{"id":2935,"date":"2014-10-06T01:10:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T01:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2935"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","slug":"happy-birthday-samuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2935","title":{"rendered":"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMUEL!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Samuel turned 11 yesterday. \u00a0Somehow, each fall Melissa and I get busy with the start of a new school year and his October 4th birthday sneaks up on us unawares. \u00a0But THIS YEAR we had some gifts sent in via Amazon days in advance, so we were pretty proud of ourselves. \u00a0AND both grandmas sent packages through the mail, arriving the day before. We also did our research on food requests and birthday activities ahead of time. \u00a0We were so glad his big day fell on a Saturday this year, giving us plenty of time to celebrate.Samuel’s first celebration request was my kind of activity – free! \u00a0He wanted to climb the mountain behind our house. \u00a0We had a quick Saturday morning breakfast and then Caleb, Samuel and I left our house at 8:00 for Ruysdael and Johnny’s neighborhood so that they and Mikenn could take over as our hiking guides. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

It was a cloudless, clear day … by which I mean “it was stinking HOT”. \u00a0But the views were great. \u00a0We had ample opportunity to enjoy the views since we were stopping every five minutes for a rest.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

And who was begging for stops the most? \u00a0The birthday boy. \u00a0Early on, I asked him, “So whose idea was this anyway?”His answer: “Some dumb kid’s.”Look at the pain on his face after about 45 minutes:<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

So, needless to say, we didn’t actually make it to the top. \u00a0I hear THAT hike can take up to four hours. \u00a0We made it to what Mikenn called “the first floor”. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

And once we hit this point, the path leveled out and it was easy walking, so we decided to explore the area a bit before we headed back down. \u00a0We found an avocado tree just LOADED with the biggest avocados I have ever seen. \u00a0The boys knocked a couple out of the tree with rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n

Samuel got a bit adventurous and poked around inside an abandoned house. \u00a0When he opened the door, a bat flew past our heads. \u00a0Mikenn said there was evidence of voodoo practice inside.<\/p>\n\n\n

Outside, we found the largest hermit crab I have ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

And a small tree snake.<\/p>\n\n\n

And a boy riding a donkey bare butt! Can’t be comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0And a little natural spring.<\/p>\n\n\n

And a boy who was there for work, not pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n

All in all, we took our time and enjoyed the views and gulped our water and looked for shade – both coming and going.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

While we were out, his sisters and a couple of the Bundy girls decorated the living room for Samuel’s birthday party.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

We made up some of that time by not decorating a cake. \u00a0This birthday boy doesn’t care for cake. \u00a0A pan of brownies is more to his liking.<\/p>\n\n\n

P.S. We got word this week from my younger brother, Russ, that he and his family have purchased tickets to come visit for a week after Christmas! \u00a0We are so excited. \u00a0Maybe I can convince Uncle Russ to hike to the TOP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samuel turned 11 yesterday. \u00a0Somehow, each fall Melissa and I get busy with the start of a new school year and his October 4th birthday sneaks up on us unawares. \u00a0But THIS YEAR we had some gifts sent in via Amazon days in advance, so we were pretty proud of ourselves. \u00a0AND both grandmas sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2961,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2935\/revisions\/2961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}