I don’t think I ever posted about the road trip we took while in the US last year. My mom, Lego Lover and I went from Fort Worth, TX to Western Pennsylvania over the course of two days. Originally the plan was to drive straight through, taking a day and a half. It became clear by the time we reached Tennessee that this plan wasn’t feasible and we needed to stay overnight somewhere. We stopped at what I think might have been a Super 8 or something of that ilk. The desk clerk’s English left something to be desired and the facilities weren’t great. But it was a place to sleep and that’s what we did for about six or seven hours. We even took time to have quick showers before heading out again later in the morning. On our return trip, we did a bit more planning and found more suitable accommodation at a place that I think was called Country Suites. We found a coupon in a travel booklet and for less than the price of the previous room, we had a room and breakfast. And it was a much nicer facility.

The highlight of that stay was the lovely breakfast offered the next morning. Available was cereal, toast, eggs, country biscuits with gravy and I can’t remember what else. And then there were the waffles. They had a couple Belgian waffle irons set up with cups of batter so we could make our own. Lego Lover absolutely loved this and Mom and I liked it too.

When we got back from our trip, a waffle iron was something that was highly desired. We particularly wanted a Belgian waffle maker. At that time, however, nobody seemed to have any in stock. I did eventually find a waffle maker in Myer, one of the more upmarket department stores. But it wasn’t the right type and was kind of expensive. Plus the reviews I read weren’t particularly favorable. Online research turned up some alternatives but they didn’t seem to be available in the usual stores. A couple months down the road, I was looking at the frequent flyer points catalog online and discovered a Sunbeam Belgian waffle maker just like we wanted. I ordered it right away and a week or so later it arrived at our house.

I’ve made waffles several times since then and it’s always a treat. Only one batch came out badly and that was due to my alterations of some ingredients. On the weekend, Lego Lover told me he was craving waffles, which was his round about way of asking me to make them. I said I’d see what i could do. Meanwhile, Game Fanatic asked if I could make some chocolate chip ones too. We had some chocolate left over from a cooking venture of some sort so I also told him I’d see what I could do. I’ve never made anything but plain waffles before so wasn’t sure how this would work out. On Sunday, I made one batch of plain and for the second batch added in chocolate chips and Milo malted milk powder. They turned out rather well although it left a lot of mess to clean up in an appliance that can’t be immersed. The boys and the Scientist seemed to enjoy all they had. I was lucky to get one of the last chocolate chip ones and it was pretty good.

Lego Lover ate the most, which was pretty amazing considering he’s the smallest of the family. It’s obvious he’s well into puberty and adolescence because he’s now eating very much like a typical teenager. I don’t know where he keeps all that food because he’s become tall and lanky over the better part of the past year. He hasn’t surpassed me in height just yet but it surely won’t be long when he’s growing as fast as he is.