Us Yankees know how to eat!!
OMG I have eaten so much in the past 10 days that I don't think I will be hungry for days. There is so much food up north that we can't get in the south. Here was my food routine...
Thursday: Stop in Elkton, MD for sub sandwiches, go to Acme grocery store for gingersnap cookies. Stop in Claymont, DE for steak sandwiches - best ones I have ever had. Arrive in Lancaster, PA and go to Oregon Dairy (grocery store) to get some "essentials" to hold us over. Dinner at Shady Maple - the biggest smorgasbord you will ever see, all cooked by the Amish. You will not go hungry there.
Friday: Go to Central Market in downtown Lancaster for Achenbach's (long donut with loads of icing on top, only way better than donuts), go to Hammond's for pretzels, go to Wilbur for chocolate, go to Stauffers (grocery store) for too many items to count, then head to Oregon Dairy to get what we couldn't from Stauffers....Some of these items include Tasty Cakes, Pies, Utz chips, Herrs chips, Martin's kettle cooked chips, Turkey Hill Ice Cream, Hot dogs, Pasta, Extra Dark Pretzels, Bulk candy, Wild bills beef jerkey...the list goes on. Dinner at the Yingers for Deb's tacos and then to the Perry's for homemade ice cream, brownies
Saturday: travel to Ocean City, get Dough Roller Pizza for lunch and Phillip's restaurant for dinner
Sunday: Thrashers French Fries, Dumser's Ice Cream, and Order in crabs for dinner...eat funnel cake as well
Monday: Go to Harpoon Hannah's for dinner - get friend shrimp and encounter the "bread lady"....she brings around a basket of bread, the Coconut muffins are by far the best things I have ever tasted.
Tuesday: Eat dinner on the boardwalk, got pizza and ice cream
Wednesday: Phillips for dinner again, ate fried shrimp
Thursday: head to Rehobeth beach and eat at Grotto's pizza, then got Gelato for dessert - close to Italian gelato believe it or not
Friday: last night in OC, so we ate at Phillips for the last time (that's right, 3 times) and got Crab Ravioli
There you go, that is my food diary, and here is a picture of the food that I brought home...
I feel a diet coming on...after I eat what I brought home of course! :)
Here are our group shots from this year:
The Girls:
(top to bottom, left to right) Meg, Mandy, Andrea, Sara, Sarah, Ashley
The Guys:
Ray, Bob, Dan, Adam, Al, Dave
The Moms:
Marilyn, Lanie, Leslie, Deb
written July 24, 2011
I know I have said this before in a previous post but it is so good to go home!! Yesterday we left Lancaster, PA and it was so rejuvenating for me to get home for a few days.
Let me tell you a little about Lancaster. It is hard to describe to someone who hasn't been there but it is such a beautiful place. Everywhere you look there are farms and rolling hills and Amish. You drive primarily on back roads, and will most likely get stuck behind a horse and buggy. If you need produce - stop at one of the multiple road side stands. "Corn for sale, third farm on the left" is a common sign. It is considered "country" but it is way different from Columbia country. Columbia country is hunting and camo. Lancaster country is farming and vegetables and animals. It's a different way of life.
In addition to seeing my home it was also great to see my peeps again. The people I saw have been our friends for over 25 years. We have been through a lot together, celebrated a lot! We always get together when we come to town! It's great to have friends who after all these years still want to hang out. There were 20 of us that got together two of the three nights. These people "get me". We see each other once a year unless we go up for a shower or a wedding and are always able to pick up where we left off. It's like we never left. We get updates of their lives, on people we haven't seen, and laugh a lot!! I love these people to death!! They are my family and I couldn't wait to see them! We had an absolute blast together. Here are some pics...
Our group is growing! Megan and Dwayne had Tanner a few years ago, and Ray and Sara had Lillian 2 months ago. We got to spend a good bit of time with both of these kids. Lillian is adorable!! She is so small and is a great baby...didn't mind being passed around...alot... haha one night I was holding her at dinner and she threw up on me three times! I got in some good practice for march :). Tanner is by far the greatest kid!! He is adventurous, loves to observe, and he had us laughing most of the night! I'm not sure this boy has a rough day!
Tanner:
LIllian
Hey guys!
Sorry I have been MIA - Just returned from 10 glorious days off!!! I am going to put up a few blogs that I wrote while I was gone, but didn't have access to internet...
so stay tuned!
Ash
written July 19, 2011
Car rides have changed since I was l little. My family has never shied away from long car rides. Some examples.....
.I remember driving from PA to NM when I was really little. We drove straight thru with my parents switching off and on driving. (random flag..that trip I had 2 black eyes).
.We made the trip again when I was in elementary or middle school, this time we were living in SC. We were told the trip would take 5 days and we were very surprised when we got there in 3!! (smart idea from my parents)
.After we moved to sc from pa we have visited yearly - all 9 hours.
