Birthday Boy's Big 3-0 Day

Today is Stevie's birthday. Due to the job loss and not wanting to spend loads of money on either of our days this year, I had to think beyond what Steven would WANT for his birthday and think about what would make him feel special. I took a page out of his mama's book for this birthday. 

There are a few things about Steven's interests that are unchanged and have been unchanged since he was a little boy. 

1. He LOVES to climb things. I do not envy his poor mother when he was a kid. He was probably climbing over everything and giving her a heart attack every couple of minutes. He's an incredibly inquisitive man, and he loves few things more than being in the outdoors. 

2. He loves good food and good drink. Actually, he loves food and drink. His taste buds are refining more and more as we travel, but this boy loves to eat and drink. He will eat literally just about anything, and if he doesn't eat it, you can be assured that it's inedible. 

So, I crafted Stevie's big day around being outdoors, eating, and drinking. I woke him up for sunrise on the big fortress that surrounds Tbilisi. It was cloudy, and it started to rain when we got up there, but he was very happy to climb around the old rocks and dance in the rain for the first few hours of his big day. We then went back to the flat, got ready for the day, and made it to our favorite cafe for a sweet snack (for him) and a couple of cappuccinos before we headed to our next surprise. 

Stevie's beard looked long and horrendous, and he lost his scissors back in Istanbul - so, I surprised him with a visit to the barbers. What I thought would be an expensive treat, ended up to be quite cheap. He got a beard trim, close shave, and I got him some beard balm all for $20! The shave + trim itself was only $6. I scored big time on that one!

Then, I took him for lunch and some drinks. We've been wanting to go to this restaurant called Lolita since we got to Tbilisi. It's a restaurant that was crafted out of an old warehouse. The guy who built it has impeccable design taste, and he's converted a few more old warehouses around Tbilisi into more restaurants, bars, hotels, and hostels. He's apparently a billionaire. Known to be the "Donald Trump" of Georgia. 

Lunch was absolutely incredible here, and we spent a couple hours drinking beer, whiskey, aperol spritz, and enjoying some lovely food. Steven was very happy. 

We then made our way to his last surprise of the night. I booked a table for us and a few of our friends at a restaurant that we've been wanting to visit. It's called the Old Wall, and it's a restaurant that's literally built into the old wall of Tbilisi. The vibe was immaculate, and we ate some yummy Georgian food. It was a full spread, kind of tapas style food, but it was a typical Georgian meal. We passed around a bottle of cha cha, drank wine, and had a new plate of food brought to us every 10 minutes. 

Steven made some friends with the restaurant musicians that night, particularly a guy that they called "King Vaho". I sat and watched Stevie laugh, sing, hug, and gawk at these guys who were all just having the time of their life. I may or may not have teared up a few times. He is just a  beautiful specimen. The musician's style of performance was quite cool, actually. They didn't get up to sing or play the instruments. Instead, they sat around their table, ate food (like we had), drank, chatted, laughed, and every few minutes they'd randomly belt out the music. 

After our meal, we headed to the only place in Tbilisi still open past 10pm. (covid curfew). We walked over to a massive park, where we all shared in some cheap beer while sitting in the grass to chat. Steven and I found a stray doggie that would have been a new member of the Cruse family had we lived in Georgia. She was perfect. We cuddled her, laughed, and laid in the grass with her for hours. She was a very good stray doggie. 

Steven keeps telling me that he had the most wonderful birthday. So, I think I'll continue this trend of revolving his birthday round food, drink, and outdoor activity. He was so, so happy all day.. and it was the most wonderful joy to watch his boyish grin be so big!!