Amy and Dan's wedding at Gedney Farms

Last spring when we received save the dates for back to back weddings in Mass, it was an easy decision to spend the week in New England!  The second wedding was for my dear friend Amy who not only went to Trinity College with me, she also got me my job at SmithBucklin all the way back in 2005.  At the time, Amy got a small referral bonus and she likes to joke that she really should be paid for every year I continue to work there.  I agree!

Mark and I invited our friends, Steph (another TrinColl alum and the best friend there ever was and I'm not just saying that because she "sometimes" reads this!) and Matt, to stay the weekend with us at the cottage. We talked and laughed, we ate cheese fries and gravy, and we celebrated Amy and Dan! Here we are all dolled up (me in Lilly) - Fancy!

 Gedney Farm is a beautiful setting for a wedding and the ceremony was held outdoors at "The Knoll" behind the main barn.  The vows were amazing and thoughtful, and of course I cried because I always do. The officiant forgot to say, "you may be seated," and I'm short so my ceremony photo is just peoples heads - doh!  After cocktails, we headed indoors for dinner/dancing/party fun times.  Too funny how similar this venue is to the wedding last week...

Excellent TrinColl representation at this wedding! So fun to catch up with these folks.

Congrats to Amy and Dan!

Alta Restaurant and Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

Just last week I mentioned to Mark that I'd never been to Tanglewood and upon arriving to the cottage we find out one of Mark's favorite comedians was performing during our vacation! Clearly we had to go and family vacation with the inlaws means free babysitting - hooray!

I made a pre-show dinner reservation at Alta Restaurant and Wine Bar based on all the positive online reviews. Trying to make a reservation the day before you need it is typically a disaster, at least in DC. The restaurant had one table available with the condition we be out by 6:45 - no problem since the show started at 7!

Alta has a good size covered porch with 7 or so tables, as well as a bar and inside dining room.  We got a table on the porch right along the sidewalk - wine, food, nice breeze, people watching - perfect for us! Here I am in my element....

The standout dish was Mark's entree - the duck with a salty caramel sauce. We couldn't get over the size of the duck portion! It was perfectly cooked and we could have eaten a vat of the sauce. I ordered the New England Cod which was fine and we started with a vegetable tart and crispy tuna. Nice presentation of the dishes!

We ordered some macaroons to enjoy at the show and I have to say they were completely delicious and creamy. We loved our Alta experience - it was Alta-mate! (Yuk, yuk, yuk)

We headed over to Tanglewood to see Eddie Izzard who was performing in the shed. The shed is basically the covered but open air portion of the venue. One of the best things about this venue is the beautiful views....

So anyway, we were already feeling quite lucky...the timing of the concert with our vacation, free babysitting, getting a dinner reservation, the perfect table...we took our seats which were basically 4 rows from the back. We could barely see the stage and would have to rely on the projection screens. But then, an usher came over and moved our entire section up one section! The show didn't sell out and they wanted a nice full audience towards the front for Eddie. Mark befriended the usher and used some combination of the words-  vacation, toddler, date night and please- and we were moved to the 12th row center!!! Also now that we were much deeper in the shed it was also much warmer. We enjoyed the show, which was about a 2 hour set from our amazing seats!

Great date night! I hope to come back to Tanglewood and do the whole lawn picnic experience another year.

Lake Mansfield

With back to back Massachusetts wedding weekends, we decided to spend the week at my inlaws cabin in the southern Berkshire area. Last summer we discovered Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. In addition to the lake and beach with community beach toys, there are swings, trails and a picnic area.  We planned an afternoon trip and I couldn't get over the difference between Mason summer 2014 to summer 2015.

Lake Mansfield summer 2014...

Lake Mansfield summer 2015...

What a difference a year makes!

Adam and Andie's wedding in Cohassett, MA

This past weekend we headed to Cohassett, MA to celebrate the wedding of cousin Adam and Andie! Cohassett is the sweetest little town on the south east coast outside of Boston and we loved the Red Lion Inn where the wedding was held.  Since Mason was the ring bearer we were lucky enough to stay in one of the 15 rooms on the property. A lot of amazing things happened this weekend...the actual wedding, Mason as ring bearer AND I fulfilled my dream of being at a bar where the baby monitor worked! Since our room was directly above the inn pub we could enjoy a beverage and be attentive parents.

Of course Mason was the world's cutest ring bearer. I spend weeks pulling together his outfit and got lots of tips on how to get a 21 month year old down the aisle. Although he had pre and post tantrums, he nailed his role!

A few other moments from the wedding.....

Congrats to Adam and Andie!!

Vacation in the Thousand Islands

Last week we headed up to my family's cottage in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence in Canada.  I was lucky enough to go every summer growing up and I loved introducing Mason to the river.  Our trip was full of swimming, family time, happy hours, boating, etc. I'll let the photos do the talking for this post!

Love this pic of our family boating on the St. Lawrence.....

 Morning row....

 My brother captured this sweet moment of Mason and I in the boat house...

 Swimming with my water tot...

Aunt Sarah gets the boat driving lessons started...

 Post dinner at the Club with the fam....

 Play time at the GICC...

Enjoying the views from the deck...

Thank you Canada for a lovely vacation and beautiful weather! 

Crab Fest in PA

Mason and I took another road trip to PA this weekend while Mark had a boys weekend in Boston.  We headed up to a friend's house for their annual crab fest. It was a beautiful day in the Philly area and perfect for pool, friends, beer and crabs.  Yum!

Mason has tried crab cake, but not crabs covered in old bay so we decided to give that a whirl. Here's the play by play....

Maybe less old bay next time?! He did enjoy the mallot so not a total loss. I'm going to keep working on developing his taste for crabs...its pretty much a requirement living in this area!

