We LOVE having family visit Erie!

Dad and Mom came on Thursday evening, flew in on a delayed plane just in time for dinner. They went home Monday. We spent our days filled with great fun and food! We took a boat tour of Presque Isle State Park in Erie. This picture shows all of the Presque Isle- a peninsula. It is about 13 miles around on the road that runs from tip to tip and back. The boat tour took us around the bay and out into Lake Erie. It was a gorgous day, and Drew and I even learned a lot about Erie that we didn't know! Here is our boat, the Lady Kate.

This is Perry Monument, in honor of Admiral Oliver Perry who fought in The Battle of Lake Erie in the 1813. I've never seen it from the water, it's pretty!
Dad and Mom on the boat.

This was the biggest freighter I have ever seen. It was hard to get a picture because it was so long. You can't even really tell how huge it was from this picture!
Me and Drew on the boat.
After the tour, we went to Sara's, Erie's famous restaurant at the entrance to the peninsula. It is well known for ice cream! We were very stuffed by the time we ate all our ice cream. Sara's doesn't have sizes, one-size-fits all- HUGE!
Other things we did during our fun weekend- We played Hand and Foot, and I taught everyone to play Cribbage. We worked a little on the garden. Drew and Dad worked on the Bronco. Mom and I spent a lot of time shopping for new curtains and new decorations in our living room. I love what we finally ended up with! Here is our new mantle arrangement. You can see all the new painting that I did a few weeks ago. I painted the top 1/3 of the living room a dark green. It used to be a dark blue that we really loved, but the blue just didn't flow with the rest of the house.

The bathroom now has one dark green wall and three light green walls. We found great curtains, and Mom turned the extra curtain into a great cabinet cover! It turned out so pretty,

thanks Mom!

Our entryway is now a tan color with just a hint of peach. Mom and I found these plaid curtains that actually looked a little ugly in the store, but they were the right colors so we tried them. They look perfect! I'm glad I took a chance on them! Sunday night, we had a very yummy meal of grilled sesame chicken, cold pasta salad, baked beans, and strawberry pie! The chicken was marinated using an amazing recipe I got out of the Creme de Colorado Cookbook- thanks Alice for telling me about it! You all should try this recipe sometime!

Grilled Sesame Chicken:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup soy sauce

1-2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon black pepper

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup chopped green onions

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 whole chickens (I used 6 large breasts instead)

Combine all marinade ingredients and chicken in a zip-lock bag. Marinate 4-8 hours. Grill 15-20 minutes, basting frequently with marinade. (I sprinkled extra green onions on the chicken right before serving.)