.We visit Ocean City Maryland - 3 hours from Lancaster
.There have also been multiple trip to Orlando (6 hours) to visit my moms parents and to go Disney world...those trips are too many to count many were just for the weekend.
As I am writing we are currently on the road from SC to PA. We couldn't leave until I got off of work so we are making it in two trips stopping in Fredericksburg VA. As I'm riding, it got me thinking about all our car trips...
I remember when I was little, we would pass the time by playing the alphabet game and the license plate game. You know, whoever finds words starting with all letters of the alphabet (in order) wins, and whoever finds the most license plates from different sates. We had little travel games, and decks of cards that we would play in the back seat. We would try to figure out ways to keep the pieces on the boards, or cards on the seat. I remember when we we borrowed a friends gameboy for one trip, which was high tech for us! Then we got a car with a DVD player in it and thought that was the coolest thing ever! We would watch movies that dad liked to listen to, so the time passed quickly for him too. Now I am riding along listening to music off my iPhone thru the radio and typing this up on my iPad. How car rides have changed!
I'm also reminded of how communication has changed. We never took more than one car, then again it was just the four of us. I remember making several trips with the Gehman family to Busch Gardens Virginia. The first few trips we would use cue cards and would pass each other holding up our signs with either FOOD or P (for bathroom breaks). I remember the trip when we graduated up to cb's and my mom still tells the story of Kevin getting on the radio yelling "evasive maneuver....evasive maneuver", when we were almost in an accident. This trip is quite different. There are 3 cars, Sarah and I in a one, dad in one, mom, mommom, and John in the other. (trust me there is logic behind this) ....side note, Ben isn't able to come and is severely missed. How are we communicating you ask?...thru our iPhones...no cue cards, no cb's...good ole cell phones. It is nice that we can just call one another and chat!!
It's amazing how times have changed...
I don't know if you remember my post awhile back about names....well I have a new name to add to my list...AUNT!!That's right!! Ben and Sarah are having a baby!! I am so excited! Can't wait! :)I've been thinking of names, because they are such a big deal to me, and I'm thinking about going by Auntie A...Aunt Ashley seems a little tough for kids to say, but Autie A is fun and easy. March 2nd needs to hurry up!!
I still count myself as a night owl. I love to stay up late watching tv or reading. I love long weekends because I get to do this for one more day than usual. I also know, that this throws off my sleeping schedule. Sunday night I stayed up late, which was great, but that means that I have to wake up early on Monday because I have to be tired by 10ish to get to bed at a decent hour. So I had a bright idea...if I have to get up early on Monday anyway....I should go get breakfast....which means....
Chick-fil-A
Yes!!! Great plan!! Haven't been in awhile because I like to sleep in on Saturdays, and since they aren't open on Sundays and I am not getting up any earlier during the week......yes this is perfect. So I ask Sara Jay if she wants to go with me.....she's in. The goal is to get up at 8 and leave when we are ready.
Today is here (yes, I am VERY excited), we get up, get ready, get in the car (where I almost blow her ear drums out because I was rocking to my Celine Dion cd and forgot to turn it down) and we are off. Pull into the parking lot and we see this....
We will not be opening until 10:30 on July 4th
Sigh
So we say alright, we will go to another one. Half way there it dawns on us (not morning people remember) this might be a company wide thing. So bring out handy dandy iPhone, find the phone number.... call them......yup, they are closed until 10:30 too...
Sigh
So we get home and the disappointed person that I am for A. not getting a chicken biscuit and B. not getting chickfila at all...... I decided to to on my way to my parents house! yes great plan, just get lunch instead of breakfast, new plan!! Then it dawns on me
Ice Cream Cake
I had made an ice cream cake for dinner tonight. Darn! Can't leave that hanging while I go through the drive thru....won't be ice cream, let alone cake by time I get there....
Sigh
So I give up on my Chickfila and decide to make waffles. Something else I don't do in the AM because it takes too long. Alright, batter made, batter poured into iron....ah the smell of waffles. Plate...check. Fork...check. Butter...check. Syrup......... uh.........syrup....
no syrup....
You are kidding me right? Plan D....No chocolate chips. Plan E....roommate doesn't have syrup....sigh. Waffle is now done....try it with just butter....nope, not a fan. Pour batter into Anchor Tupperware and put in fridge.
Breakfast just isn't my thing today
By this time, I am now defeated and decide to bail on breakfast all together. I would have cereal, but that just won't cut it, and I had that for dinner last night. But now that the dishes are done...kitchen is clean, and think I am going to head to my parents, drop off cake, and THEN head to chick fil a for lunch. That is the current new plan - let's see if that one turns out :)