Anniversary Weekend!

Every time I make plans to go to a restaurant I stalk the menu for weeks in advance. I eat healthy at home so when I go out I want to be really excited and confident about my selections and indulge a bit.  This almost always backfires and I need to stop.  A few years ago I became obsessed with soft shell crabs.  They are in-season late May through the summer which is perfect because during that time is my birthday, Mark's birthday and our anniversary so we have lots of dinners out to celebrate things and lots of chances to order and enjoy soft shell crabs.  That particular year that my obsession was in full swing, I had selected a restaurant with soft shell crabs on the menu for my birthday and was checking the menu daily to make sure it was still being served.  Of course on the night of my birthday dinner the waitress is reviewing the specials and mentions, " also we've run out of soft shell crab".  I was bummed but knew that I had two more dinners out in the next few weeks....until the same thing happened both nights.  No soft shell crabs for me in 2011! You'd think I would have learned my lesson about menu stalking after that experience!

Flash forward to this past weekend. Our dear friend Lisa offered to dog and babysit for the weekend so Mark and I could get away for our anniversary!  On Saturday, we headed to Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA for an afternoon delight!  It was a perfect sunny day and there were lots of families and couples enjoying wine, snacks and music.  We ordered a bottle of Nana's Rose which I think might be my new favorite Virginia wine, and some cheese and baguette.  Yum!

After wine, we drove to our hotel Suites at 249 in Culpepper, VA.  I liked many things about this hotel but one of my favorites had to be the keyless entry!  We didn't have to wait in a reception line or even interact with anyone, we just punched in a code to the exterior of the building and to our room - so easy and private!  We stayed in Verde Suite, since I made the reservation and I love green.

We headed to dinner at Foti's Restaurant and no surprise, I'd been stalking the menu for the past month.  It's a pretty small space and in my opinion a much more casual atmosphere than the "fine dining" label on their website would indicate.  I proposed to Mark that we get the Vanilla Roasted Maine Lobster and Cornmeal Crusted Oysters to start - he agreed with those choices, and I planned to have the Moraccan Spiced Mahi Mahi with rock shrimp and Mark selected the Lamb Tangine.  The waitress goes through the specials and mentions, instead of Mahi Mahi, it is trout and instead of the rock shrimp, it is regular shrimp.  Of course this would happen!  I decided to move forward with the Trout with shrimp and was still excited about our appetizer selection...until I ordered the lobster and the waitress failed to previously mention that was out too.  Arg! In my next life I should be the person in charge of ordering food quantities for restaurants.  Mark suggested the Prosciutto wrapped Duck Confit instead and we went with that.  I have to say everything was so delicious that I forgot I didn't have what I originally intended.  The food here is very flavorful and fresh.  We capped off the night with dessert - I loved my carrot shaped carrot cake!

Next to our hotel was one of the Virginia Love Signs!  I think this is the first one I've seen, which seems surprising but is a nice way to sum up this anniversary post!

Mary Elizabeth's Birthday Party!

This weekend Mason and I took our first road trip just the two of us to Exton, PA to celebrate Mary Elizabeth's first birthday.  Mark had headed down to New Orleans for a bachelor party so I was solo parenting for the weekend. Kudos to all that are solo parents - I went to bed at 7pm last night because I was wiped out from just a few days.  On Saturday morning, I ran Mason down until he could barely stand and then we hit the road.  It worked out perfectly because he slept nearly 2 hours of the 2 1/2 hour drive. We are big road trippers and our key to success is 1) sleeping baby and 2) cartoons on the ipad.

The birthday party theme was Peter Rabbit, and Molly and Steve outdid themselves!  There was Mr McGregor's garden, a carrot hunt, Beatrix Potter book favors, and themed food. The cake was so beautiful and delicious!

Here is Mary Elizabeth eyeing up her first bit of cake. So cute!

I really need to step up my kid birthday game considering Mason's first birthday was basically a "we survived the first year" party for Mark and me.  I think people say kids don't remember much before they are age 7 so at least I have a little time to work on this.

Anyway, we don't get to see our Exton friends very frequently so we took the opportunity to stay the night and get some extra catch up time.   In the morning, we were lounging around having breakfast and I was so happy to see Mason playing with Emmett, Mary Elizabeth's big brother.  Here they are together and Mason looks so smitten with his new friend.

Hopefully we can get back to Exton soon. Happy Birthday Mary Elizabeth!

Charleston for Memorial Day Vacation

Mark and I love Charleston and for the past 6 years have been taking an annual trip down to the area. Four years ago our friends Mike and Alyssa bought a house in Mount Pleasant, aka our vacation home! We had an awesome vacation...here are some of the highlights:

As I mentioned in prior posts,  Mason is my little water baby! Here he is taking on the waves at Sullivan's Island like a champ.

Barney also got to enjoy Sullivan's Island during approved off-leash hours.  Dogs need vacation too!

The adults headed into Charleston for a parents night out! We started at Bay Street Biergarten which had a very cool layout and concept. There are beer taps places all over the restaurant and you can just walk around and help yourself to sample pours or pints.  It was a lovely night so we headed to the outdoors area.

We headed over to Edmund's Oast for dinner. Everything was delicious and they have a really pretty outside dining and drinking picnic table area. The Fresh Ricotta plate was heaven and we were still talking about it the next day.  Yum!

We checked out Palmetto Park, both the dog park and Big Toy playground. We also noticed there was a spray park but will save that for a future trip.  Mason was minimally interested in the age appropriate structures so here he is playing on the big kid equipment.

Even though I didn't meet/see/befriend Shep and Cameron (maybe next year!), it was a great vacation in Charleston seeing old friends, enjoying the beach, pool and playground, wearing Lilly everywhere, and eating and drinking too much! See you next year South Carolina!