Traveling Troy

When you see a big plate of homemade biscuits and gravy at our house, it can only mean one thing. It's someone's birthday! Most like Troy's or Bitty's, but definitely a birthday.  March 3rd marked Troy's 47th birthday and we of course started the day out right. Thank you, Aunt Tonja, for the best biscuit recipe EVER.

I discovered that Troy shares his birthday with some ladies who I feel bad for because they're so ugly: 

The kids had the day off of school, so I tried very hard to get Troy to take the day and go to the aquarium with us, and he really did his best. The kids and I wandered around for a while, and even took this delightful picture of a "sleeping" turtle. At least, we hope it was sleeping.

Sadly, Troy's work day never did let him join us. So instead we had his folks over for dinner and a couple of presents - Troy's mom is so cute. She loves to give him his childhood faves. Lucky Charms and Goldfish. No one was allowed access to a single Lucky Charm and I was proud of the kids for not even asking. Daddy's cereal! Troy did have a gift picked out - a new camping stove - but it took a few weeks to get the right one selected and purchased. It took a couple of false starts and returns but eventually, long after his birthday, Troy became the owner of a great stove. The big car-camping kind. Not the little backpacking kind.

So hooray for Troy, whom I just love all to pieces. Really. He's the best.

Oh yeah, the traveling part. Shortly after his birthday, Troy began a series of weeks away from us as his company sent him (over and over and over again) to the grand town of Casper, Wyoming. I think it was six or seven weeks in a row. We really missed him and are all glad that he's working more locally now. I will say that now that my youngest is a 2nd grader, having Troy gone on a business trip is slightly easier than it was five or so years ago. But still, we are all so glad he's home. We did a LOT of FaceTime in the evenings. FaceTime always makes one look extra attractive, don't you think?