Family Times and Amish Country

I'm enjoying spending time with my daughter and girls who live in Ohio.  Amy made peanut butter cookies for us Saturday afternoon.  It's been nice to hang out with my girls who live 3,000 miles away from Oregon and we only get to see each other about once a year.  

Paige wanted to help her mom flatten the cookies with a fork before baking.

The cookies turned out delish.. she used the recipe from Fannie Farmer's cookbook.

Amy made Spicy Shrimp Linguini for us for dinner.  Yum!  She sauteed garlic and onions and a bit of red pepper flakes in olive oil, then add the shrimp to warm them, then toss with cooked linguini.  Easy and delish!

Paige asked me to crochet her a scarf.. I thought a cowl would be fun.. she looks so cute in it!  Jenna found a pattern for a little bunny in a crochet book her mom got when we went to Hobby Lobby and I'm working on that now.  

I just used Lucy at Attic24 blog's pattern for a "Granny Stripe".  Quick and easy.

The big news on Sunday is that Paige lost her very first tooth!

Paige wanted that tooth out so bad that a few days before I arrived she asked her mom for a pliers and tried to pull it out.. then figured out that that hurt!  :-)

Yesterday, on Monday, we packed up and headed north to Amish country for a mini vacay.  We are in Berlin, Ohio - and I found out from the locals that it's pronounced "BURR-lun" - not "burr-LIN".  Jay stayed at home to work.  Amy found this cool log cabin for us and the girls were very excited to sleep in a loft.  Here is Amy and Jenna saying hi for me.

There is a deck on the cabin with these wonderful handmade rockers to sit in and listen to the birds.

It has a vaulted ceiling with this gorgeous rock fireplace and a gas fire.

Here are the girls as we head out for some adventuring and finding the restaurant for dinner that had been recommended to us.  The Farmstead Restaurant.

We were driving around the countryside trying to find a bakery for some rolls for breakfast and they were closed but we saw this man on a cart in front of this lovely old farmhouse.

After some getting lost we found the restaurant and it was big and nice inside with quilts hung all over for art.  LOVE it!

Amy and I had "broasted" chicken and mashed potatoes with green beans.  The girls had chicken strips.  I must say, it's the juiciest, tenderest chicken I've ever had and it's locally grown organic chicken!

After dinner we looked for a place for me to buy a few necessities and found a Dollar General and look what was parked outside?

I walked very quietly to get this photo above and then walked to the edge of the parking lot to get a shot of this windmill over the countryside.

I then turned and got this shot of the horse and buggy with the afternoon sun shining on it.  The horse turned and looked at me a few times but I was very quite but did coo to the horse.. to let it know I wasn't going to bother it.

Today we're off to lunch at a place an Amish woman told me was "Where the locals eat"!  Then we are going on a tour.  I should learn a LOT more to share with you and hopefully get some good photos of the countryside.  

Today is my dear husband's and my anniversary!  Happy day Dayle and I miss you and am looking forward to seeing you in a week.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)