Ferry Boat to Long Island

Just got home from Long Island after a long but exciting weekend.  Bobo got to hang out with his great-grandparents, Zsa Zsa and Gramps, at Paradise Point as well as visit the family homestead, Howell Holme where Grampy and Kathy were staying.  We  soaked up some sun and waves on the beach at Founder's Landing where we also got to go for a great Lobster Fest for Saturday dinner.  The round trip ferry boat rides were a great hit, and so was playing with Rocky, the one-eyed kitty.  We rounded off the weekend with lots of delicious food, shopping at the Tanger Outlets, and plenty of playing and didn't get home tonight until a few hours into Bobo's beauty sleep.  Hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend as well!

I Heart Cinnamon Buns

So, if you read any of my posts about the weekend at Pioneer Woman's ranch, you know that her Amazing Cinnamon Rolls were a huge feature of the weekend and were totally even more amazing in person than they look in her pictures.  SO.  FLIPPING.  DELICIOUS.  We made them a few times and didn't follow the directions so they didn't turn out as good as they were there... but dang they were still delicious.  And the dough... makes AMAZING Buttered Rosemary Rolls, which are also in her cookbook and you should make immediately as well.

Here are some pictures of our Valentine's Day Ladies Night in which we made... a few dozen cinnamon rolls.  Yum. 

Waiting for cinnamon rolls to finish baking is a real drag, especially when you've been waiting for hours for the dough to rise...

Oh so worth it!

Now this is Serious butter.  As-Serious-as-Tweed butter (anyone a LTR/LTT fan?  If not please don't ask).

Right, so if you didn't get it above already, the link to her recipe is here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/   It's 100% worth the two extra pant sizes, I promise you.  Or give them to your loved ones and spare your waistline, they will love you extra much for it. 

All The Pretty Horses

Feeding Some Cows

Saturday morning found us awake bright and early so that we could scoff down some leftover rolls before heading out with MM and their eldest daughter to feed the wild mustangs. It was a cloudy day with occasionally sprinkles, but thank goodness the rain held off until we were safely back at the Lodge.  These gorgeous views were from our bedroom door, which overlooks the wrap-around deck, by the way.

We separated into two trucks with Ashely, Dani, my Mom and I as MM's passengers and everyone else with their 12 year old daughter in the brand new F-150.  Yeah, up here we can't even get near a steering wheel until we're 17!  She's awesome sauce, though.  Riding in the feed truck with MM was seriously fantastic though, he took the time to answer all our (often ridiculous) ranch related questions.

Here's my mama!

Once we got to the cow pasture, we were able to get out.  I was goaded into petting a cow, but sadly they ran away from their delicious breakfast once they saw me coming.  Apparently you have to be *sneaky* to pet/tip/probe cows.

 

Check out Charlie on the back of the F-150...  more on this later.

 

I'm so in love with this place, because you can see so far in any direction.  I am partial to mountains, which we also don't have around where we live, but they had enough hills here to satisfy my need for high spaces.  How can you not love all that flat though??

The cows were just about as happy as I was, but more for the protein pellets than the gorgeous views.

Moo!

How adorable is Ashley?  I just want to put her in my bag and take her home forever.  Plus, she cooks and ice fishes and cures deer meat and milks cows and pretty much is a cowboy's dream girl.  And my dream girl!

We weren't outside for very long, because it is cold on that prairie!  Not the bitter stinging New England cold, mind you, but still quite chilly and we were happy to get back in that truck and watch through the windows while pestering MM with asinine questions like... what do you do with horses when they keel over?? (They dig a big hole and drag the deceased into it).

Notice Charlie milling around.  He was in his element... he was even giving the cows the evil eye and keeping their pacific bovineness in check.

Charlie doesn't bark... he just exudes this attitude that says, "Rawr."  Take heed, guys.

 

And then it was off to see some wild, wild horses.

First Night at the Lodge, Continued...

 

As I mentioned before, after dinner everyone pitched in a hand to help clean up.  Except me, of course, because I was busy being annoying and taking pictures of it.  Charlie also snuck his way back inside, skunk-smelling and all.  We'd already eaten, so who cares, right!

Did I already mention how in love I am with this kitchen?  I'd followed the whole Lodge re-do, but I literally gasped out loud when I walked in to its magnificence.  Ahh-may-zing.

Gratuitous Charlie pictures warning!  He was definitely the celebrity of the weekend.  And it may not look like it with those teeny little legs, but this dog can jump!  Here he is mid-air after trying to get up on someone putting away bacon-wrapped meatloaf.

Even though he was stinky, people just couldn't keep their hands off him.  It's a hard life for Charlie, with beautiful women falling over each other to nuzzle him or rub his belly.

The Lodge also has industrial KFC-sized sinks in the pantry, perfect for spray washing dishes or having weird bubble bath situations like the food chain workers do.  We stuck to washing dishes, even after a horrified Ree tried to chase out her guests/food service workers.  It's just such a joy do do anything in this place!

I was content to go back to snapping pictures, and mmm, check out the rosemary rolls... trust me they taste even better than they look sitting there all nestled in warm garlicy rosemary goodness.

I have some dough currently sitting in my fridge that's destined for a similar fate... but I don't think they'll make it to the two day mark like these barely did.

Charlie was weaving in and out of people this whole time, until finally he got enough attention, flopped down and didn't move until Ree and her daughter dragged him out by his soft little ears.

 

This dog just soaks up love like a sponge.   A very floppy-eared, sad-eyed sponge.  And he loves every last second of it!

After our amazing hostess left us to get some sleep, we took a moment to gawk around again and then all headed straight to bed.  It was a LONG trip for most of us (Gina and Sara... they had it easy), and we had to be up bright and early the next day so that we could pretend we were cowgirls.  None of us had these, though:

 

Ashely and Dani are being very nice and turning off all the lights and lamps and candles before we head off to dreamland.

Of course, before bed I had to get all googly-eyed over the bathroom, which is *gorgeous* like everything else.  I've stayed at fancy-pants hotels and really, none of them are as comfortable as staying here.  Not to mention the beds, seriously, most comfortable things in the universe.  Did I already mention that?

My mom mentioned being able to fit seven people and a breakfast table in the shower, and she was right, it's HUGE.

 

Hi, it's me!  Who else loves mirror shots?  I know Ashley does, because girl has this same picture on facebook!

Just one last bathroom shot!  Okay I'm done.  For now.

  

Oh, and these cow skin thingies?  SO soft and actually adorable.  I was a little iffy on if I'd want these instead of rugs, but I am a convert.  Sadly I don't think they'd go great over our brick-red carpet here in Massachusetts.  

And then... to bed!