Summer Family Weekend Trip

"Fishing is much less about the fishing, and much more about the time alone with your kid, away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday."

(Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing)
 

The weekend of July 19-21, my husband Sam and I joined my parents and my sister's family for a couple of nights by a lake in the mountains of northeastern PA. (My family spent a weekend there 2 summers ago, which I had referenced in my "September Sweets" post, and last summer we went to the Jersey shore.)
 

It was nice to spend time outside of the city, doing little more than lounging around, cooking and eating, sitting by the fire at night, and watching my nephew Peter get excited about reading with me, playing a board game with my husband, singing with Guitar Hero, rowing on the lake, and fishing with my brother-in-law.

 

I also loved spending extended time with Ellie, my baby niece, and of course Emma, my puppy niece. Ever since I moved to Brooklyn, it's been more of a challenge to see them as regularly as I did when Peter was a baby.

 

In preparation for the weekend, I made strawberry rhubarb jam... 

...Reese's peanut butter banana bread as a cake to celebrate Peter's 4th birthday...

I added some fruit for color, after a generous slathering
of chocolate frosting!

...and a key lime pie, at my sister's request (I've posted about key lime pie several times, so in this case I'll just include this photo)...

Below are my bird print nails that I did that Saturday. My wedding band and engagement ring were being professionally cleaned and inspected, so I decided to have some fun with my rings as well.

This past Sunday, Peter and Ellie got baptized at their church, and afterwards, we all went to lunch at Minado. There I gave Peter his birthday gift: Despicable Me on DVD ("But I don't understand. The minions are so little. How do they help the daddy stop the bad guy?"), and a DC Comics Super Heroes Collection book ("Can you please read more, now??"). Ellie's 1st birthday is 4 weeks from today, and we'll be celebrating it in a little over a month.

I hope everyone is making the most of the summer weekends, and making memories with family and friends. Today I received a lovely birthday card in the mail from our nephew Isaiah, which brightened a long day!