August 15 is a major holiday in Italy when everything is closed. Luckily we still find a restaurant that serves Bistecca Fiorentina for Stefan’s birthday. It’s a relaxing day here in Chianti–just the way Stefan likes it.

The kids and I wake up just barely before Stefan (or he lies in bed a bit longer so we believe we are up before him) to make him his coffee. The Swedish tradition is the bring the birthday boy his breakfast with something special like cake to bed in the morning. Stefan doesn’t eat breakfast, so that’s just coffee for him. We couldn’t find a cake in Siena yesterday, so the sweet is chocolate cookie we bought at the gas station on the way home last night. Oh, and some cantaloupe just in case. It may not sound special, but these kids were super happy to make pappa breakfast. They put in the instant coffee grounds and stirred it with the poured water. It was fancy.

I should mention that our water turned off last night. We realized Lillian left the hose on in the kiddie pool when we left for Siena, so we thought it may have something to do with that. But our Airbnb host says that everyone in the neighborhood is without water and that it is being fixed. Until then, we are doing everything with the bottled water we happen to have in the house. It adds a bit of adventure to Chianti.

Stefan gets up, and we make our way down to the table outside. It’s a beautiful morning, and the view from the yard is spectacular. No better way to start the day. We carry everything for the kids’ breakfast down there as well, but within seconds of sitting, we look over to see Oly has eaten Stefan’s cookie and cantaloupe. Happy birthday?!

We sit out there as long as we can until we decide we have to start getting some things done today. There’s a lot of cleaning we want to do before we leave the Airbnb tomorrow. Not just the usual packing, but this time I’m completely detailing the car. I found a vacuum cleaner that looks a lot like a shop-vac (fingers crossed), and we are finally getting rid of some 70-day-old crumbs in the seats.

While I’m cleaning the car, Stefan comes out of the house in running clothes. I’m so impressed. We are up in the hills, so it will be a difficult run. Maybe turning 35 does something to you. He leaves and yells back that we have a reservation at 1pm for lunch. I think it’s a bit after 11. Lillian loves helping clean the car. She has a sponge and wipes down all surfaces, and she insists on vacuuming her own seat. She so reminds me of my mother. Oly sits in Lillian’s car seat, on the ground in the carport, and watches. Reminds me of someone else.

Lillian starts cleaning their scooters while I finish washing the outside of the car. It is super hot. When I’m putting the floor mats back in, I realize Stefan has been gone a very long time. We should probably go find him, so I go back inside to grab my phone. There are messages from over 20 minutes ago! Oops. By now, he’s almost back home and doesn’t need me to come get him. But he was gone for over an hour and a half! What a great workout!

Needless to say we miss our reservation. The good news is that we stop at a restaurant near us up here on this hill, Pestello. We pass it almost every time we leave. Even though it’s almost 2, when everything closes, the waiter seats us. The patio is packed, and he is working with help from only one other guy. Everything is slow, but we’ve found that typical in Italy.

The starters of prosciutto and baked vegetables (smothered in cheese) are good, but the main reason to come here is the pasta and the bistecca fiorentina. The steak is medium-well, which we were severely disappointed about (we like our steak medium rare), but it was still very good. Oly loved his gnocchi with pecorino cheese and truffles. I kept sneaking bites because it was so delicious. This place is a great find, and I can’t believe it is so close to home!

Stefan has his heart set on grilling tonight, so we go down the hill in search of an open grocery store. It takes awhile, but we find one! It’s fun at first, but then the kids get super crazy. It’s Oly’s naptime, and Lillian is tired too. It’s a bit painful, repeatedly dragging them apart as we try to find items in the store, and in the end, they don’t have temporary grills. We still get another steak to cook and finally a cake!

Everyone is tired when we get home, but no one naps. The silence while everyone does their own thing in the living room is a bit off-putting because it’s so unusual.

We finally decide it’s time to start dinner. The view from the table is amazing, with the light illuminating just the hills. Unfortunately I don’t capture a photo of the view until the sun sets. We open a bottle of wine we bought in Loire Valley. That seems like so long ago! The steak, pork, arugula salad and zucchini are all very good.

When it’s completely dark, we head inside for cake! Of course, the kids are the most excited for this. We put the caffe semifreddo cake on the kitchen table with one candle (that plays happy birthday music!), and the kids cannot wait to blow it out. They impatiently sing happy birthday in English, then in Swedish, and only then does Stefan allow them to “help” blow out his candle.

Lillian gets up from the table and announces she has a special original song to sing for pappa. She is so cute. Her songs are so long and reveal how she sees things. This song is about how on pappa’s birthday we will do whatever he wants, even if it’s stay home all day, and how he can pick out whatever cake he wants (she doesn’t like it). It’s so sweet. Then Oly wants a turn. He sings ABCD at the top of his lungs while marching around in a slow circle. It feels so good. So much like we really are a family (something I still can’t believe sometimes). And we could be anywhere in the world right now. All that matters is we are together.