Sunday Skate

All three kids were invited to a birthday party for one of our old neighbors yesterday.  She's also one of Bryce's classmates so there were several girls from his class there too (the girls all LOVE him!).  I was a little surprised to see "Skateland" on the invitation as I hadn't been to a Skateland since I was in middle school and didn't even realize those places were still open.  The kids were excited though but I was a little bit overwhelmed at the thought of managing all three of them by myself since none of them had ever really, truly skated before.  (Fisher Price skates are NOT the same thing!)

Walking into Skateland was like walking into a time warp!  Amazing, actually.  NOTHING had changed.  I swear it was like walking into 1987 except the music had been updated. The place looked a little dingy but I think it did back in 1987 too - but the skates were newer and the rink itself was fine, so what else do you need?  We met up with the birthday girl and then went to get our skates. (I decided not to get skates since I knew I'd need to be more stable to hold kids up - that was a very smart decision.) Just as I expected, when Bryce and Caroline stood up they were a bit wobbly but they gave it their best shot.  Piper looked like you would expect a dog in roller skates would look, even on the carpet.  It was a bit of a laugh trying to hold all of their shoes and try and manage to get Piper back over to the birthday party tables.  Thankfully, Bryce and Caroline were happy to try it on their own and didn't want my help because Piper really needed.  Plus, having other kids there they knew was great because they all hung out and were learning together.  All three of my kids are the more careful types in that they tried to maintain control and didn't throw themselves all over the place like some of the other kids that were learning to skate did.  Piper and I started first with doing a lap around the carpeted perimeter of the rink.  It took a long time to get around the first time with lots of breaks and lots of hanging on my hand.  But after a few more times around she was confident enough to skate on her own in front of me and wasn't falling down at all.  She even attempted skating in the rink while holding my hand from the perimeter.  Quite honestly, I was amazed at her progress in such a short time. I was so proud of her for not getting frustrated or giving up - she had a smile on her face almost the entire time and barely took any breaks. I really do believe that Piper has natural athletic ability that my other kids don't have.  (We're trying to convince her to play soccer in the fall, but not sure that she's interested.)

Bryce and Caroline did well too and also didn't get frustrated or give up.  Caroline was a little down on herself because she wanted to be better but I told her that since they liked it so much, we could definitely go again.  I never considered it because I didn't think they'd all like it and I really didn't even know the place was still open.  It's pretty cheap too and the Sunday afternoon sessions tend to be mostly families so you don't have that teenage attitude problem you might get on a weekend evening.  So I will definitely keep this in mind for a future weekend where we need something to do.  Maybe next time I'll even lace on some skates...not so sure that I could get Jason to do the same though.  HA!

Visiting Saturday

Saturday was a long day, but a very good day!

Jason took my parents to the airport early that morning so they could catch their flight to New Orleans.  I was jealous they were getting out of this cold for a while but happy for them as they always have a good time whenever they go on trips together.  Once Jason returned, we packed up and headed west on 70 to visit my grandmother in Hagerstown.

However, we made a pit stop on the way out there at another community (by our same builder) where our former sales agent, Matt, had recently been moved.  The kids were thrilled to see him and had a great time wandering around a huge and beautiful model.  Check out one of the rooms in the basement.  Bryce loved it (but wouldn't pose for any photos)!!

While it was definitely waaaay too much house for my personal liking, I did really like the way it was decorated and fell in love with the family room wall color - I'm thinking maybe for our kitchen (that's a whole blog post I need to do though): 

Of course Matt gave them snacks and they were happy for the rest of our trip:

We arrived just after noon at MeeMaw's as I told her we would and we had a very nice lunch together.  While we were getting lunch, the girls showed off their twin look that they had self-coordinated for the day (even down to the pig tails):

The kids were just so good all day.  They played nicely together in my grandmother's sun room, were very conversational at lunch, and then Bryce and I played Uno with MeeMaw for over an hour while Bryce ate his weight in grapes.  Later in the afternoon, the kids went and got her mail and then Piper put on a dance show for her.  It was getting into the evening, so we went and got a quick bite to eat at the local Denny's courtesy of MeeMaw and then got ready to make our way back to Baltimore.  The kids even let me snap this photo before we left and it really was representative of the nice day we'd had.  Caroline gave MeeMaw lots of hugs and kisses and was just so sweet to her.  I hope that MeeMaw had as good a day as we did.

We made it back to Baltimore around 9pm and got the kids into bed without issue.  Three cheers for a busy and well spent Saturday!!

Parental Reasoning

We took the kids to Disney on Ice yesterday afternoon because Piper wasn't able to go with her class last week.   We found the least expensive tickets possible and even though we were a little ways back, the kids still enjoyed it.  I was kind of amazed watching parents fork over so much money for food and souvenirs for their kids.  I broke down and bought a $12 bucket of popcorn because the kids were overwhelmed with the smells of all the other expensive food.  Once I bought that, they stopped asking for other things (cotton candy) and were happy.  I brought water along to keep from having to buy soda too.  They still enjoyed it even though I didn't buy them a $20 program or a $20 light, flashy, whirly thing that annoyed the crap out of me for every other kid that had one.  But I digress....

They had a good time except for the behavior of some of the families/children around us. Poor Caroline was knocked in the head so many time by these rude kids behind her.  The mother was oblivious or would make some lame attempt to calm them down - Jason made a comment but the woman just didn't seem to care.  (Piper put her foot on the guy's shoulder in front of us once and I made a point to tell her to be careful because it was rude.)  And then behind Bryce, Piper and I, there was a kid that would NOT shut up.  He talked LOUDLY the entire time.  Not that you needed it to be quiet to hear what was going on, but not hearing him yammering on would have been nice. I also couldn't get over at how late people were coming into the show...like 40 minutes late!  Not just a few people, a LOT of people.  Why would you pay all that money to show up so late and then be loud and not care that you are blocking other people's viewing, especially because you are coming in so late.

