The kids wanted to celebrate our anniversary this year. Josiah was gung-ho on cooking. On Memorial Day, they were making preparations. By 2:30 pm, Josiah could wait no longer and requested we be downstairs to dine at 2:50. We were seated on the patio by the lovely Caroline. She gave us our menus. Unbeknownst to us, we had entered an Italianish establishment. She started us out with a bowl of tortilla chips and two homemade dips. Later she brought out a third bean dip. A nice South Carolina touch. She took our orders as if she had been waitressing for years. She didn't even write it down.
The first course was a bowl of spaghetti. Chef Henry served it and Caroline sprinkled the cheese. I knew we did not have green onions, so it took a little investigating to realize Henry had cut up green beans "green onion" style. They were quite good. After enjoying the spaghetti, our dishes were cleared and we had time for conversation before the next course. 
In the meantime, I asked the waitress if she could sneak a picture of the kitchen for me. For posterity's sake. 
Josiah cooked our second course of smashed cheeseburgers. He does not like the preformed patties that we usually get, so he took raw meat and added what he described as a "butt-ton of salt and pepper and something red, maybe chili powder?" They were quite good and not too salty. He added cheese, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. 
The dessert listed on the menu were Drumsticks, the ice cream variety. I knew we did not have Drumsticks, so when it came time for dessert, the waitress said I could order the "surprise." That I did. We had even more time for conversation while we waited for the delectable surprise. When it came, we tried to figure out all the additions. There were chocolate chip cookies, crushed Whoppers, and what looked like both a smear and a dollop of frosting, but it did not taste like frosting. I guessed melted chocolate chips. Chef Enrico later told me that he heated up chocolate chips with butter to make the concoction. 
Caroline and Henry entertained us with an Italian song. Caroline said it was about an Italian kid who had a lot of siblings and it was his job to cook for everyone and to make it fun, he would make up songs. Henry accompanied on air guitar. Sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric. 
Chef Josiah then came out with after-dinner drinks. Strawberry ginger ale on the rocks. Before handing them to us, he blew out the candle, so we knew our dining time was coming to a close.
By the end of the afternoon I was quite full. The chefs assured me they had already gotten the Lysol wipes out and cleaned the kitchen. That they did. Only thing they forgot was to hire a dishwasher. 
Because of the deep interest in earning money for their PS5, the meal was not free. Fortunately, when they totaled it, tax was only $0.54. Thank goodness they did not know about restaurant tax.
It was an incredibly fun and sweet gesture by all three.
They had time with friends before the week was over. The following day, Henry's friends stopped by and invited him swimming. It was 61° outside with no real chance of getting warmer. Henry went. I don't know how long they lasted because I had to run to the store. When I was driving back, I saw one friend at the front of the neighborhood clearly playing some sort of hide and seek/tag game. I guess the consensus was 61° was too cold to be swimming.
Josiah has hung out with his friend Eli nearly every day. Eli wants to be an actor and shares Josiah's enthusiasm of making movies and having lightsaber battles. I'm so happy he found a friend with common interests.
Midweek all three kids got to spend some final hours with their friends who are moving. They had a really good time playing all the sports - pickle ball, volleyball, basketball. The boys were driving around on the ATV again and Caroline's friend took her on a ride as well. She loved it. After they move and set out a new four-wheeling course on their new property, they're going to invite the kids up to enjoy a day.
Henry is still on a mission to earn money. I needed time to finish organizing my cabinet/papers at work and he came with me to clean toys. He chose to wash in the small sink in the classroom as opposed to the big kitchen sink. It's been great because he's been doing a bunch of stuff that was originally on my list of things to do over the summer. I've been checking them off right and left. 
Over the summer, the kids are taking Life Skills courses. It's an homage to our homeschooling days. :) They have taken over washing their own laundry. In addition, they are going to cook dinner one day a week. We started right away. Caroline cooked potato soup the first night. That was the day it was 61° so warm soup was quite nice. The following day, Josiah whipped up his smashed burgers again. Excellent.
Henry went for his favorite food - orange chicken and rice. I want them to do all the things for it (find the pans, do all the measuring, etc.), so I sit back and yell at direct them like a less crass Gordon Ramsey. 
Tomorrow morning, 4 a.m., the kids and I are off to Texas!
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