adventuring

The title is ironic because we've done very little adventuring this past week. Our friend Ashley, whom we know from RVA, came out from the city to visit us this weekend and . . . we did nothing. :) Which is fun when its with friends. And she's training for a half marathon so she got me out running with her, and I enjoyed that. I might even do it again sometime. We took a picture but its not real flattering so just imagine our smiling faces . . .

. . . here . . .

and check out her blog, for kicks.

Monday I was driving home from work just loving the light of early evening and the glow of the sun against all of the bare branches. I was welcomed at the door by a very happy Moosey and decided to take him on a walk/exploration of unknown regions of our neighborhood.

First we hiked through a long thorny field and briar patch to see . . . the wild!

Actually, it was more a mud pit.

I paused to consider turning back but I didn't want to subject Moose to the thorny field again. Besides, the birds were taking flight from the secret pond and the waves were crashing loudly at the shoreline, so I turned and headed towards the beach.

In the process, we waded through mud that resembled quicksand in its depth and smell.

(gross)

I paused to regret my decision. But it was too late, we were closer to the end than the beginning, so we pressed on.

Mom, I don't really like this. I'm reeeeeeal muddy.

-Sorry, buddy. It'll be ok. Just don't tell your father.

We made it to the beach, both of us a bit mud-splattered, but I thought Moose could just run through the water a bit and be just as clean as he was when I gave him a bath two days before.

Unfortunately, he was too scared of the waves.

So we headed for home. I was still rather in awe of the trees and the now-fading light.

That's right pal, there's home! We can get inside and give you another bath before Matt even knows it!

Oh, no! A UFO!

Uh, oh, it's Matt . . . and you're really dirty.

Back in the bath with you.

Stop trying to escape!

Least favorite part is definitely the hair dryer.

Sooooo . . . that was a lot of work. Apparently our neighborhood is not exploration friendly.

the hahmptons

Jess and Glenn came to visit us out here in Long Island.

It sure is nice to have friends here.

I didn't work on Wednesday and got to tag along as they did an architectural tour of the famed Hamptons.

We found this house:

Cool.

We spent some time at this house . . . because . . . Glenn worked on it! He helped plan the additions back when he worked in NYC and hadn't seen it completed.

I like it a lot.

Yep, I'd live there.

Especially with that view.

Until Glenn burst my bubble by informing me of its approximate worth.

So instead of contacting a realtor, we left to find the largest residential house in America. This is about all we could see:

Can you see the 10 chimneys? They're there!

At this point I got distracted by the nature.

Those are the architects, taking pictures on the beach.

It was a fun jaunt out to unexplored territory. The houses kind of blew my mind.

But, whatever. Home is where the heart is.

the high line and dumpy jones

We headed into the city again this weekend, this time to see Jess and Glenn, who are looking for jobs in NYC. We had a good time, but I was so paralyzed by cold that my brain froze and I forgot to take pictures of most things. Such a shame, since we got to make our own cotton candy at the Japanese restaurant. But the numbness crept up from my toes and seized my fingers and made them unable to do anything. Thank goodness I had my hothands. They cut the chill for a good eight hours, I promise!

I did take pictures before the sun set at the High Line. The city converted the unused elevated train into a "park," or at least a landscaped walkway. It was fun to see the city views from a little higher up.

That's Jess and Glenn walking in the picture. They're architects.

They liked this building:

That's me making Matt hold my hand for a shadow picture.

I like how they left the tracks in place and landscaped around it.
Relaxing.

Kind John Black let us stay at his place again, but we took off as soon as we woke up to get back to this baby boy:

Dumpy Jones.

He gets a little sad when we're gone.

It's pretty easy to tell what he's thinking.

"How could you leave me behind?"

"ME?!"

"I'm going to need some time to get over this one."

We gave him an entire afternoon to mope and pout.

Then Matt took him outside and they ran it out.
All is right with the world.

snow cream

They were right. We had more snow. Saturday we woke up to another world of white.

All was calm.

All was bright.

Matt was out to realize an unfulfilled dream, or maybe it was a childhood memory, but regardless, he really wanted to make Snow Cream.

- Snow Cream? Honey, I don't know how to do that. (ever the skeptic, I know.)

- Just go to your computer and type in "snow cream."

And that's what we did.

And I'd like to save you the trouble.

Here's how to make snow cream.

1. Send a small child in your life outside to gather a large quantity of snow.

Or, if you don't have a small child, you can send your husband, or your grandmother, or your cousin Joe, whoever is around.

For added joy and sentimentality, you can also send out a happy puppy.

Look how sweet he is.

Oh, no! He's WILD!

Snow Cream! Snow Cream!

Snow Cream! Snow Cream!

SNOOOOOW CREEEEAM!

Once you've let out all your joy and glee...

2. Mix milk, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. We used sweetened condensed milk, which gave it a real "homemade ice cream" taste. You could also use whipping cream.

If you use sweetened condensed milk, I would recommend thinking about the word "sweetened" in that phrase and NOT add random, unmeasured amounts of sugar.

3. Add the snow! We actually had to go out for more, as it was a bit runny at first. If you add enough, it really looks and tastes a lot like ice cream!

And then the whole "too sweet" thing actually led to us putting snow in a bowl and adding snow cream on top.

And some leftover tart n' tangy cranberry sauce.

Conclusion:

Fun. Yummy.

What takes several hours to churn in an ice cream maker in the summer, you can enjoy in a couple minutes in the winter, complete with whatever toxins are cleansed from the air and end up in your ice cream bowl.

Sorry, none for you.

winter whites

I was sad that while I was gone in Chicago, a storm dumped 2 feet of snow on our house in New York during the night. Matt and Moose were snowed in all weekend! That would've been fun.

But, yesterday, our first day back - it snowed!

We went on a snow walk.

Good thing we brought Moose's coat back from Murray.

Boys on our driveway. Matt had to shovel that whole thing after the big snow.

We went down to the beach because I'd never seen a beach with snow on it.

Now I have!

It's supposed to snow Saturday and Sunday as well!