The kids were very well behaved and didn't say much of anything until we got in the car and started talking about the show.  They couldn't get over how rude and disrespectful the other kids around them were.  Jason and I listened to them vent and then Jason told them, "See, now you guys understand why we are constantly reminding you guys of how to behave in public.  We don't want YOU to be THOSE kids."  And upon him saying that, I think they "got it."  I could see the expressions on their faces like, "Yeah, I understand."

Granted, now I've probably jinxed myself that we'll go out in the near future and have a major problem, but at least this episode gave them something to think about.  Generally our kids are fairly good in public (aka "Street Angels"), but no kid is perfect.  And I also realize there are times when it is just impossible to expect good behavior or that something is working against you, but it always helps when the kids can start to understand WHY mom and dad give them such a hard time about particular behaviors in public.

Fort Revisited

This past Sunday I decided to take the kids to Fort McHenry for the afternoon.  They had spent the night at my mom's the night before, it wasn't a great day for swimming, and Jason wanted to brew beer so I wanted to do something with them.  For some reason, Fort McHenry popped into my head.  Five years ago, we met Katie and family down there for a picnic but we hadn't gone into the actual fort.  After the success of our Mt. Vernon trip and realizing that the kids are interested in history lessons (yay!), I thought this would be a good idea.  It was!

Bryce with the Key Bridge in the background...a little hazy that day.

They enjoyed seeing the old building and hearing the battle of 1812 story when the Star Spangled Banner was written.  The did a little complaining (as usual) but for the most part they were really good.  The girls thought pretending to be in jail was funny but Bryce wanted NOTHING to do with it.

I tried to get them to pose with the guys dressed up in period costume but they weren't interested (they think I'm so lame).

They enjoyed walking the "trails" around the top of the fort and seeing where they went.

After we finished, I went back to the car to get our lunch and we had a picnic by the water.

And even though the last time we were down here (sans Piper), Bryce was less than 2 years old, he did remember looking at the photos because he swore we were sitting in the same spot.  (I don't think we were.)  All of a sudden he got up and went and stood by a tree and asked me to take his photo.  He was trying to recreate the photo I have of him hanging over my bed that I'd taken in the same spot 5 years earlier.  Here's a side by side:

Clearly the outfit isn't close and he doesn't have the stick quite right or where he's looking but it's still pretty cute.  He let me woof up his hair to match though.  Such a funny kid.  He's not always wanting me to take his photo so it was pretty cute when he asked me to take this.  

All in all a good afternoon.  Going to have to see about some more historical spots to check out this summer.

Back to Work I Go

It was SO nice having Thursday and Friday off!  No particular reason, I have plenty of days and I need to just plan ahead and use them.  I know I will be taking another Thursday/Friday off in mid-July as we lead up to my BIL's wedding so I was trying to space it out a little bit.

Thursday - Initially, I was calling this "Mom's Day of Fun" but the weather had other plans.  I'd hoped to take the kids somewhere but when the weather was forecasted 100 degrees, I knew there was no other place we'd want to be than swimming.  Caroline's friend Sophia spent the night on Wednesday and they were all up by 7:30.  Sophia went home and accompanied her mom to the gym (her little sister behaves better in the gym's childcare if Sophia is there) and the four of us went to Target.  We were back by 10:30 and the kids did there chores while I cleaned up and got ready to go swimming.  Sophia came back down after lunch and I took all 4 kids to my mom's.  Whoooo-weee, it was HOT.  So glad to have a pool to go to!  The kids had a great time and we made it back home to my crock pot dinner by 5pm.  The kids were so tired from being up late the night before and the swimming that none of them even went back outside.  Plus, since we were planning on leaving early the next day, I made them all get in bed "early" (for summer) and everyone was passed out by 9pm - quite a feat in the days when it's not actually dark until 9pm.

Friday - Jason was up at 5am and was greeted by a colony of ants invading our kitchen.  When I got up at 6am, he was finishing up his fight and had the poison out to greet them.  (Combat Ant Gel always does the trick for us!)  Bryce and Piper followed soon after but it was pulling teeth to get Caroline out of bed.  We had hoped to leave by 7am, but 7:30 was a more realistic time.  (Kind of uncharacteristic for our family though, generally if we say we're leaving by a certain time, we leave by that time.)  But serendipity prevailed and our late departure actually proved to work out just fine for our timing.  With little to no traffic, we made it to Mount Vernon just after 9am.  Even though it was already warm and humid, there was a breeze blowing and the sun was in and out.  The crowds were light too.  Since our mansion time wasn't until 10:30am, we had plenty of time to check out the orientation center and movie and make our way around the grounds:

We checked out some of the surrounding buildings, the gardens, saw some farm animals, and took a few photos.  And then it was time for the mansion tour.  The kids were super excited about seeing George and Martha's house and even though they walked through the rooms much faster than I would have liked, they really seemed to be absorbing it.  They were particularly excited to see the room and bed where George Washington had died.  Caroline said she really liked looking at the old beds and was fascinated by the canopies on all of them.  Piper said she wanted to jump on the beds.  

