Craziness at our house!

Life has been a little crazy at our house this summer.  We sold our house so it pretty much looks like a tornado has hit us from all the packing.  With school starting in a couple of weeks, and our 10 year anniversary vacation coming up in about 10 days...things are hectic.

I needed to take a little time off doing something I love...taking pictures.  I did bribe Caley with 2 popsicles to let me take a few of her.

DC - The Conclusion

The first day of our DC experience began with a couple of museum visits.  We spent the first part of the day visiting the Archives.  Even though it didn't mean a whole lot to them, we wanted the kids to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  After that, we moved on to the Museum of Natural History.  The kids were excited about this one because they had seen it on Night at the Museum II.  We wrapped up the day with a nighttime tour of the monuments via trolley.  This was a lot of fun and was a great way to see a lot in a few hours while getting some narration along the way.  Here are some pics from our first day.

The Washington Monument...

Museum of Natural History

Dum-Dum...from Night at the Museum.  This was the kids' favorite part.

Riding the Metro...the kids thought this was a blast.  

On our tour...

The World War II Monument...Wow!  If you've never been there, it's absolutely amazing.  It certainly makes you appreciate many of the sacrifices that have been made on our behalf.  

The Capitol...this was actually taken from our balcony.

Jefferson Memorial

Lincoln Memorial...I still can't get over the enormity of these monuments.  The architecture is amazing.  

Abe

Marine Memorial...the scene at Iwo Jima

On Saturday we took in our second game of the trip...Nationals vs. Mets.  We have a pretty neat connection to the Nationals - I graduated high school with Josh Willingham, the starting left fielder for the Nationals.  He's a great player and is having a fantastic season...he's an even better person.  As you can see, the boys were decked out in their Willingham gear.  

Taking in batting practice...

In the kid zone before the game...

Teddy...

The fam...

Our seats were out in left, so I was able to get these shots of Josh...

After the game, Josh and his wife Ginger (and two boys) were kind enough to invite us out for dinner.  My cuz, Amy, was in town to visit them for a few days so we all got to spend some time together.  We had a great time, and of course, the boys thought it was pretty cool to hang out with a guy in the Bigs.  They're planning to be the starting pitcher and catcher for some lucky MLB team in about 15 years.    

Strasburg...the Phenom.

On our final day (Camden's 8th Birthday and July 4th), we spent time following church at the National Zoo.  Let's just say...it was hot.  

Notice the two pictures below...any resemblance???

Three more monkeys!

We wrapped up the day with the DC fireworks.  It was definitely neat to be in our Nation's capital for Independence Day.  I'm very thankful we were able to take the kids....hopefully they'll remember these trips and the memories we continue to make as a family.  

Road Trip to D.C. PART 1 (Baltimore)

The first leg of our mid-summer road trip (after 12 hours in the car over 2 days) was the city of Baltimore.  Some of you may know that Thomas and I lived there for 4 months way back in the day of being Newlyweds.  We have fond memories of our time there, and this was our first time back since we left in 2001.  There was a feeling of nostalgia being back in the city.  We started the day with a behind the scenes tour of Camden Yards (and yes, this is exactly where we got the name Camden).  The tour was amazing (at least for Thomas)!  If you're a baseball fan at all, you probably know that this is toward the top of the list for favorite major league parks. 

At the ticket window...

With our tour guide...this was an older gentleman who retired after 35 years with the Baltimore Gas Company...he's since been working for the Orioles 9 years giving tours.  Should we ever get filthy rich by accident, Thomas has found his dream job. 

Checking out the park...

View from the field...

The warehouse as the backdrop.  This was originally built in the early 1900's.  Anybody wanna guess how many home runs have hit the warehouse in game play?  

In the dugout...

After the tour we took in the sights and sounds of the Inner Harbor.  After the kids backed out of our planned Pirate cruise, they settled for paddleboats instead.  

We ended the day with the game - Orioles vs. A's.  75 degrees and sunny at a beautiful ballpark...couldn't have asked for a better end to a great Day 1.