Brady's Family Flip Book

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Since Brady and Brynne are shipped off somewhere different nearly every day this summer, I thought it would be a good idea to make Brady a family flip book so I could show him who he would be spending time with that day before he leaves in the morning (thanks Mom for the idea). It was supposed to be a simple project, but as usual, took more time then expected because I wanted it to be perfect. So, I thought I would share. This is not ALL of Brady's family, but it is the people he sees the most, so I'm hoping it will help him remember who everyone is and (hopefully) start saying their names someday soon!

Happy Father's Day!

This was Jason's first Father's Day card from both of his children. For that reason, I thought it was share-worthy!

    

Celebrating Dad

Like everybody else this past weekend, we celebrated Father's Day with our favorite men on Sunday. Husband started his day off right with two (shhh!) pastries from the fabulous Pennsylvania Bakery. Then, in the afternoon, we had my dad and Jen and Garrett and Jamie over for what was supposed to be a cookout but turned into a half-inside soiree because of the lousy weather. All of the food was grilled, which was a challenge because we recently put our gas grill out with the trash as it was about 10 years old and full of rust (not so yummy). We had gone to buy a new grill on Saturday, but as our luck would have it, the local hardware store we preferred to purchase from was all out of the model we wanted (boo!). So Sunday we went all out with the charcoal Weber, and it took awhile, but the food was still very good. We had Bobby Flay's French Style Grilled Potato Salad, a Bobby Flay grilled corn salad (we were using a Bobby Flay cookbook, can you tell?), and a variety of burgers, hot dogs, sausages and even some ancho-chile rubbed turkey legs. For dessert, my dad brought an old Lewis Family favorite recipe--Seafoam Salad. This was the recipe that my Grandma Lewis left bookmarked in her old copy of The Joy of Cooking. I couldn't get enough! My brother also brought a pineapple angle food cake, which the seafoam went PERFECTLY on top of (mmmm!). That didn't get photographed because it was eaten so quickly! As usually happens when I am the chef, I didn't get a chance to take pictures until after everyone had eaten, so forgive the (SOOC) photos.

 

 

 After dinner, there was some playing... 

 Some lounging... 



And then some portraits!

 

 Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads, stepdads, daddies-to-be, and dad substitutes out there!

What the weekend looked like...

On Saturday, hubs and I had a nice daytime date to Troeg's Brewery in Hershey. We had been there before but this time was better because they have revamped their food service since then. The food was AHHH--wait for it--MAZING! We are always looking for authentic French bistro food whereever we can find it, which is very FEW places in Central PA. So, when we see the word "charcuterie" on a menu, we are always skeptical because it is rarely ever both 1. good and 2. authentic. Troeg's made it happen though, and we loved it! We are already trying to plan a return trip. Bistro food + craft beer = our idea of the perfect day.

We purchased some of the sample "Whit Beer" from the gift shop to enjoy on Sunday. It was a spicy (tasted very much like basil) unfilted ale, it was delicious! We paired it with (cedar plank) smoked, cumin & ancho chile spiced salmon and green beens, and cilantro-lemon brown rice for our Sunday dinner.

Meanwhile....

 Baby Sister lounged around...

 

and Big Brother watched his favorite PBS cartoon on tv (he wasn't allowed outside because of the grill).

 

It was a much-needed day of rest in our house. It gave us just enough energy to get up on Monday and start another week of craziness!