With the mansion tour complete, it was after 11am and we decided to get a head start on lunch since we hoped to eat at the Mt. Vernon Inn instead of the food court (and we were hungry given our early start).  11:30am proved a perfect time and we were seated right away.  The kids devoured their food - it was a fun little meal.  I enjoyed the chestnut and peanut soup which was a classic dish from George and Martha's time apparently.  After some ice cream for dessert we went back outside in hopes of meeting "Martha" and seeing George's tomb.  Unfortunately the breeze and clouds were gone and it was HOT.  We made it to where "Martha" was supposed to be for a meet and greet but found that it was closed.  We made our way to the tomb which was quite interesting to the kids and then headed back to the air conditioning of the museum.  And boy did that a/c feel good!

The kids really liked the museum and the hands on nature of the entire exhibit.  

Here they are posing as the Washingtons in the children's room: 

It made me laugh that on the other side of the face cutouts there was a stern warning to parents that these were just for putting faces into and not the entire head.  I guess they've had some kids get their heads stuck - I can only imagine the drama!

All in all, it was a great day trip and even though the return traffic was rough, it was a good day.

Saturday: Bryce had a brief trophy ceremony at noon celebrating the end of T-Ball season.  While he liked it, he's not too keen on playing again next spring.  Jason is okay with that and understands.  Baseball is a little hard to keep kids focused on, especially when they are 4-6 year olds.  Maybe he'll be more interested in it when he gets older, or not.  He's already asking when soccer starts which Jason is very happy about.   Once the boys got home we headed down to a family birthday party in Columbia.  (Had to make a pit stop at Katie's house to retrieve Caroline's towel she left a few weeks ago - wish we could have attended both parties!)  

We had a great time at the party and the kids swam while the adults watched and relaxed (but I forgot my camera!).  It was a more subdued party than they usually have and it was delightful.  All the kids played so well together and I can't wait to go to the beach with Zoe, Taki and their parents in a few weeks!  We also got to meet Jackie and Jim's new dog - Beau.  This dog won my heart in a second and if I was considering getting a dog I would want to clone this dog!  He's only 5 months old but so calm and sweet.  He's a Labradoodle but he's 75% poodle and 25% lab - so maybe that's why he's so calm because NO lab puppy is ever that calm.  If I could guarantee that a dog would be so good natured, I'd be much closer to considering a dog.  We were all smitten and it was so cute to see Piper with him.  Can't wait to see him again.

We didn't extract the kids from the pool until almost 8pm and then rolled home with Caroline and Bryce balking at mine and Jason's choice of music (80's and 90's stations).  We ignored them though and rocked out - of course Caroline maintained that the ride was "torturous" and "horrible."  I was trying to get them to understand that that was the music we used to bother OUR parents with when we were their ages and that the music on the "Hits 1" station is annoying to us sometimes.  They didn't buy it.

Sunday:  After we all did some chores and had lunch, we decided to make our way over to my mom's for more swimming.  But our CSA had delivered SO much bounty in the way of summer veggies I had to use them.  I made a delicious summer vegetable chicken caccitore in the crock pot and two loaves of zucchini bread.  And there's barely a dent in my zucchini pile.  (It's not even peak zucchini time yet!)  We got to my mom's and swam - again I forgot my camera- and missed Jason throwing the kids around.  We had a nice dinner with my parents and Kevin (Aunt Kelly has departed for Chicago for summer 2 of her 3 summer master's program) and then made it home so the kids could watch a "big" episode of "Good Luck, Charlie" on the Disney Channel at 8pm.  Piper passed out on the way home (she won't nap anymore and swimming exhausts her) and the older two got super fast baths so they could watch their show.

It was a verrrrry nice long weekend and I am looking forward to another one soon.  I'm bummed that the 4th of July is on a Wednesday this year.  If I wasn't taking off the Thursday/Friday of the following week, I'd probably take off that Thursday/Friday of that week too, but alas, that's how it is and I'll just enjoy a mid-week break.

I love summer and this past weekend was a perfect example of why!

Father's Day Sailibration

Jason was kind enough to go along with my desire to take the kids down to see the Tall Ships for Baltimore's  "Sailibration 200" this past weekend.  (A celebration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 where tall ships from all over the world docked in the Baltimore Inner Harbor.)  It was Father's Day so I appreciate him going along with something that he might not have normally wanted to do.  My mom wanted to see them too and we didn't want to hassle with the crazy crowds so we made plans to go down early and then have brunch.

My parents arrived by 7:30am and we made it down to Fell's Point a little after 8am.  Easy parking and then a leisurely stroll around the promenade to the Inner Harbor.

The weather was a little gray but it never actually rained, although it was quite cool for mid-June in Baltimore.  I thought about packing jackets but figured the gray would burn off and it would get warmer.  I really wished I'd packed those jackets!  Thank goodness I packed one of our trusty baby towels I had in my bag in Disney World or Piper would have been very cold (sitting still in a stroller is a little chillier than walking).  She was a little grumpy too and preferred to cover her face with it too whenever I would try to get a picture of her in the stroller.

The ships were really cool and the kids liked seeing them.  It ended up being a nice 4 mile walk to start the day and the kids had fun running around the less crowded harbor.

By 10am though, it was starting to get a little more crowded and we decided to make our way back around to Fell's Point.  Here's Jason and the ship from Brazil:

I love that Bryce will still hold your hand in public. (The girls do too but Bryce is kind of anti-PDA if we're at school.)

