Month of July Part 2: Cherry Pie, Edaville, Summer Camp, Eric Carle Museum, and 10 Year Anniversary!

On the plate:  Cherry pie

Soundtrack to cook to:  In the spirit of our wedding month, our song Always and Forever by Heatwave. 

Now for the second part of July!  We visited lots of fun places, Alex continued and completed his camp, William had a blast at Gym and Music class, and we celebrated our 10th anniversary!  Here's some highlights from mid to late July:

In mid-July, Joseph's fellowship program hosted a delicious clam bake.  Since our boys love shellfish, we decided to be brave and bring them to this event.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed some delicious food from Woodman's Restaurant in Ipswich, MA that included freshly steamed mussels, clams, and lobster.

The boys, digging into some shellfish.

Oh my heavens, the lobster was divine!

The Franses men playing the piano.

Our handsome little man, cheesing for the camera.

On July 19, a friend of mine from the school I used to work at hosted a surprise going away party for one of our fellow co-workers.  My dear friend Jocelyne got a wonderful opportunity to teach abroad in Japan for three years!  Nicole and Ali, also my former co-workers, gathered a few friends together from school to bid Jocelyne farewell and best wishes.
Thanks for including me in this celebration, Nicole and Ali!  Bon voyage, Jocelyne!  I know you'll have a wonderful time and it will be amazing. 

My fabulous former co-workers and Jocelyne's friends!
Front:  Kemp and Suzie
Middle:  Second grade teacher, Sandi, Jocelyne, Nicole, and Ali
Back:  Donna and two of Jocelyne's friends

And then I joined in the picture!  :-)

The boys enjoying our first two grape tomatoes from our garden.

Parent's night out!!
We asked our favorite (and only) babysitter to watch the boys so we
could have a night out on the town with our friends.
We went to a delicious Greek restaurant on the waterfront and had
a lovely time catching up with some of our favorite people.

Front:  Me, Joseph, Ai-ris, and Ian
Back:  Irun, Liz, and Peter

William being a super hero and gliding around on his
belly while I pulled him with a hula hoop.  He loved this
activity in his gym class.

William walking on a teeter totter.

William on a parachute going through a barrel.

The boys playing in the pirate play house.
I love listening to their laughter.

I let Oscar out one afternoon to go to the bathroom and loved watching him
enjoy the summer sun.

The boys, snuggling and holding hands with one another
one afternoon.  So sweet!

Multi-tasking at its best!
One morning as I was brushing my teeth, William was
brushing my hair and Alex was serenading us with a song.

Mmmm!  Now it's time for dessert!  I took a few short cuts, and definitely had to make a few changes to the original recipe, but here's a super simple and delicious (emphasis on delicious) recipe for cherry pie.
*Note:  I had so many cherries and blueberries left over that I made this pie one more time and mixed cherries and blueberries together for the next pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of puff pastry
• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 4 cups cherries, pitted
• 1/2 cup sugar (decreased from 1 cup), plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Milk

Directions:

1.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together the cherries, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
2. Pour the fruit mixture into the unbaked pie crust.
3. Cut the puff pastry into thin strips (about 1/2 inch wide), and form it in a lattice pattern on top of the fruit mixture.
4. With a pastry brush, brush on some milk on top of the puff pastry and sprinkle some sugar on it to make a nice crust.
5. Place on a foil-lined sheet pan and put the pie into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until the pie is baked through.

The beautiful cherry pie before I put it in the oven.

Afterwards!  The pie is incredibly delicious, fruity, and sweet.

*Note:  The original recipe had you bake the pie at 425 degrees F
for 25 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F for 25-30 min.

I changed this, because as you can see, the top of the pie got slightly burnt,
and I think it was because of the oven temp.  Other than that, it was
absolutely delicious!

One morning while Alex was at camp, I decided to take William to the Museum of Science.

Our first stop was the butterfly garden where butterflies
fly freely around you.  He loved it!

William, enjoying the butterfly garden at the Museum of Science.

A gorgeous butterfly with an interesting pattern on its wings.

William, ready to watch a 4D movie about dinosaurs.

William, pointing out some baby chicks.

Another one of our weekend adventures took us to Edaville in Carver, MA.  It's a train themed amusement park that has lots of rides for young children.  The boys had a blast!

Joseph and the boys at the entrance of Edaville.

The Franses family at the entrance of Dino Land.

William checking out a stegosaurus.

William looking at a pterodactyl.

The boys checking out some dinosaurs in Edaville.

