Graduation

So we finally did it. We made it to the end. I won't bore anybody with the details. Just be glad you weren't there to hear our commencement speaker. I think the highlight of my graduation was the robe I got to wear. I thought about buying one, just so I could wear it around the house and to parties an stuff, but they wanted $800 for it.

Graduation started out with a brunch. We got all dressed up (doesn't Meg look hot?) and spent the morning with friends and family.




Graduation itself was cool too. Here's Ezra showing how much he enjoys it.


So, after our commencement speaker finished his incredibly boring address, we finally got our diplomas. Check out the size of these things!

My friend Peter and I were so excited to graduate, we could hardly contain ourselves.





Now I'll just throw in some random pictures of us with friends.

Pre-Graduation

It's been a while, so there's a lot to catch up with. We'll start with my mom and dad's visit to Boston.
On the May 11th, we blessed Travis, unfortunately, we don't have a picture to commemorate the occasion, oops, but we had some good friends help, including: Peter, Mat, Nick, Dave, Jason, and my dad. Thanks to everyone.
Sunday was also Mothers' Day. It was special, because we got to celebrate with Megan and my mom. We even made them a special breakfast.With my parents in town, we decided to do all the stuff we've been putting off for 4 years. We started with the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA. It was a really cool museum with lots of scrimshaw and history of whaling.
We could hardly tear Ezra away from the wheel of the whaling boat mock up.
The John Adams house was another highlight of the trip. I think Ezra's favorite part was the trolley ride around Quincy, but the houses are nicely restored/replicated. The house in which he was born is a replica, but is on the same property. A second home, the one where John and Abigail lived out their retirement, was still in the family through the mid seventies, when it was donated to the parks service. Everything in there is original, including portraits and 250 year old china.

This is the library built for John Quincy Adams to house his and his father's library. It's very impressive.












At the end of the day, we all knew what was the highlight for Ezra, as he made a bee line for the
trolley.

Travis enjoyed the tours too, he showed his appreciation for them by sleeping throughout.













We also went to Salem together. this time, instead of doing witch stuff, we visited the Peabody Essex Museum (which, by the way, is a very cool museum) and learned about maritime history.

This picture pretty much summarizes life with Ezra. He constantly goes at full speed, with others trying (or not trying, as in the picture) to keep up.




We took a tour of a replica of the merchant ship Friendship. She was originally built in 1796 and served as a merchant vessel to the East Indies. The original was captured by the British in the war of 1812.





The saturday before graduation was spent in Newport, RI. We met my uncle Steve, aunt Stacey, and their kids Christian and Haley. Haley has always been Ezra's favorite and they were able to re-kindle the romance on this trip.





We all had fun:



Rolling down hills,



Doing somersaults,









Playing: "1,2,3 Jump!!!"








And just relaxing.

We had a great time, we're sorry to leave the east coast, where Steve, Stacey, and Haley have been a significant part of our lives.

Back by popular demand

Here is the recipe for the cookies from the last post. I had so many people ask for it, I thought I'd make it public. It comes from the Best Recipe Cookbook, by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 C plus 2 tablespoons all purpose fluor
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 C light or dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 t vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325. Line 2 lage cookie sheets with parchment paper (we just put them right on the pans).

2. Whisk fluor, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl, set aside.

3. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips to taste.

4. Roll scant 1/4 C dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertip of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and with jagged surfaces facing up, join halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth dough's uneven surface. Place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each ball.

5. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and from front to back) until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy. 15 t0 18 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets. When cooled, peel cookies from parchment (or just scoop them off the pan.)