We met my sister somewhere along the way back and then wiled away some time before our 11am brunch reservations where Kevin and Kelly joined us too.  We ate at Bond Street Social and while I really liked the atmosphere and the first few food items that arrived, it wasn't as good as it had the potential to be. The girls' monkey bread was delicious as was the arugula salad my mom, sister and I had but some of the other dishes lacked the flavor you'd expect in typical brunch fare.  I will say though that the mimosas were delicious as were the Bloody Mary's (my dad said) and the coffee.  And even though all the food wasn't stellar, it was a great location, the seating/service was good, and we were all together on Father's Day.

Girls & Boys Nights Out

Several months ago, Jason decided to get tickets to an Orioles game for Bryce's first game for a boys night out. Because the O's were playing the Pirates on 6/14, Jay decided on that particular game. (Bryce played on the Pirates for T-ball.)   Mark and Taki (his son, not his brother) went along too.  The boys had a ball! (pun intended)  Bryce scarfed down a hot dog and some cotton candy and then Jason bought both boys one of those big foam fingers.  How cute is this picture Jason texted to me?

Bryce loved every single second of it and Jason said that as they were walking back to the car he said, "Daddy, that was totally awesome."  Jay said he couldn't have come up with a better way to be thanked - even made him a little misty eyed.  He even told Jason it was the 3rd best thing he'd ever done only after Disney World and one other thing Jason could not remember this morning.  I'm so glad they had a great time together.

But that didn't mean that the girls and I were left out - oh no!  As the day approached I decided that I would make the night a girl's night out too.  The weather was perfect, not hot, sunny, and breezy.  I'd heard that a local restaurant on the water whose menu/service had gone downhill in recent years had finally closed and it had been reopened by different owners and that it was a lot better.   They have an indoor and deck dining area but they also have dining right on the water in the sand complete with a tiki bar.  We arrived and the girls were instantly happy and as soon as we were seated they asked if they could play in the sand.  Our server said yes and even brought the girls a bucket to play with.  Not only was it peaceful, the kids were happy!

The girls agreed to wash their hands when their food came and it was nice to sit there and listen to the live music and just relax.  It was so nice spending time with just the girls - they get along so well most of the time and were feeling particularly jovial. Piper even did a little dancing.

They played a little while longer and decided they wanted to get dessert elsewhere so we headed home and stopped at Rita's - their favorite.

While I like doing things with all three of my children, it was really nice to be out with just the girls for once.  Just a completely different dynamic and because I know Bryce was having so much fun with his father, I didn't even have my usual weird lament about not having all three kids with me.

Dinner Out

Many thanks to my IL's who kept the kids last night while Jason and I had an evening out.  We decided on Cinghiale in Harbor East late in the week after we second guessed ourselves on another restaurant that we were reading mixed reviews of and that most people said it was way over priced.  Plus, we've been visiting the Wolf/Foreman restaurants for years and have yet to have a negative experience.  We went to Cinghiale a few years ago on Valentine's Day but because it was a special day they had a prix fixe we said we had wanted to go back another time when we have full selection of the menu. (It was on that visit that I had something that I generally consider to be one of the best things I ever ate - something with grilled baby octopus and roasted fingerling potatoes.)  And this visit was just as wonderful!  Good wine, good food and a nice atmosphere.  We both did the 4 course prix fixe but really, it's not a true prix fixe since you have almost full selection of the menu.  The best thing I ate all night was "Toç in Braide – Soft Polenta, Snails, Asiago, Parsley Butter Sauce."  OMG.  The grilled octopus as my first course was delicious (a little different from what I had last time) as was the branzino for my main course, but that polenta dish still has my mouth watering.  I also added the wine pairings with my courses and was totally in love with what they selected for me. A variety of reds and whites that were just perfect.  Jason went for a Pinot Noir for his whole meal.

I went a little off course for my dessert than I usually do - I generally choose something chocolate but went for a pistachio and cherry gelate combination that was light and delicious.  My dessert wine that went along with it was perfect too - some kind of fizzy, sweeter red wine that I cannot remember what it was called.

I really like Cinghiale and considering that two of the best things I've ever eaten have been that that restaurant, I know we'll eventually go back again.

Balloon Saga

Yesterday, I took the kids to the Marshy Point Nature Center because we hadn't been in a while and didn't really have anything planned.  They were having some kind of nature scavenger hunt thing, Jason was brewing beer, and it was sunny so I figured we should take advantage of it. As I learned from the last time we tried hiking some trails there (Piper fell face first into mud), I made sure to take a full change of clothes AND shoes/socks for each kid.  I almost didn't take them for Caroline because she decided to go at the last second and I figured she'd be the one needing it the least.  I'm glad my better judgement reigned because guess who fell  butt first into the mud....thankfully her camera was in its case and managed to stay clean.  We continued on the trail though and then walked back to the car for various shoe/clothing changes before going back into the Nature Center.  The kids poked around for a bit and caught up with all their favorite animals.  Piper felt like quite the expert after having attended preschool drop-ins with my mom through the fall.

The center's duck and starling were wandering around too.  The starling kept landing on Bryce and Bryce would get this nervous look on his face even though I could tell he was amazed to have a bird on his shoulder.

Then as we got ready to leave, the Naturalist who was working told the kids they could have a prize for their efforts.  She gave them some stickers, a magnet and then, the pièce de résistance, BALLOONS!  Helium balloons to be more specific.  At first I was kind of annoyed, I mean, a nature center giving balloons - aren't they terrible for animals and the environment if not disposed of properly?  I also know how much trouble we've had over the years when my mom has given the kids balloons because they end up fighting over them. But I went along with it because I didn't want to be rude.  She gave each of them a balloon with a pencil tied to the string.  I figured SOMEONE would end up losing theirs - I wasn't wrong.