More dinosaurs!

Our little dinosaurs!

William was slightly skittish around the dinosaurs,
but overall the boys were totally into it.

HUGE dinosaurs!

The Franses men on the tilt-a-whirl.

Our boys love riding amusement park rides.

Of course they both had to be touching the only button
on this ride.

Me and the boys, getting ready to ride the big train around the park.

The Franses family, ready to ride the big train!

Alex and William, hitching a ride with this hobo to "Hobo Land."
Kind of weird to have a "Hobo Land" at a children's amusement park, right?

The boys enjoying some rocky road ice cream at Hobo Land.

William at the fire pit in Hobo Land USA.

Joseph and the boys managed to squeeze themselves into this ride.

The boys LOVED riding this airplane ride.

Our last ride for the day was the carousel.  This is one
of William's favorite rides.

William Billiam climbing a tree near our house.

Our cutie patootie.

Big boy Alex climbed it all by himself.

The boys asked me to take their picture.  So, here are
our handsome little devils.

Love these guys :-)

William on a ladder in his gym class.

William walking on the balance beam.

Our happy little guy.

William riding another swing at Gym class.

William balancing on one foot and pretending to be a tree.

William dancing around at Music class.

Our first official harvest!!  I couldn't find any cucumbers
on our plant, until I peeked behind the supports and found
this MONSTER of a cucumber!

On Alex's second to last day of camp, he had an open house where the families could come in to view all of the projects that the kids worked on throughout the month of June.
Joseph's father was visiting at the time (his mother came a few days later), and got to join me and William to Alex's open house.  Alex was so proud to show us all of the projects that he worked so hard on.  It was wonderful to see him so excited.

Alex showing Elias his bear that he had painted and decorated
for The Three Little Bears.

Alex showing William and Elias his Three Little Pigs houses that he made.

Alex's quote for his favorite thing that he did in camp,
along with a self portrait.

Alex and his class studied Jack and the Beanstalk and planted magic beans.  The next day, they grew into
lollipops!

Alex's flying pig.

Alex's collection of 3's collage.

Elias, William, and Alex at the open house.

I was one proud mama that morning.  :-)

Alex reading the morning message to Elias.

William was ready to go at that point.

Instead, the boys played with toys for a bit before we left.

Afterwards, I took William and Elias to Lego Land for the morning.

William dancing at Lego Land.

William and Elias, getting ready to watch a 4D Lego movie.

A few days later, I took Elias, Linda, and the boys to the Eric Carle museum in Amherst, MA.  We had a lovely morning viewing picture book art, and played around in the grassy area of the museum as well.

Elias, Alex, and William playing with a parachute.

The boys loved throwing around this beach ball.

Alex and William watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar parade.

The boys watching the Very Hungry Caterpillar parade.

The boys thought the parade was pretty cool.

William enjoyed blowing some bubbles as well.

That evening, Joseph's parents were nice enough to watch the boys so that Joseph and I could go out to dinner to celebrate our 10th anniversary!
Joseph surprised me by reserving the chef's table at one of our favorite restaurants.  It was a fun experience and the food was absolutely divine. 
Thanks so much, Elias and Linda, for holding down the fort and watching the boys for us!
Here's how our celebratory meal played out:

Our view for dinner that evening at the chef's table!

Razor clams, smoked fish, and pluots (because I was pregnant)
Joseph got a delicious raw oyster as his third bite.

House made pate of squab paired with some delicious
whole grain mustard, pickles, pickled onions, and raisins.

A perfectly cooked diver scallop with butter poached
crab served on a bed of quinoa.

A salmon head served with chili sauce and a kohlrabi slaw.

This incredible pasta that I don't remember what was in it...
but DANG was it delicious.

A delicious porridge of foraged mushrooms and a farm fresh egg.

Lamb served three ways:  Slow braised, tenderloin, and sausage.

A plum and sake granita palate cleanser.

I know it sounds weird, but WOW was this amazing!!
A chocolate mousse topped with shaved foie gras and orange peels.
This dish was so good that the man next to us asked if he could
have what I was having.

The restaurant brought us a little candle to blow out
in celebration of our anniversary.

I still can't believe that it's been 10 years since I made one of the best decisions of my life and decided to marry my best friend and partner in crime.  I've been so blessed to share so much of my life with him and am so happy with the life that we've created together thus far.

Happy 10th anniversary, my darling!  Loving you always and forever.  :-)

Another wonderful month full of fun and making memories! 
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki