Oh, hello, Interworld! Nice to see you again after a gloriously unplugged week (glorious except for the 8 million emails to which I returned. that was not glorious.). And because everyone loves pictures of vacations you have not taken, behold … Read More
A mouthful, yes? But a delicious one, I assure you. Somehow the idea of a yogurt-basil dressing had cemented itself in my brain, but when I tried it, the dish just didn’t…pop. It tasted plenty basil-y on its own, but … Read More
Shirt: Old Navy (printed by me); Skirt: Target; Cardigan; Belt: J.Crew Factory; Wedges; Whistle necklace; Love necklace; Watch c/o Just a favorite little outfit that I wore on my birthday. This skirt really is the best … Read More
This weekend, we headed out to Shenandoah National Park for a little camping night, a morning of hiking, and then down to Roanoke, VA. Camping with the smalls is always an adventure; so fun and lovely and cozy and yet … Read More
We love enchiladas over here. And they are a rather excellent way of using up large amounts of CSA veggies. And infinitely customizable (don’t like mushrooms? don’t use them. have some random hakurei turnips like I did? throw them in). … Read More
Having been a vegetarian my whole life, I’ve gotten my fair share of, “So… what do you eat? Lettuce?” (I generally want to respond with, “What do you eat? Flesh?” I am nothing if not terrifically mature.) As much as … Read More
On Thursday night, we were planning to go camping in the beautiful Shenandoah’s in honor of my birthday on Friday. Dan surprised me with a spot picked out months ago before it filled up right at the top of a … Read More
We went strawberry picking. Not that first time. Again. Because of course everyone needs to pick nearly 20 pounds of ripe and delicious strawberries over the course of a week and a half. Needless to say, I’m scrounging out all … Read More
Summer’s in full swing and we’ve already kicked into some fun little travels. Pittsburgh First up was Pittsburgh to visit Dan’s brother and his family. It had been a while since we’d seen them, and oh, did we have fun. … Read More
I used to think I didn’t like fajitas. Not really sure why? I mean, lots of colorful veggies and tortillas and toppings? Not much to go wrong. I finally had them again a few months ago when we were in … Read More
We’re pretty simple when it comes to dips. Fresh salsa, guac, done. But this dip. THIS DIP! It is so good. I made it for Dan’s birthday shindig this year and I had at least 4 different people ask for … Read More
We took off at 5:30am on a Sunday morning because I was played in a Saturday matinee concert the day before and we decided it would be crazy to try to do a 9-10 hour drive when we wouldn’t leave before 7pm. We popped into church in NJ with our beloved Snells (and were rewarded with delicious cookies in addition to the Sacrament…not a terrible 90 minutes), stopped in for lunch with some other dear friends in Connecticut, and finished he haul up to Northfield, VT to visit our dear Grays.
They live on this gorgeous property abutting a river and with a barn and ponies and chickens and it was just all sorts of lovely. They were super hosts and welcomed us right into Vermontish life with some farm tours and fresh eggs and cheese and caramel. They also regaled us with hilare stories of small-town life and their darling children were beyond nice to ours. Nat was a little obsessed (I mean, older friends? pony rides? what’s not to love?).
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| My Indian boy said the water was too cold and thus only left his chair to pick up rocks |
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| Maple creamies, they are tasty |
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| Pure joy, right there |
Montreal is a little under 3 hours from their home so we took a little day trip up there and toured the old city, went up the big hill, ate at a French restaurant, visited a gorgeous little library with a greenhouse, and attempted to go to the temple, which was small enough that it’s actually closed when a scheduled event isn’t taking place. At least we ran into the missionaries and so we got into the chapel to use the bathroom.
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| They had gorgeous flower planters allll over the city |
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| She’s a beauty. |
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| Poutine, a Montreal specialty of fries with gravy and cheese curds. Sounds weird but pretty tasty. |
We drove back south through Boston and spent half a day there. While I’d been there before, it was usually to visit friends in Cambridge, so I surprisingly hadn’t seen much of the city before. It was even lovelier than I imagined – and it was July 3rd, a perfect preamble to the next day (hello, I am 80 years old and enjoy terrible puns).
We toured the south end of the Freedom Trail (after ditching the car and taking the T in, the trolley and the fact that it’s named a letter all being very exciting to a certain small person), then picked up lunch and picnicked in the Commons (where much Frog Pond wading and playground climbing and balloon animal frolicking happened). We walked through to the other end and headed over to the goooorgeous public library. Good gracious, I almost want to move there just for that. Reminded me of my beloved college library (also, library theme, much?).
From there, we headed over to the justly-famous Giacomo’s. Oh, that butternut squash ravioli, it was gooooood. Plus, an even bigger treat was meeting up with Dan’s old freshman hallmate and his now-wife who was even more delightful than one would expect based on knowing her husband – which is quite a high standard. A perfect finish to an amazing day.
It seems so funny to say this, but New York was a total respite. Dan’s sister/her husband/adorable baby live in Brooklyn so we were able to park and ditch the car there for the duration of our visit. We splash parked it up and met up with old friends and walked the High Line/Chelsea Market and Brooklyn Bridge Park and caught the fireworks from my brother-in-law’s amazing office and actually went to the temple. And we ate. A lot. Of course.
And the best part was, by far, spending time with family. Dan’s parents and other sister also came in and it was just so fun. The girl babies were adorable together and garnered lots of subway attention. Nat was too thrilled about going on the train every single time to ever notice other people, but I think I caught a few smiles at his excitement. Oh, family. You’re fun. Can’t you just all move down the street from us already?
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| I know this picture is blurry, but OH, I love it with all my heart |
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| Hey Doughnut Plant, that coconut cream filled doughnut? Was not terrible. |
This was a last minute tack-on to the trip, but we really couldn’t do an east coast trip without a stop in our beloved city. It was super short so we basically just spent time with Dan’s amazing mission presidents and some of our other dear friends, with a quick stop at Smith Playground.
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| We saw theeee most amazing sunset on the drive back from Philly. It’s like it was raining pink. |
Except for one unfortunate meltdown when it was time to leave a splashpad (on our last day, fueled by cumulative sleep deprivation, I’m sure), the kids were total angels and troopers about spending nearly 40 hours in the car in a week. And a week of having my husband around 24/7? Is not terrible. Oh, that trip, it was sweet.
Oh, and to the 1 person who got through this (probably a grandma)? Gold star. You’ve already been rewarded with copious numbers of baby pictures for the only person who probably cares.