The kids were just tickled with having the balloons and I couldn't figure out why until I thought about it.  All the balloons they've ever had before have either been blown up at home or already partially deflated helium balloons that no longer floated.  These were their first floating balloons - crazy, huh?  I really have deprived my kids.

When we got home they took them out and each of them tied theirs to their scooters and they rode up and down the street having way more fun than you'd expect.  Then, Sophia got home and Caroline just had to take her balloon up to show her.  Somehow in the middle of this, Piper released Caroline's balloon and tears and drama ensued.  Piper must have felt bad because she agreed to share her balloon with Caroline (I was very proud of her). I kept reminding them that by the morning the balloons would no longer float (and explained the science behind that).  They were being so funny at bedtime with them, I told them I needed to take some photos and they humored me.

I'm already planning to get each of them a Mylar balloon for Valentine's Day - I hate them a little bit less because they don't smell like rubber and they last longer.  They just might deem me the best mom ever!!!

Zoo Sunday & Sick Piper

Since we bought a zoo membership the last time we were there in the spring, we realized that in order to get our money's worth, we needed to go at least one more time.  Jason picked yesterday and what a day it was - absolutely beautiful and warm!

And like our last trip, I forgot our camera.  (Last time I remembered the camera but brought the wrong lens.)  Anyhow, all the pics I took were with my phone, so not terrible, but not great.

The kids were in great spirits and had a good time.  When we came in April, we never made it to through the Maryland exhibit due to the weather so all the turtle shells and bird nests were new to the kids this time.

I was excited that we actually got to see a polar bear swimming and playing with his ball (in all the times I've gone, I've never seen that) and we got to see all the elephants including the baby elephant! Piper liked when the baby kept rubbing his butt up against his mama! 

We brought the "real" stroller (as opposed to the umbrella one)  for Piper and I'm so glad we did.  We're clearly going to need some kind of stroller for Disney based on how she needed to ride sometimes but I also am not sure because part of the way she was acting was because she was getting sick.  She woke up with a congested sounding cough that morning but was fine otherwise.  But as the day wore on, she seemed more tired than usual and kept trying to lay down in her stroller.  (Why I was glad we had the real one since the umbrella doesn't lean back.)  When we got home, I picked her up and she said she was cold just as I noticed she felt warm.  A low grade temp, but a fever nonetheless.  So since then we've been dispensing ibuprofen to keep it down and her from being too miserable.  I'm sure it's just something viral, so we'll just have to ride it out and hope it doesn't spread.  Both Jay and I took our vitamin D to try and protect ourselves!

Argh!!!

Well, we finally were able to take the kids to Urban Pirates for Bryce's birthday outing.  Thanks to Irene for changing the date from 8/28 until this past Saturday.  We would have done it the next weekend except that was the date of the VERY annoying Grand Prix in Baltimore (plus my SIL and her husband wouldn't have been able to come).  So thankfully, everyone was able to make it and Urban Pirates were wonderful about rescheduling!

The boat departs right out of Fells Point.  You get there, they get you all on board and dressed like a pirate.

Piper was the one that got into it the most.  Caroline wouldn't do anything other than get a tattoo.

The boat takes off and away you go.   I was amazed at how the captain had us weaving in and out of the little areas of the Inner Harbor.  And yes, we made quite a ruckus!  There was dancing, yelling, and even a little pirate story telling.  I have to give the crew a lot of credit, they really stay in character!

The most fun part of the trip is when the sneaky (bad) pirate comes and harasses you.  Everyone mans the water cannons and shoots him.  Bryce especially loved this part!

It was a fun afternoon and we ended it with some ice cream at Maggie Moo's.  Even Caroline who didn't dress up and didn't really participate in all the fun said she had a good time (and she hadn't even wanted to go).  Big thanks to my parents, Jay's parents, Chrissa, Kelly and Jesse for coming along for the fun!

We Went to the Zoo Zoo Zoo!

On Saturday, we met our friends at the Maryland Zoo. It really wasn't an optimal day for going when we woke up. Rain. 50 degrees. Cold. But, we'd had this planned for a long time and our friends aren't in town that often and the kids reallllly wanted to go. So, the rain stopped and while it was still dreary and cool, we decided to go. We decided to buy a family membership knowing the day wasn't a great one and going for 2 visits would pay for said membership. The weather kept the crowds down significantly. As in, almost none! There were a lot of animals out and about and the kids enjoyed everything they saw. Although typically, they didn't want to stand and look for long. I could have stood and watched the giraffes, elephants, or leopard all day. Bryce even fed a giraffe! (Video coming...)

We decided to have lunch around 1pm and as we were sitting there under an awning, it started raining. Boo. (This was also when we randomly saw my friends Amy and Heather from my freshman year at Maryland  I've seen each of them since college but never with their kids in tow.  Such a random day for a run-in considering how few people were at the zoo!)

But that cold rain continued and we all got a little wet and COLD. 50 degrees in the rain is chilly!  We decided to pack it in and go home.  It stopped raining as we waited for the tram and then, by the time we got home, the sun was peaking out.   Less than an hour later it was 75 degrees and hot.  WTH?

We didn't miss seeing that much but it certainly would have made the day more enjoyable if the weather had been better.  But, all's well that ends well because we spent the rest of the day at our house visiting with our friends.  The kids got to play outside for a long time and they finally had the joy of eating on the deck.  (Caroline and Bryce have been bugging us for an alfresco meal for a month or more.)  A good time was had by all and Piper made a new best friend in Gretchen.  It was so nice visiting and seeing the kids play together.  I don't know what it is but just introducing one extra child into the play makes it so much easier - my kids play much better together as a result. 

