Friday Favorites: 4th of July and My Birthday

We had a fabulous week filled with family, fun, and food... lots and lots of food and fun!



My husband had Friday off and made hair appointments for himself and two of the boys.  Before leaving he tried to reclaim some of our beach sand that washed away in all of last week's rain storms.



 While they were gone Alec and I began working on two dessert recipes for the weekend-- a  Key lime pie and some raspberry cheesecake bites.




My husband, Ian, and I ran to Runnings and Stop & Shop after the haircuts then ended up at the cottage visiting with a few of my husband's relatives.

Ian and Ben left to go fishing in the evening so Alec, Evan, and I ordered curbside from Panera and enjoyed some sandwiches and salads at home.  We tried watching Hamilton too (as I think most everyone else did!) but I felt like so much was lost in seeing a recorded Broadway show and not actually being in the theater.  No matter how high I turned up the volume I felt like I could hardly hear them and didn't know what was going on.



We had a big family cookout at the lake planned on Saturday and so I spent my morning packing up bathing suits/ towels and the like and making up a fruit and vegetable platter with some new dips to go with them.

Alec worked on making the whipped cream to finish off his key lime pie and we headed over to the cottage just before lunch time.




We spent the whole day eating, socializing, playing in and around the water and just having fun catching up with everyone.












We watched a few really great fireworks displays in the evening too.  I have never seen to many fireworks displays around the lake on one night before!  A few were even visible from our bedroom windows. With all the local towns canceling their fireworks many people set off their own displays; despite it not being legal here we always have displays going off all week long around the lake.





We spent Sunday back at the cottage.  All of the local families get together the day after the party to clean up and in the past few years it's turned into a second party day where we cook up and eat up whatever foods are left and just enjoy the cottage/lake again-- eating both lunch and dinner there.  The kids jumped off the bridge, went swimming, tubing, and jet skiing.  We played cornhole and kayaked and had a great time.









Ian had the day off on Monday and worked on finishing fixing up our beach.  The other boys and I took our books outside to read.  Evan and I went on a walk in the afternoon to see my mom and sat visiting with her for a bit.  It's so nice this time of year having her right in walking distance!





For dinner we cooked up chicken wraps and I made butternut squash fries and fires to go with our salads.  Then my husband and I headed out grocery shopping.

Alec had karate Tuesday morning.  We met at a local park and they spent an hour or so reviewing everything!  After karate we picked up some crafting supplies and gifts for birthday parties we have coming up and then headed home for lunch.


I had great intentions of getting lots of crafting and household stuff done but ended up enjoying the afternoon lounging around reading. I just cannot put this book down!



For dinner I made a quiche and salad.

My mom and I had plans to go shopping for my birthday on Wednesday-- something that was a bit of a problem as no dressing rooms are open anywhere.  We ended up going to the Wrethem Outlets and hit some pretty great sales!  We held the clothes up to us and hoped they fit.  We only had to stand in line outside Vera Bradley for just a few minutes but all the other stores were empty enough that we were able to walk right in.  There was a wonderful breeze that felt almost tropical and reminded us both of being at the beach; despite being quite inland.



We had a delicious lunch together at Ruby Tuesdays and I ordered a pineapple upside down cake for dessert; something I've been craving and even debated about having Alec make for me for my birthday.  It felt wonderful to eat IN a restaurant again.



It was a fabulous day.  We had burgers/ hot dogs, salad, and chips for dinner-- I hadn't eaten a "real" burger in awhile (since I typically have a turkey burger instead) and it was so good!  My husband surprised me some flowers, an ice cream cake, and a bag of Lindt truffles when he got home from work.  We'll have a party over the weekend where I'll get my "real" gifts as the boys keep saying.



I spent Thursday running errands.  Our library is opened again and I stopped there to pick up and browse just a bit.  Then I went and deposited Ian's paychecks at the bank as well as inquiring when/how to set up his own checking account.   I stopped to have an emissions check on the car and had it washed at the same time.

I made a cute card for the boys' friend's party this weekend and spent much of my day outside soaking up the sun.


For dinner I made grilled shrimp & scallops (with chicken for the younger two boys), salad, and rice.  After dinner my husband and I headed to Bj's to pick up food for my birthday party this weekend.

Linking Up With: Morning Cup of Joe, On the Edge,





Comments

  1. Happy Happy Birthday! What a great view of the fireworks :)

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  2. Happy birthday to you and hope you enjoy more celebrating this weekend! Also, the key lime pie looks so delicious and perfect for a hot summer day.

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    1. We plan to have lots more celebrating this weekend (and even into next week a bit too!). The key lime pie is a perfect summer dessert! I don't think I had ever had one until Alec began making them and I really like it.

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  3. Happy Birthday! I hope you are planning to keep on celebrating all month long ;)

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  4. Replies
    1. I am told it was amazing... I only got one little lick off my finger after I finished serving!

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  5. Happy birthday! Those raspberry cheesecake bites look delicious! It looks like you had a fun 4th! Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thank you! Those raspberry cheesecakes bites were amazing.. plus we served them semi-frozen so they really hit the spot with the heat.

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  6. Happy belated birthday! Having a "clean up day" after party sounds like a fantastic way to clean up!
    I need to try making butternut squash fries! Still have two sitting on my counter!

