Happy Days

We are back from a not quite vacation/not quite staycation in the Berkshires. It was glorious! The week started on a serious high note. The first Saturday we were there was my sister's birthday, and she and her boyfriend were coming up to go to Tanglewood to celebrate. As soon as they walked in the door, she flashed us her sparkly new diamond ring. Hooray!

Joel has been around nearly as long as Peter has, so he's been regarded as a member of our family for ages. I adore my sister, of course, but I love Joel almost as much, and am so happy he'll become my official brother-in-law. I am so excited for a wonderful family wedding to celebrate these two next year! (Lizzy's mesmerized by Sarah's new ring above...)

On our anniversary, we took Lizzy to the Mount. It was super hot (very strange for the Berkshires!), but it was so lovely to walk around the grounds. They have a new set of sculptures up on the grounds. The one above was my favorite - it's called Kimonos. I thought butterflies, but you know, kimonos works, too.

That night we left Lizzy with my parents while we went out to dinner at Prairie Whale, which was recently included in the New York Times 36 Hours in the Berkshires. We loved it! Delicious cocktails, yummy food, and a very cute, casual dining room. And we only sent one probing text to my parents while we were out (which they didn't even respond to because they were both fawning over her during bath time, ha!).

The Fourth was a rainy disaster there, so we all went out for sushi at Bizen - another new-to-us spot that we really enjoyed. No fireworks, though, which is sort of tragic. Peter's going to be on the look-out for other ones this summer that we could see.

The next day we took a drive to Ashintully Gardens. There are gardens at the bottom that have a sort of back-to-the-wild look about them, and you can do a short hike up to the ruins of an old mansion - sadly, all that remains after a fire are those columns above, but the view of the Berkshires hills is lovely. 

All in all, it was a fantastic week. We've been going to the Berkshires for years, but my parent's new house is in south county (instead of north, where their condo was), and it feels like a whole new world for us to discover down there. Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!