The only photos I really took that day at the zoo were with my phone because I mistakenly left the portrait lens on my camera and left the bag at home. Doh.  The rest I just haven't had a chance to download yet.  Although this was my favorite from my phone because you can't see the pane of glass between Piper and the leopard.  It looks kind of freaky, actually.  Watch out, Pipes!

Volt - Finally!

Okay so I am finally getting around to blogging about our evening out in Frederick with my friend Lauren and her fiance, Greg.  Volt was incredible!  Totally worth the hour drive to Frederick although maybe my evening was slightly colored by the fact that Jason and I hadn't seen Lauren in ages and it made the dinner that much more fun. (It was our first time meeting Greg - he was great!)  Lauren has been there a bunch of times already so when we decided to finally make the trek up there, she was the one who made the reservations since she knew the "formula" on when to call to make sure we able to get a Saturday evening reservation at a decent time.  Weekend evening reservations are few and far between, especially in the "Chef's Dining Room" where we sat.  And I can understand why - there are only like 4 tables in there and you are right in front of the kitchen. The room is small and you are so close to the action - I loved it!  

The "bar" you see wrapped around the kitchen area is Table 21.  They have 2 seatings an evening and you get 21 (small) courses.  You can see the famous Chef Brian Voltaggio in the far right of this photo.  In the Chef's Dining room it's a Prix Fixe of 6 courses and you have the choice of the vegetarian tour or the "meat" tour.  (In the regular dining room it's ala carte even though you can get most of the same things.) The four of us chose the "meat" tour.  I don't consider myself much of a meat eater but when I go to a REALLY good restaurant like this, I take the "when in Rome" approach since it's rare that anything they give you will be bad.  (Hence why I've eaten ostrich at Charleston and baby octopus at Cinghale.)

We were started off first with a few amuse-bouche (single bite appetizers) - one was this black pepper "lollipop" with a pineapple marshmallow.  The lollipop part was actually more like ice cream and was sweet, not savory.  It was so random and good!  Then they brought us these 3 little bites of 3 different things.  One was this weird "faux oyster" and it was the only thing that none of us liked.  The other 2 little bites were so good you were sad there wasn't any more!  The servers came around and brought us selections of rolls/breads that just melted in your mouth.

Our first course was a beet, carrot, goat cheese mousse dish.  I've actually never had beets before and this was good.  If I had to rank the dishes this would have been my "least" favorite but that doesn't mean I didn't like it, because I really did.  The others were just so amazing this doesn't even come close.

Next up was the clam "chowder."  It was very frothy and not a huge amount - had these odd noodley things in it and dehydrated bacon.  YUM!!  We all scarfed that down quickly.  The next course was easily my favorite - halibut with blue crab risotto and some other kind of puree that I can't remember now.  O.M.G.  Good.  The halibut couldn't have been any more perfect.  Firm, delicious and with the risotto, heaven on a plate.

The next course was the one I was most unsure of - pork belly - but it turned out to be my second favorite of the night.  The pork had a wonderful flavor and I really liked the texture of it with the beans and sauce. You can kind of see it in this photo but the plate was like a little stage - no edges and just rolled under.  (We never had the same kind of plate twice - they were all so unique and totally like nothing you'd have in your kitchen!)

Next up was the beef course - so tender and good.  And with all these little drips and drops of things to combine it with.  We were all trying to figure out how to get every single bite off of the plate.  This was another cool plate - you can see the little divot where the beef was sitting!

So at this point we figured, well, dessert is next - which for the "meat" tour, was a chocolate dessert.  You can imagine our confusion when we were presented with the dessert of "lavender, coconut, and vanilla."  (I didn't know this at the time, but Chef Brian actually served mine - when a dish comes out, they sit all 4 plates down at the same time which requires a few hands.  He came up from behind us (came from the hallway) and he was the one who put down mine and Jason's dessert.)  We looked at it for a second - looked like a scoop of vanilla ice cream - it was actually some kind of creamy goodness infused with lavender that was flash frozen with liquid nitrogen.  And while I was excited because I'd really wanted to try it, we also wondered what happened to our chocolate dessert.  We also hadn't ordered our coffee yet.  Lauren flagged down a server and without hesitating or even hinting that there had been a mistake he said, "Our compliments!  Your chocolate dessert will be out soon."  WOW!  So we got 7 courses.  (We almost got a 2nd helping of the beet course too but stopped them before they put it down - so clearly this kind of thing happens a lot.  But I can understand why - they are making so many small plates!  I don't know how they stay so organized!)

We made our coffee order and then they brought out our chocolate dessert which consisted of a bunch of different chocolate flavored, different textured yumminess. And while I liked the (2nd) dessert, I am still dreaming off the coffee I had - Highlander Grogg.  They get it from a local coffee shop and I am just in love with it.  It has this wonderful buttery flavor and the smell, well, it makes everyone turn their head.  And to think that I found that you can buy it online!!

The entire dinner took 3 hours!  I couldn't believe it was that long.  The time between the courses was spread out but I think because we were having such a good time catching up with our dinner companions that we barely noticed.  And because they spread it out and the courses are small, you're not busting when you leave although I was pretty full.

The entire restaurant is just beautiful - historic, red brick mansion on the outside and inside a modern designer's dream.  Even the bathrooms are crazy modern!  I can't say enough about what a great time we had and how glad I am that we made the trip.  A big thank you to Lauren for making the reservation - I hope you guys can come to Baltimore for another foodie dinner date soon!