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    1. Thank you! I have been having a great birthday week-- that looks like it will be stretching into next week. I love butternut squash fries; other than actually peeling and cutting the squash it is my favorite way to prepare butternut now.

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  7. Happy birthday! I just love your lake view and all the fun time you spend on the water!! It looks like a great week! Have a super weekend!

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    1. Thanks! We have big plans for our weekend.

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  8. Happy Birthday! It sounds like a perfect summer week!

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  9. Happy birthday! I was slightly bored while watching Hamilton. I heard it helps to turn on subtitles and then you can understand it better!

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    1. Oh that is a great idea! I'm going to have to try it again with subtitles.

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  10. Can you share those raspberry bites and the key lime pie recipes? Happy Birthday!!

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    1. The key lime pie recipe will be up on the blog on the 21st and the Raspberry bites on the... I don't know. I haven't written that one up yet but I do have photos and plans to do that!

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  11. Happy birthday wishes - looks like you had a great time!! Oh to have a lake house - I can only imagine all the fun!!

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  12. Happy belated Birthday! I just discovered your blog and don t know yet where the cottage is. Because your home is also at a beach? Anyway, Both look fabulous!

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    1. We live on a lake so we have a freshwater beach just steps from our back door. Then down the road (in walking distance) my husband's family owns a cottage on the same lake and we meet there for summer parties.

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  13. Happy belated birthday! What an amazing day - you are so lucky living next to a lake like that - what a dream! The pineapple upside down cake looked delicious, its only 9am here and I'd eat it now! BTW - how nice is it to have a 'real' burger once in a while - yummo. The shopping village you went to looked lovely too - where in the states do you live - it looks fantastic!

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    1. Aw, thank you! I live in CT. It's a great area where we live because we are pretty rural but have three major/ capital cities only an hour or so drive in different directions. We also have about an hours drive up into the mountains or an hours drive to the ocean/beach so there is always plenty to do.

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  14. Wow! It looks like a great fun week! Lucky you to have so many friends and family.

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    1. It was such a fun week! This week is shaping up to be lots of fun too!

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  15. Happy Birthday! What a great week you all had. We loved Hamilton, but it helped that we had the subtitles on and knew by heart about half the songs from listening to them on Youtube. I am actually relieved that I saw it first on tv for cheap. The musical production is the fastest ever performed. The songs are really, really fast because of the Rap music. I read that if they slowed the words down to match a normal musical speed, it would be an almost 6 hour show. We are going to watch it again this weekend to understand more.
    Blessings, Dawn

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    1. I could see how that would be the case as it is very fast paced! I did read the Wikipedia page that explained in brief outlines the general gist of the play so that helped a bit too.

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  16. Happy happy birthday to you! What a great week! B and I had tickets to see Hamilton at The Fox in Atlanta back in May and obviously, it was postponed. The moved it to September, where it has been postponed again, and now we have to wait until October 2021. From what I'm hearing, it should be worth the wait! We're debating on whether we should watch it on Disney+ now, or just wait until we can see it in person first. I'm so torn!

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    1. Oh that's a tough call; I can see how you'd be torn!

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  17. Such wonderful photos! You are making so many great summer memories. I have been thinking about watching Hamilton. I didn't realize it was a recording of live Broadway. Wishing you a happy belated birthday! Thanks for linking up with me.

    Shelbee
    www.shelbeeontheedge.com

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  18. Happy birthday! I am kind of obsessed with those truffles! Please post the recipe as I may be able to convert them to gluten free.

    Patty
    Goodbetterbestfood.blogspot.com

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  19. Happy birthday ....
    thank you for sharing a lot of beautiful photos

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  20. What a beautiful place to live.
    Happy belated birthday to you! I hope you've enjoyed the weekend celebrations. :) #MMBC

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  21. It sounds like a really great 4th of July weekend! How nice you were able to see so many fireworks displays! Fireworks are illegal where I live too, and while I could hear them I unfortunately couldn't see any! Those raspberry cheesecake bites sound delicious! And belated happy birthday!

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  22. Happy Belated Birthday!! Looks like everyone is having a great time this Summer!! Thanks so much for visiting!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  23. I love the idea of jumping off the floating deck and into the cold lake water. It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a lake in the summer.

    As always, Alec's desserts look bakery perfect. Glad you enjoyed some outdoor time reading. Happy belated birthday!!

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    1. We've been talking about building our own floating dock since it is so much fun!

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  24. Oh those raspberry bites look delicious!! Such a fun week. Jealous of all the reading you got in!

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    1. I have been loving all this extra reading time!

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  25. Happy Birthday! Looks like lots of fun was had. Your lakeside living is enviable! I think I'm the only one who didn't watch Hamilton on Disney+ but I did get to see it on Broadway.

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    1. Thank you! I bet Hamilton was so much better on Broadway.

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  26. Those cheese cake bites look amazing! And it looks like everyone had a blast in the lake!

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    1. We had a great time and those cheesecake bites were just as good as they look!

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  27. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! It looks like you had lots of fun at the lake! Those cheesecake bites look yummy!

    Jill - Doused in Pink

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    1. Thank you! I did have a wonderful birthday.

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