Wound Up

The plane ride home was every bit as miserable as I had imagined. If you follow along around here, my kids don't sleep while traveling. That combined with waking them up at 4:30 am was a train wreck. But, it's over, and we survived. We came home kissed, kissed, and kissed again, then had celebratory watermelon. Good call, Grandma!

Arundel Mills

We have to leave on a 7:30 am plane in the morning....bleh! We didn't want to drive an hour to the airport so we switched hotels to a place nearby. Which also happens to be near Arundel Mills mall. So, of course, we did a little last minute shopping. Like our luggage wasn't bulging already. "W" went on these Eurobobbles. They were so cool. They have a big zipper on them. They stick the kid in the bubble, then blow it up with air. Then the kid gets to roll around like a hamster for 5 minutes. It was hilarious and "W" drew a little crowd because he was so little and having so much fun. We're all sad that our suite life has come to an end, but we're soooo excited to get back home.

Jerusalem Mill Village & Ladew Gardens

Today we visited Jerusalem Mill Village. On Sundays, they do demonstrations of blacksmithing, cooking, woodworking, and gunmaking. During special events they do colonial re-enactments, including vintage baseball games (too bad we missed that). Afterwards we went to Ladew Gardens, a topiary garden. I had been stoked about it all week. When we got there, the sun was shining and I was worried about it being way too hot to walk around. We walked in the gift shop to buy tickets and looked around a minute. By the time we got back outside there were huge dark clouds rolling in. We ran and took a few pictures before it started dumping on us. I was so bummed. What we got to see was gorgeous and there were swarms of butterflies all around.

Sesame Place

My favorite thing about this theme park is that little kids can go on everything. "W"s favorite was the roller coaster. He couldn't stop giggling with delight. ET was too little for that (the only ride with age restrictions), didn't like the lazy river, but loved everything else. I think that this was definitely the boys' favorite adventure so far.

Amazing Glace

I went to a little shop similar to Color Me Mine today. I painted some plates for the boys and a few Maryland souvenirs. PBTB took the boys to eat and I just got to paint for about 2 1/2 hours. Sometimes I forget how good it feels to create. It doesn't matter what it is. I haven't knit/sewn/even read a book in way too long (months).

A picture of the boys eating a cookie.....we stop everytime we see a bakery and test out the goods.

And, a picture of "W" in the tubby. This is what we do when PBTB's at work and ET's asleep.

Washington, D.C. Part II

Today we went to Arlington National Cemetary and watched them switch out the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns. Then we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History ("W" was so funny in the African mammal room. He ran from animal to animal saying "cheeesse", so I would take his picture.) and then the Holocaust Museum (sorry, forgot to take pics, here). Again, it was HOT, HOT! We are glad to be back "home", as "W" calls it. (Poor kid is going to have a rude awakening when he finds out we don't have a swimming pool and a billiard room.)