I'm so glad that Jason and I have similar tastes when it comes to really good food.  Dinner menus at home might be hard to come up with sometimes but when it comes to fine dining, we always seem to agree.  Thank goodness! 

Marshy Point Nature Center

After being out on Saturday evening without the kids (and getting to sleep in on Sunday morning), I wanted to spend a fun day with them on Sunday.  We decided to finally venture down to Marshy Point Nature Center to check it out since the older kids will be going to a summer evening cool camp in July.  The weather wasn't great, but at least it wasn't raining and wasn't cold.  We had intended to walk trails after exploring the nature center, but Piper fell into the mud about 1/4 mile in.  The trails were really muddy though and with it raining practically every other day lately, we decided to go back and spend some more time with the real and dead (stuffed) animals in the nature center.  If you live nearby, it's completely free - you really should check it out.  I couldn't believe all the live animals they had.  Bryce was a little freaked out at the dead stuffed and skinned bears, but after seeing me pet it, overcame some of his fears.  I can't wait to go back when it's drier and we can explore the trails more.  Apparently they are going to be expanding the trails even more in the years to come and because it's right on the water and off the beaten path, it is just soooo peaceful.  The kids just loved it!

Port Discovery & Harry Potter

Because we hadn't done anything really fun with the kids as a family in a while, we decided to take the kids out to Port Discovery yesterday morning.  Spring most definitely needs to come and an afternoon of running around was needed.  I kept the secret from them until we pulled up in the parking garage and they were very excited.  Spent over 3 hours doing all kind of different stuff, climbing up the monstrous climbing structure, and exploring.  Caroline is my most tentative child in that she was the one who hesitated about climbing and going into the "spooky" exhibits.  Bryce is my avid climber and didn't let his fear of heights keep him from scaling all 3 floors of the climbing structure.  Piper jumped right on in too although needed more help due to her size.  Caroline finally realized it would be okay and joined us in climbing and was very proud of herself afterward.

We packed a lunch and took a break around 1pm to eat and then went back to exploring.  They loved the water room and had a great time in the Egyptian exhibit too.  I brought along our digital video camera and then mistakenly locked it in the locker after I just put a $1 into it so not wanting to plug another dollar in, left it in there and just enjoyed most of the time sans camera.  This little photo was snapped by Jason's phone near the end of the day.  Piper was hanging tough with the big kids until around 2pm when the lack of nap caught up with her and she threw a fit at the top of the climbing structure and wouldn't come out.  I had to carry her kicking and screaming out of a tight rope bridge where she lost a shoe and I had to retrieve it.  We also got separated from Bryce and that pretty much sealed the deal that it was time to go.  (He wasn't even aware we didn't know where he was and we knew he was somewhere in the climbing structure so it was only moderately worrisome and we found him quickly as soon as we realized he wasn't where we expected him to be.)

Piper crashed on the way home in minutes and napped the whole way home.  After dinner, Jason and Caroline decided it was time to finally watch the first Harry Potter movie.  Together they had been reading the first Harry Potter book and had finished it just a few days ago.  Even though my kids are easily frightened, we thought they would be okay with this one, especially since Caroline knew what was going to happen.  (She completely blew us away with how much she remembered from the book in terms of details like names of places, characters, etc. Reading Comprehension?  A+)  Bryce did pretty well although Jason covered his eyes when Voldemort came out of the back of Quirrell's head.  Piper only made it halfway through although paid more attention than I ever would have expected.  She was wiped up from a semi-nap and all the activity of the day.

When the movie was over, the kids were thrilled and ready for the next one, but I think we'll stick with making them read the books first.  Caroline admitted to a crush on Harry Potter and Bryce has been obsessively asking questions all morning about everything from Daniel Radcliffe's middle name to if there is really such thing as magic.  In fact, they're in watching it a second time already, so I'm guessing we've bred a new generation of Potter fans although the books get more complicated and scary so we'll see how quickly they progress.

Gnomeo & Juliet

On Saturday afternoon, I took the big kids to see Gnomeo & Juliet.  It's so rarely that they ask to see a movie that when they got all excited about this one, I knew we'd just have to go!  I initially wanted to take all 3 of them but upon finding out that the 2D version wasn't playing anywhere near us, I realized Piper would have to sit this one out as the 3D glasses are too big for her and just cause problems.  (My MIL found this out at Toy Story 3 this summer.)  I was also miffed because a 3D showing is a few bucks more a person vs. a matinee 2D showing. And to be honest, this movie does NOT need to be seen in 3D, but I digress...

Anyway, so we waited for Piper to get to naptime and then left.  We went to a smaller theater closer to the house and even for the 1pm show, it was pretty much empty.  The show started on time with only TWO trailers and no commercials - I couldn't believe it.  Both kids had no problems keeping their glasses on and totally loved the movie.  I liked the music, the way they threw in Shakespeare references from the real play, and the characters.  Definitely a cute movie but I would recommend either seeing in in 2D or waiting for the DVD as there is no reason you need to see it in 3D.

The kids went home in good moods and very excited about the outing.  I loved going to the movies as a kid and I'm pretty sure they feel the same way.

Holly Tour

On that nasty, rainy Sunday we just had, I decided to take the big kids to the annual Holly Tour down at the Ballestone-Stansbury House as I thought it would be a good way to get them out of the house for a bit and I've been wanting to take them for a few years as it was something I did as a kid with my family.  It wasn't very crowded, probably thanks to the rain, and we got to visit 4 rooms in the house and see them all decorated for the holiday in a variety of different time periods (Colonial, Federal, Victorian).  The house was built in the era of George Washington and when I asked the kids if they'd like to go, upon hearing the magic words "George Washington" they quickly agreed!  (I don't know why but they have some innate fascination with good old GW!) 

