Outing of the Week 3 - VA, Mountain State Brewing Co., Cold Stone Creamery & the POOL

Ah yes, it has been a busy weekend! We started off with a quick trip to VA for the Memorial Service and Interment of JP's mother. It was lovely to see family again, and we were able to get a few pictures of those of us who were there. The girls (as always) adored being with their older cousins, and were extremely reluctant to leave. We had to head home directly after the services, however, since JP is on call this week, and we really needed to be closer to home.



We did manage, however, to include a Half-Birthday celebration for the girls later on. This is a concession, mostly to L, whose birthday gets lost in the shuffle and madness of Christmas. J can't stand being left out, so she gets included for the next couple of years yet. Usually we celebrate the middle of June, but it was overlooked this year, so...better late than never, right?

This year we celebrated by a trip to a new restaurant, recommended by an acquaintance, in nearby Mo'town: Mountain State Brewing Co. The whole building has a rustic feel, with the wood burning stone oven taking center stage inside, and logs serving as pillars and posts. We started off with this lovely appetizer plate, since we were all starving. It had candied roasted almonds, wedges of brie, Gorgonzola, and asiago cheese, green olives and dried apricots.



Next, we had an amazing "flatbread" (their name for pizza) topped with olive oil, garlic, artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and basil. We had to try a sampler of their micro-brewed beers on tap. The blond "Cold Trail Ale" was my favorite.



We had dessert at Cold Stone Creamery, and were quite conservative with our mix-ins for first timers...too full, I guess. But, we were able to work it all off with several hours in the swimming pool.

The girls got a couple of new Wii games for gifts (did you know that you can purchase used games on Amazon? It's the way to go!): Just Dance 2 (a new favorite they discovered after borrowing from a friend) and Wii Party (haven't tried it yet, but I noticed mostly 5 star reviews on Amazon, and it apparently has 80+ games for more than one player...bonus!).

Now it's back to grindstone...work tomorrow for JP and I. Luckily, JP got the mowing done yesterday, because it's TOO HOT to work outside today!