41 going on 12

The first two weeks of the year are pretty much gone. Christmas was a blur. This was the first time the kids really tore at presents. Years past had been a leisurely affair where they would open something, want to play with it and completely forget that there were a bunch of other things for them waiting to be opened. After Christmas with my in-laws, we had a one day layover back at the house then we headed down to visit Joe and Adrienne (and their kids Olivia and Nate) for New Year's in Maryland. Joe and I were freshman roommates in college and it is always fun to get together. We went with less of a sit-down dinner for New Year's Eve this year and it was more a a pick at stuff all night affair. Shrimp, steaks, scallops in bacon, cheeses, wines...the list goes on and on. The big finish to several hours or eating and drinking was a bread pudding. Here's the recipe. From Emeril. Wow. And the sauce - WOW.

If you take away the several back-to-back days of gluttony, my favorite thing to do while visiting is outside. Nate has a kick-ass Razor scooter. The wheels are bigger, the base is wide and trust from experience, that model scooter is significantly faster than other models. Which bring us to the hill. Here's the view from the driveway.

Right off the bat you are heading downhill. A few pushes and you're moving at a pretty good clip well before you get to the stop sign. That's a 3-way stop. Cars coming at you don't stop. So when all is clear, you push off at the driveway, get the scooter going and make a wide left turn (remember, you're already going kind of fast) at the intersection and head down this long hill.

 

I'm not sure how fast I am going when I past the first neighbor's house but I'm giggling, the wind is loud in my ears and it feels like you would really hurt yourself if you wipe out, so wiping out is not an option. I keep going until the Razor runs out of gas at a side street you can't see in the picture. Damn, that is a fun ride. If we leave now, we could be taking turns riding the scooter in about 6 hours. Who's in?