middle of the house. I absolutely *love* how open it is, but with all the violent storms we’ve had lately, I’m beginning to rethink whether or not I would actually like living in a house like this all the time. During good weather it’s great! :-)

We then took a guided tour of Millermore, a huge home built in the Greek Revival style.

One of the most fascinating things about Millermore was the hair art. Back during the late 1800’s, creating embroidery-like art with human hair was a common way to memorialize people, particularly after they died. The intricacy is amazing!

We also toured a hotel, a school, a church building, the train depot, a dentist office, an apothecary (in the back of the doctor’s office), another large home, a bank, and the general store. By the time we saw everything, it was around 3:30 in the afternoon. I was starting to feel a little fatigued after walking around in the heat without water (I was a bit dumb and left it in the car.) We were quite grateful to get in the car and head towards dinner at Buca di Beppo!

As shown by all the empty glasses, cold drinks never tasted so good. :-)

Photo Credit: Mark

We started off with a delicious antipasto-like salad. We also had some of their Italian bread with oil and vinegar.

Next came delicious cheese bread!

We ordered two different main dishes, Veal Marsala, and Prosciutto-and-Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken with pesto sauce (pictured above.) I had the chicken, and it was some of the most delicious chicken I have ever eaten! We also had yummy rosemary roasted potatoes on the side.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Even though we were having birthday cake, several people desperately wanted to try the chocolate-chip canolis. So we purchased one order of them and everyone got a bite (they were also really good!)

But we didn’t go home right after dinner. We went boot shopping! Roma and Rubia were so excited to finally get their own cowgirl boots. Roma ordered a pair of pink, brown, and green Justin boots, while Rubia purchased kangaroo Ferrini boots.

When we got home, they opened the rest of their gifts. They got several nice nature-related gifts, as well as other things.

Then it was time for cake! Mom baked a delicious Chocolate-Coconut Confection birthday cake (recipe coming soon!) We had it with vanilla bean ice cream.

While their birthday was long (and we were quite ready for bed!) we had such a good time celebrating as a family! These two bring a lot of joy into our lives, and they are truly a double blessing to us!