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.  

Paparazzi on the Golf Course

Thomas and I have had a couple of days to ourselves (thanks to my parents and my sis).  Thomas asked me to go golfing with him..... for the first time  in about 8 years.  I have to be honest, at first I wasn't very excited about watching him play 18 holes while I sat in the golf cart, but I actually had a lot of fun.  Maybe it was because I took about a zillion pictures of him, and without one complaint by the golfer.  He was very tolerant of the paparazzi.   Isn't he the cutest golfer you've ever seen?

Abbie, Bailey, and Noah turn 4!

Summer Days....

        

All Stars!!!

 Camden started the city wide All Star coach pitch tourney this week.  We really have a great group of boys this week and are going to make a run at the championship before the week is out.  Check back later in the week for updates.  He's having a blast...as evidenced by the picture below!  

The Mayfair Park International Blue Team...from the bottom left...John Calvin, Blake, Hayes, Jacob, Connor, Chandler...middle row from left....Preston, Camden, Owen, JD, Jake, & Stephen.

Camden's been playing first base for the first time this season but has handled it pretty well.  

His individual highlight of the tourney (so far!) was winning the home run derby contest.  Needless to say, he was pretty stoked about it.  The fact that the trophy was almost as big as he is didn't hurt.  Way to   go C-Buzz...we're proud of you!

Happy Father's Day!!!

VBS, basketball camp, and Bible Memory Challenge

 I'm trying to play a little catch-up with this post so it's a little bit of random.  VBS was awesome last week.  We were so glad that Joshua and Marah were able to come with us and they all had so much fun.  The next couple of pics are from basketball camp at church, which was terrific.  I wish it would have lasted longer because Scott Stapler from Alabama Basketball Academy was the guy who organized the camp and he is awesome!!  The last few pics are from the Bible Memory Challenge ceremony at church where they received their trophies for memorizing scripture for the year.  I'm so so proud of them for that accomplishment!!