happy spring

we've been so busy with work and this show that we completely forgot that thursday was the first day of spring.  it wasn't until i glanced at my email and saw a reminder from rita's for their annual promotion of free italian ice on the first day of spring.

we only had a very short moment of time between dinner and rehearsal, but luckily we don't live far from rita's, so we flew over there and had a little treat in the car.  noah loved it thinking it was ice cream.  we shared a free pumpkin flavor and a free lemon flavor.  he definitely approved of both!

love, laurie

ice cream? yes, please!

the pleased look on this kid's face when he found out mama and dada were taking him for buy-one-get-one free sundaes on sunday is priceless.  sitting between mom and dad means you get to taste both ice creams from both sides!

love, laurie

celebrating papa's birthday

it was a busy weekend in the theatre with back-to-back shows so we celebrated papa's birthday on sunday.  we were all worn out, so we had a calm little birthday celebration at home with some delicious shrimp that my mom made and some yummy ice cream pie for dessert.  

happy birthday, papa!

love, laurie

ice cream date

dear ryan,

there's no one i'd rather take spontaneous ice cream trips with, sit outside on a bench with, and discuss life with . . . thanks for being up for driving way out of the way to get to specific ice cream shops and thanks for the little date.  

love, laurie

birthday celebrations!

we celebrated pam's birthday on sunday by getting together for pizza, ice cream cake, and presents!  it was a nice relaxing sunday to get together to celebrate.  happy birthday, pam!

love, laurie

sunday sundaes!

we worked hard on our taxes on sunday afternoon, so the only logical reward was buy-one-get-one free sundaes at our local ice cream shop!  sure, it was 27 degrees outside at the time, but that didn't stop us!

love, laurie

birthday celebrations

on saturday, our parents came up to celebrate my birthday.  it was so nice to keep things super simple this year . . . instead of an elaborate dinner and cake we did hoagies from wegman's and homemade ice cream for a build-your-own sundae bar.  ryan always makes the best ice cream!  it was so nice, relaxing, and stress free!

love, laurie

so much ice cream!

after our trip to ritter's cider mill on sunday, we grabbed for some lunch.  on the way home, we stopped at the caboose ice cream shop for some ice cream since it was their last day of business for the season.  the first time we were there a few months ago with my parents, ryan had noticed that they had a cinnamon bun sundae.  we didn't get it then and he's been thinking about it ever since.  we ordered it, and it was ridiculously huge: vanilla ice cream with caramel, pecans, pieces of a sticky bun, whipped cream, and a cherry.  anyone who knows us knows that we NEVER ever eat anything like that!  it was a good thing we ordered it to share because it was so big.  needless to say, we have to do some extra workouts this week and eat light to make up for that indulgence!  (i think i'm still full!)

love, laurie

celebrating ryan's birthday

ryan's birthday was friday and we spent the day celebrating low-key.  we kicked off the day with a peach and blueberry dutch baby pancake for breakfast on our back porch in our pjs.  for lunch, we used one of ryan's birthday coupons from one of our local bbq restaurants.  later in the evening, we picked up pizza and ice cream cake and headed over to ryan's parents' house for dinner.  we finished off the day with a movie rental from redbox.  we opened presents too, with leko's help of course!

love, laurie

a trip to manning dairy farm

we're in the middle of a heat wave, and it has been terribly hot outside lately.  on saturday evening, we decided to cool off with some ice cream.  we called up ryan's parents, and asked if they wanted to meet us a manning dairy farm.

we visited the cows and then had some ice cream.  it was a nice (and refreshing) little outing!

love, laurie

breaking free from quarantine for a little ice cream date

after all of that yard work, we thought we deserved a little treat.  so, we broke free from quarantine to run out to one of our favorite local ice cream shops for a treat that we shared in the car.  it was a fun little weeknight date!

love, laurie

homemade ice cream in quarantine

it has been forever since we've made homemade ice cream.  we had the ice cream maker inserts in our freezer so we thought we'd pull the ice cream maker out of the basement and make some dessert.  we made plain vanilla ice cream.  we left half of it plain and jazzed up the other half with creamy peanut butter swirls, chocolate syrup swirls, and broken up pieces of chocolate-covered pretzels crisps!  can't wait to give it a taste once it's frozen.

love, laurie

birthday celebrations

we got together on saturday to celebrate ryan's mom's birthday (which is this thursday).  we made homemade pizza for lunch and had vanilla ice cream cake with peanut butter cups in the middle for dessert.

it was a nice birthday celebration with family!  a few pictures from saturday . . .

love, laurie

sunday sundaes

our little local ice cream shop had a buy-one-get-one free special on soft-serve ice cream sundaes on sunday.  it has been forever since we've gone out for ice cream.  we each got twist ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles.  it was a nice little treat and a nice little date!

love, laurie

birthday treats

it's always so fun to get free treats during the month of your birthday from stores/restaurants.  this past week ryan used a few of his birthday coupons.  on sunday afternoon we went out for a little date to use his free burger coupon at red robin and his free italian ice coupon at rita's.  it was a nice little break from our crazy work schedules!

love, laurie

national ice cream cake day

it's summer and that means it's the perfect time for ice cream.  we love homemade ice cream and homemade ice cream cakes!  today is national ice cream cake day, and i'm dreaming about the homemade carvel ice cream cake and the homemade peanut butter cup ice cream cake i made for ryan's birthdays.  yum!

love, laurie

a saturday afternoon in downtown easton

we lucked out with great weather over the fourth of july weekend, however, saturday afternoon was the only day when the forecast called for rain so we looked for an indoor activity.  one of the things that has been on our to-do list of places to check out for awhile is the new easton public market by ryan's parents' house.  it's a community-supported market featuring a bunch of food vendors, a farmers market, and a display kitchen.

we headed down in the afternoon to walk around and check it out.  while we were there, we shared a pizza from scratch and bought the most beautiful bunch of fresh kale along with some specialty peanut butter from the farmstand.  before it started raining, we were able to walk around the downtown area a little bit and stop for some homemade ice cream at bank street creamery.  it was a fun little saturday afternoon date.

love, laurie

the turkey hill experience - part 2

we really enjoyed traveling out to columbia, pennsylvania on sunday for a little day trip date to check out the turkey hill experience.  in addition to sampling a ton of ice cream and iced tea, we checked out all of the exhibits.

i just loved seeing all of the old dairy equipment and containers, as well as the old ice cream packaging from years ago.  it was so neat.  i also have to say that i was really impressed by how skilled ryan was at milking a mechanical cow!  i couldn't seem to get it right at all, but he was a pro.  (add that to his resume!)  here are some more photos from our trip . . .

love, laurie