When it’s your birthday not only do you get to pick what’s for breakfast (waffles), lunch (Mongolian noodle soup on top of Buttermilk Mountain), but you also have  a say in what’s for dinner. And my kid wanted ribs. She is a non-apologetic carnivore. I have no idea who first heard of this ribs restaurant, but it quickly became a place all the meat-lovers wanted to visit while in town.

After a long day my daughter decided that it was not all about her. Even though she was keen to eat at Hickory House Ribs in Aspen. She said that since her cousin Nick was not feeling well that it might be best if we just had pizza. This way we could avoid the 1/2 hour bus ride into Aspen. Well wouldn’t you know it, when Nick came in the door from a full day of skiing the first thing he asked was if we were going to Hickory House for dinner. When we answered that we could he quickly gave the two thumbs up and if I recall correctly he jumped up in glee. And that is how we ended up heading to Aspen with a kid with a bad knee and a boy with the flu.

The free bus system here is awesome. And in good company we all seemed to have a lovely time.

My nephew is too busy eating his kids size portion (still huge) of ribs to smile, but it is clear with the smile on Lana’s face that she is happier than a pig in s#&$, no pun intended.

Even my aspiring vegetarian son Nuno was happy with his meal. He got the mac ‘n cheese. My sister-in-law and I opted for the super cheap yet yummy and filing black bean burgers.

All in all it was a great night. Though having to walk a bit on a very cold night we all loved our night at the Hickory House. And if my daughter and husband have anything to say about it we will be back before we leave Colorado.

So she’s 10.

I will admit here that this birthday was not what any of us had planned. We all thought that we would be having a great time skiing with family on a mountain, but nope, we were on day 6 of being cooped up in our condo because of her bad knee. A nice condo to be sure, but cooped up nonetheless. Try as I might to make it a super day, I swear I did, it was still not the day my kid was expecting.

We started out the day with waffles. The toaster kind. Last year on her birthday we hadn’t been able to find them in the grocery store in Wanaka. And yes, I love making everything from scratch, but not in a caravan. This year I did get a complaint from my nephew that the toaster waffles were not as good as homemade, but mate, there is only so much a mother can be. I figure after they added the whip cream, chocolate sauce, maple syrup and sprinkles they wouldn’t be able to taste much of the waffle anyway. In full disclosure this picture is of the cousins eating their waffles the day after her birthday. I was suckered into allowing another morning of gluttony.

After breakfast Lana and I were left alone. I know, I know, it was her birthday, but after seeing Disney channel in the background for 5 days I was losing my mind. Then add to the fact that my kid who seemed to be on the mend two days before was all of a sudden limping again. It was a bit frustrating for us all. We were questioning our decision not to get an MRI. There were some tears and arguing, but rather than go to the doctor at lunch time (plan C) we went with our birthday plan B which was to try to meet the family on top on the mountain for lunch. Usually this involves nothing more timing things, but today we had to try to negotiate getting a kid with an injury but a season pass (can ride every day at no additional cost) and a mother with no injury, but no skis on either and no season pass and not willing to pay my albeit reduced daily rate to ride the lift.

Well aren’t we lucky that the ski lift attendant was a kind soul who also happened to be a Capricorn and let us on the lift. See no skis, just her mother’s nice boots.

We rode to the top where we met our entire family and my sister-in-law’s neighbors who they happened to bump into the day before in the lift line. No joke. Lunch was okay, but the view was spectacular.

Happy Birthday Lana Banana!