67 Day

 I didn't really plan to make half birthdays a thing, but Quinn has cared whether or not he was more than halfway through his year since he was four. We even jokingly told Ash that he was three and three quarters, and he brags to people about it any chance he gets. Quinn's half birthday was approaching on January 10th, so it felt like the stars aligned when, two days before, during my Lucky Duck trip, I found a half birthday banner decoration. I was excited to surprise him on that Saturday morning with the decoration and donuts for breakfast, and he was psyched to wake to up them. This was an extra special half birthday because he was officially halfway from 6, halfway to 7. 

We didn't really have any other plans for the day (that we remembered), so went about our morning at a leisurely pace, working out, showering, and I even made an early lunch. I was excited to make a pasta recipe that we had had a few years ago and forgotten about. It is made with fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and garlic cloves. It was delicious. While I was in the middle of prepping it, I remembered that Philip had mentioned that our nephew, Austin, had a wrestling match that day, and we had talked about going. We made a hasty plan to go to it, in Williamstown, and to then head down to Parkersburg to take the boys bowling for their first time. We had talked before about doing it at some point, so this felt like a good time to make it happen since we wouldn't be far away. We got to the wrestling match late, thanks to the drive, but we did get to see Austin's final match, which he won in like 2.5 seconds 💪🏻 🤼. It was fun to watch and I'm glad we went, but I wished I hadn't eaten that pasta before going. I love the taste of fresh garlic, but I don't love the lingering stench. Especially if you chop it without wearing gloves 🫠. When you walk into a middle school gym filled with sweaty, prepubescent boys, you shouldn't be the stinkiest one there, but I was. I apologized to Carly and Emma, but they're family, so they tolerate me. However, there was another little girl whom I didn't know, whose space I invaded in order to have a seat, and I couldn't blame her if she was offended. Lesson learned. Again, I think. I feel like this isn't the first time this has happened to me, just in a different setting. 

Anyway, after watching Austin kick butt, we made our way to Emerson Lanes. We weren't sure if we'd be able to get a lane, but they had a few available. They boys did a great job! Mostly. Ash was overly confident but he wasn't quite strong enough to get the ball all of the way down to the pins by himself, and we had to get a worker to rescue it once when it stopped halfway down the lane. I told him he had to wait on me or his dad to take his turn, but he kept trying to go it alone 🤦🏻‍♀️. Quinn was excited when his score equaled 6-7 on his 9th frame. 

Philip and I used to bowl all of the time when we had a bowling alley in town, and we used to be pretty decent at it. We haven't been in years, but I reallllly wanted to beat him. I was disappointed that I didn't 😂. 

I at least broke 100. Quinn and Ash had bumpers, we did not. 

We ended our trip at the Walmart in Parkersburg because we needed groceries, but it’s always fun to find the gems that other Walmarts get way sooner than ours ever does. I’m a sucker for a new product to try and I follow a ridiculous amount of FB pages where they post new food finds. I didn’t need two different kinds of Cheerios, but I got them anyway. I rarely shop in person at Walmart because I’m not a masochist, but when I do go into ours, I always stalk the shelves for things I’ve seen online. I had been looking for Banana Caramel Cheerios forever, and I found those in Parkersburg. I also found Confetti Cheerios. Two days later, the Walmart app notified me that Cocoa Loops were in stock in town, so I got yet another box of cereal to try. I literally don’t even eat cereal, pretty much ever 😂. The boys eat it occasionally but they both thought the Cocoa Loops were gross. They were wrong, they’re fine, but they won’t eat them, so I guess that’s on me now. I loved cereal as a kid, they’re a couple of weirdos. Oh, and both flavors of Cheerios were good, but the Confetti ones were better.