They really seemed to enjoy it and were sooooo good.  In fact, the staff person in each room took a moment to comment how good they were at standing and listening quietly while they told us about the room and what we were looking at.  I guess they are at just the right age for all this!  (My budding history buffs!)  Their favorite room, of course, was the separated kitchen where they got to sample some cookies and cider by the fire.  I only wish it hadn't been raining so I could have gotten a better photo out in front of the house that was decorated with wreaths, greens and ribbons.

After their interest and patience, I think a trip to Mt. Vernon is definitely in order when the weather gets nicer.  Oh and their stellar behavior out of the house meant a good old fight when we got home, so I guess they were just saving it up.  Typical kids, but at least I know I can take them out of the house and be proud, right?

ICE Recap

So we made the 2nd annual trip to National Harbor to see ICE! at the Gaylord National Hotel right outside of DC.  We had a great time last year, so we figured, more of the same, right?  Plus, this year my ILs, my SIL and her husband, along with her IL's joined us and my parents and my brother/SIL.  We bought the 3pm ICE tickets a few weeks ago and made the dinner reservations at the same time.  Everything seemed set for a good day!  Traffic on 295 was light the entire way and we made it down in record time. National Harbor was hopping when we got there but, it was last year too.

However, when we all got up to the ICE bubble/tent, something was different.  There was a HUGE long line of people.  I'm talking like 250-300 people, at least.  And no one was going inside.  There were no signs.  There were a few rude security guys who clearly thought they were quite important and trying to look the part of Secret Service types.  I asked one of them if this line was for people who already had their tickets and they said, yes, it was for the 3pm reservations.  WTH?  I couldn't believe how many people there were. There were some 3:30pm people mixed in too.  So around 3pm, they started telling people with 3pm reservations it was time - well the mob started moving toward the door.  Everyone in line was disgruntled.  Seriously, for $29/adult, you really deserve better service.  It seems most people actually already had their tickets in hand and were able to go right into the line.  Those of us that did will-call had to go in one line and then to the back of the line.  Lovely.  If you bought the tickets online and opted to have them sent to you, it was some ridiculous fee, whereas will-call was free.  Go figure.

Anyway, the LINE.  I will say, once we got into the tent, the staff was MUCH nicer and better informed.  However, what makes me angry about it was that it is set up to make you wait for at least an hour before you even get to go into the ICE.  Granted, I'm sure if you go at an off time, it's not as bad, but seriously, I can't believe that they would take that many reservations for these seemingly peak times.

We went last year on the same day and time and walked in.  Clearly, word has spread.

Anyway, so you go into this long Disney-esque line that loops you through some Dr. Seuss art exhibit and then through a few posters about how they made the ice.  The line did move fairly well, but when it's THAT LONG of a line, that's not something to brag about.  Plus, when you aren't anticipating a line that long, it's frustrating. (How do you give people a 3pm reservation knowing full well that they won't get into the exhibit until well after 4pm??)  Especially when this event is geared toward families - many of which have young children who don't give 2 shakes about some art on a wall.  My kids did pretty well, but we had a lot of people with us to help entertain them.  I saw many an unhappy child in those lines.  And if you have any family members that tire easily, this is a LONG time to remain standing as there is no place to sit or get out of the line and wait. 

Finally, after over an hour of waiting, we made it to the "parka pickup" and we all got garbed in our blue Gaylord parkas.  Some of our crew were saying they didn't know of they'd need the parkas.  After we got in there, they were very GLAD they had them.  So on with the show....

Once we made it into the exhibit, things were better.  Everyone perked up (how can you not perk up in 9 degrees?) and everyone enjoyed it.   The biggest laugh of the day was Piper in her parka.  They only come in a few sizes and the smallest size just grazed the ground when she walked and her hands didn't even come close to reaching the ends of the sleeves.  She looked like a penguin....the cutest penguin!  She didn't mind though - she didn't even seem to notice - she loved it!

Caroline & the Grinch



Piper in Whoville



Bryce made faces like this allllll day! He was so excited and just loved posing for the camera being as goofy as possible.



Look, I made it into the photos for once!



Watch out, mom, the Grinch will take your purse!



Jason in the ice cave

Hey, look a decent family shot! (I need to Photoshop it though.)

We all took a turn on the ice slides - even Piper, who got stuck mid-way down but managed to get down on her own.  My dad has some photos that I want to see of that since I was at the top.  Even Jason took a slide on the ice!

After the exhibit, we made our way over the the Gaylord to see the sights since our dinner reservation wasn't until 6pm.   The kids had a ball watching the jumping fountains and had snacks to tide them over.  Then we headed over to McLoone's Pierhouse for dinner.  The menu looked promising and we were hoping for a good meal.  However, many of us left somewhat unhappy with the food, so I'd highly advise that if you go to National Harbor to NOT visit McLoone's and try one of the many other restaurants.  The service was good but the food for several of us was over priced, especially for the quality. 

However, all in all it was a good day.  The kids told us what a good time they had and I know a lot of that had to do with the company we kept.  Plus, to them, once we got into the exhibit, they forgot all about the long wait.  (And even with Piper's random barfing incident in the Peeps store...more on that later!)

So if you're pondering a visit to see it, I highly recommend trying to go at a non-peak time and being aware of the long wait once you get inside.   We've done it for 2 years now and I doubt we'll be going back.  But there are so many other possible Christmas outings to be had, we don't want to do the same thing every year.