Once a year, my parents (who are the most awesome parents in the history of the world) give my husband and me a little chance to get away from it all and recharge. You’d be amazed at what a two-night, two-day vacation can do for exhausted parents!

We try to go somewhere new each time. This time, we went to Williamsburg, VA. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this spot, it’s in the wilds of Virginia, but there’s a lot going on! The day we arrived there was a Shakespeare Festival. Colonial Williamsburg is also a huge draw, with its historical tours and real live people dressed like they lived a long time ago. There are also some great restaurants and a beautiful winery. Which I took full advantage of!

Oh, wait. That’s me confronting a chocolate chip cookie at the winery I’m not so sure about. Trust me to go to a place that makes wine and order the cookie. It just looked a little overbaked to me, but it was good! See?

Went really well with the wine, actually. I mean, I know a cheese plate is more traditional, but cookies and wine is a combination that is highly underrated.

I just kept finding baked goods wherever we went. Like in the actual colonial town, there was a baked goods shop. I thought it would sell things like molasses cookies or gingerbread, or whatever people were chowing down on for dessert in 1760. I mean, the place has a well outside. Turns out, they don’t sell ye olde baked goods. But you can get a really nice peanut butter cookie wrapped in cellophane, just like our patriarchs and matriarchs enjoyed the night before they fought the British!

And it was also delicious. But really, it’s hard to find a peanut butter cookie that I won’t finish in one bite. Or peanuts in any form, for that matter, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Virginia is a peanutty state! They literally have peanut shops all over the place. I was in heaven. And they let you try free samples! I was actually pretty restrained and only tried two of everything. But I did buy some peanuts. And how wonderful they were! It was with much regret that my better half and I left this marvelous land of wine and peanuts, but we did really miss our kids. And I think my parents couldn’t take any more of the constant chaos.

Back home, I set about making some treats out of whatever we had in the kitchen. I always have chocolate cake fixings, so that called for more adorable little bundt cakes! And I also had some leftover cookie dough in the fridge, both M & M and chocolate chip. So I mixed them together, pressed them in a pie pan, baked  the while darn concoction and, presto! Some kind of cookie pie thingy! Mmm.

No recipe required, people. Seriously, you just press the dough into the pan, bake for about 25 minutes, and presto! A happy little treat. Which you can then slice into pieces and impatiently place on your kid’s Babar plate because you want to inhale it RIGHT NOW.

And there you have it.

Suffice it to say that it was really nice getting away. But it’s always lovely getting home and baking a giant cookie pie thingy.

If we ever travel again, I’ll let you know! But in the meantime, here’s to home. It’s a great place to be!