Road tripping to Maine - Connecticut to Maine

Day two began in Connecticut, and while it started off well, it quickly turned sour with lots and lots of traffic! Apparently everyone goes to New Hampshire and Maine on Saturday!  We got tired of traffic and detoured to route 1, which takes you through beach towns.  Around lunch we took a pit stop in Salisbury, Mass.  This was your typical junkie beach town, with loads of arcades, fried dough and psychic readings.

The girls enjoyed the arcade, and then we watched the finish of a SUP race on the beach while we ate some pizza and drank smoothies. 

After awhile we got back on the road, and finally got to New Hampshire and Maine.

We took another stop in Freeport to visit the Mecca- L.L. Bean!  It. Was. Huge.  I would have love to be there by myself (sorry kids and Mike) just to wander around and take it all in.  Freeport had tons of outlets, and we only made it into about 1/3 of L.L. Bean because it was so massive!  

The girls fell asleep in the car after enjoying some Ben & Jerry's and we made the final hour or so to our destination of Boothbay Harbor.

Can you see the line at Reds???  This is a little shack in Wiscasset that supposedly has the best lobster rolls in Maine! (We didn't stop.  We would be crazy to wait in that line with kids!)

Boothbay Harbor was so charming!  We stayed at the Sprucewold Lodge which was very rustic! We knew that from the pictures, but it was still a little surprising! A 2 story log cabin- our room was cute (in a rustic way), and we had an adjoining room with 2 twins for the girls. 

We went out to dinner at Kalers, which was right on the water and had a lobster holding/touch tank that the girls loved!  I tried a lobster roll (yum) and Mike hadsteamed lobster  (yuck), so dinner was a wash.  We walked around their very cute downtown and watched the sun set from the public docks.  It was an awesome start!

Road tripping to Maine

We left on our first family road trip- headed up to the Maine coast!  

We took the Sequoia- 116,341 miles when we left...on a Friday about 2pm.

We were happy and excited.  Summer fell right asleep and slept most of the way to Maryland.  We made it to Hartford, Conneticut the first day, and the girls were awesome! We only watched 1 movie (which is a big feat, normally we would have watched about 6!).

 I made them each their own road trip binder- with a map of the USA so they could color in states as we saw the license plates, a map of our route, and a bunch of loose leaf paper for them to color and draw.  The first thing Kate did was write a letter to Jay, saying "Dear Jay, I miss you. Love, Kate". So sweet!

Back in the Saddle

I've missed blogging some, and posting a pictoral slide show of our lives a ton.  A year later we've just been through the May birthday gauntlet, Mike and I have been vegetarian for 3 months strong, and the end of the school year is here.  

This morning we went on a family hike in Seashore State Park.  So easy to get to, and such a beautiful place.

This girl just comes alive when she is in the park.  It's a really cool thing to see.  She is amazing because she's got these fierce opinions on things (i.e. the outfit) that makes you think she doesn't need a thing in the world from anyone, but then she gets out in nature and is at her happiest and is such a little kid.  Running everywhere, hooting and hollering, a big smile fixed on her face.

It's just another Meatless Monday

Spring has sprung.  And with it, our yard has exploded!!  It's very overwhelming and exciting at the same time to see all the growth that is happening and admiring the beautiful flowers that are popping up everywhere.

This won't be the first time I admit that I have a lot to learn.  While living in our old house, I always said "I just wish I had a house where the landscaping was done and I just had to maintain it".  Well, this new house has made me learn the true meaning of 'be careful what you wish for'.  A master gardeners yard...while beautiful, takes a lot of work!!  I will be periodically taking pictures and posting them to see if anyone has any clue what some things are in my backyard.  Get excited :)  

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you another Meatless Monday meal we enjoyed.   We had this a few weeks ago (tonight's was super boring b/c I didn't make it to the grocery store) and it was delicious!  I would make it again in a heartbeat.  It is asparagus champagne risotto and blackened tempeh with avocado.  This is the first time we have ever had, or heard of tempeh, but after trying it once it's something we will use again.  For those of you still learning like me, tempeh is a product a lot like tofu, but tempeh retains the whole soybean to give it a higher protein and vitamin content.  The tempeh was delicious and took on the flavor of the Cajun Seasoning and Lime.  I would definitely recommend!!  The recipes are below.

Asparagus Champagne Risotto 

Blackened Tempeh with Avocado

Meatless Monday - Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza

One of our new years resolutions was to do one vegetarian day per week.  To see how hard it was to not eat meat one day, and also to make decent vegetarian food.  It's officially the third month of the year, so I figured we've been doing it long enough, might as well share.  Tonight for dinner we had Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza.  I found the recipe on Pinterest....it combined 2 things I love - pizza and black beans....and it looked downright delicious.

So I figured, what the heck?  I'll give it a shot.  I normally like to make my pizza dough from scratch but since we started using more whole wheat flour, I really haven't loved any final products.  So I decided to Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough and.....ummm, it was amazing.  First step, roll out your dough to about 12 in.  On a piece of foil, sprinkle 2 tbsp corn meal.

 Next step, lay your dough on top of the cornmeal, coating the entire underside of the dough. 

 

Rinse and drain one can of black beans, one can of corn and 2 roma tomatoes.  (*note, this recipe would be much better when tomatoes are actual IN season).  Mix together.

 Now it's time to grill.  Grill your pizza dough on the non-corn meal coated side for about 4-5 minutes over medium heat.  Flip your crust and quickly spread on 1/3 c barbeque sauce, sprinkle with the tomato mixture and then close the lid and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  And Voila!  Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza!  We affectionately named our dinner bearskin rug pizza, because I'm apparently not that good at stretching pizza, and this is what shape it turned out to be.

 The verdict?  It's good, but not great.  A little bland.  Next time I will add some red onion to the corn, black bean, and tomato mixture, and will top it with cilantro and avocado.   But this was a REALLY quick, easy dinner.  A check in the win box for that, for sure. 

The Happiest Place on Earth

 These kids had no idea what was about to happen...

hesitant at first, but once they realized where they were, there was no going back!

guess what she just got a glimpse of??

so excited!!  (but really has no idea what is going on..)

one happy little girl :)  I think this picture alone made the trip worth it!

enthralled by Mickey Mouse and the princesses!

 and then we got to meet the REAL RAPUNZEL! 

she may look like she is not too sure, but this was actually her favorite part.

 Then, it was time for a few rides.. Winnie-the-Pooh...

 And of course, It's A Small World

Needless to say, it was a pretty epic day for our family. 

We stayed out waaay past our bedtime and were zombie-like on the tram back to our car.

First visit to Disney World down.  When do we get to do it again??

Disney Teaser