Lovely, Lovely Things

Martha’s Vineyard {Road Trip 2012}

Jess — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 01:16:41 +0000

One of the day trips we took during our summer vacation in New England was to Martha’s Vineyard, the beautiful island where as teens Chris and I held hands for the first time and realized we were “more than friends”. Somehow it seemed even more wonderful and romantic this summer than ever before :)!

It was fun to take them to some of the same places and enjoy the same activities we did back in the early 90′s.

I also took lots of photos of the lovely gingerbread cottages, but I will have to save them for another time :)!

Cape Cod and Patriot Place {Road Trip Pics Continued}

Jess — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:20:09 +0000

We were really close to Cape Cod while staying with family in Plymouth, so we spent one afternoon visiting the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Ma. Sandwich is a perfectly beautiful little New England town, and the oldest town in Cape Cod. I love driving through that area, and of course I love the gardens there! It was Chris’ first visit, which was perfect timing because they are having a Norman Rockwell exhibit this summer – one of his favorites (and mine)! Later, we ate at Seafood Sam’s, where I had some delicious scallops. Next we walked past the impressive coast guard station to the Cape Cod Canal Visitor’s Center. We ended the day with some rocking on the deck overlooking the water, and a nice little walk along the canal :). Another new place we visited this trip was Patriot Place, a huge shopping and entertainment complex near Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play. There were lots of fun things to do there, including two really fun interactive adventures at 5 Wits! The kids also posed in front of the stadium with Chris and Michael, can you see them?

Boston and the North Shore {More Road Trip Pics}

Jess — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:12:32 +0000

We took a trip into Boston and visited the Museum of Science – it was amazing! We all LOVED the lightning show… well, Julia did panic right before the grand finale, so I had to take her out. But Chris taped it for us :). After the museum, we went to the North Shore to visit my sister and her husband. Sarah gave us a tour of the gorgeous estate where she works as an event planner – I took lots of great photos, so I will have to post those later :)! Then we went out to dinner at a really great Mexican place – YUM! We had a lot of fun and Gabe really bonded with Jeff, as always :)!

Road Trip Memories {Summer 2012}!

Jess — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:30:34 +0000

I have finally had a chance to start looking through photos from the road trip we took earlier this summer – what a fantastic vacation it was! We traveled over 3000 miles in the course of 11 days, passing through 14 states, plus some of Canada. We saw amazing sights and tried new things, as well as visiting some old favorites. I am so thankful for the beautiful land God has placed us in and for the wonderful people he has blessed our lives with! I was originally going to try to fit the highlights of our trip into one blog post, but when I started looking at all of the pictures I realized that would make for a really REALLY long post :)! Here are some of my favorite memories of the first few days of or trip. Our first stop along the way was for supper in Louisville, Kentucky. The kids and I had never been to KY before, so that was new. Chris had asked his friends for restaurant recommendations of places that would offer us a uniquely “Louisville” experience, and someone suggested Mike Linnig’s. We loved that there was a large open air eating area with a playground for the kids. We were adventurous and ordered the fried alligator and frog legs (we also tried to order a side of turtle soup, but they were out).
We spent the next morning at the National Museum of the US Air Force. We saw rockets, many different types of aircraft and even the Apollo 15 Command Module, Endeavor, that landed on the moon :)!

That evening at sunset we saw American Falls with Niagara Falls in the distance. We crossed over into Canada and stayed overnight in a skyscraper hotel overlooking both waterfalls, which were so loud that you could hear them even way up inside our hotel room with all of the windows closed! It was really cool at night, because the falls were illuminated with a colorful light show. The kids took a bath in a big whirlpool tub with a window for watching the beautiful scenery. It was quite an experience. I am so glad people suggested that we bring our passports and see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.

By the next evening, we had finally made it to New England. That’s where the fun really began :)!

Fruit Dessert Pizza Recipe

Jess — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:15:02 +0000

Here’s a yummy summer dessert idea I tried a while back for the teacher appreciation lunch at Gabe’s school. It must have been popular, because there were no leftovers to bring home that afternoon! I combined two recipes found on Pinterest to create this recipe: I followed the directions for this Summer Dessert Pizza, except instead of making the crust from scratch I used pre-made cookie dough, as suggested in this Fruit Pizza Recipe.

Fruit Dessert Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

CRUST:
1 -18 oz package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

GLAZE:
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice

TOPPING:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup whipped topping
1 firm banana, sliced
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 can (8 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
2 kiwifruit, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
For crust, cut cookie dough into slices and arrange on a 12-inch pizza pan, coated with non-stick spray. Press slices together to form a solid crust. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden. Crust is done when edges begin to brown.
For glaze, combine sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in the water and orange juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
For topping, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Add whipped topping; mix well. Spread over cooled crust. Arrange fruit on top.
Brush glaze over fruit. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 12-16 servings.