Aunt Sharon and Uncle Tom!

On the way home from Michigan each summer we stop at my Aunt Sharon's and Uncle Tom's house for an all too brief but most pleasant visit. Aunt Sharon is my dad's mom's sister, and since I don't know my dad's mom too well, and since my grandmother on my mom's side is dead, she's the closest thing I have to a grandma. Lucky for me, she's an amazing substitute.

Aunt Sharon has these two bears that stand about as tall as Jacob. Her sister sews various outfits (many of which are seasonal) for the bears. Hannah took an immediate liking to the bears so Aunt Sharon got out their box of clothes. Hannah dressed up the bears, and then she dress herself in the witch costume prior to posing for this picture.

Meanwhile, Jacob followed Uncle Tom to the garden where he scored a giant tomato that he was busy devouring during photo time.

It's not often we have someone else to man the camera so we took advantage of the opportunity for a family shot, and then we bid adieu and hit the road. Until next year!

Flipadelphia!

We took a weekend family trip to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania at the beginning of the month for a wedding and stopped off in Philly on the way home. I hadn't taken the time to plan the trip terribly well so we just parked in Old City and walked around fairly aimlessly until my friend Adam showed up and led us to a yummy Indian lunch buffet. Prior to that Eric had picked up tickets to tour Independence Hall (the building behind Hannah in the picture below). I learned a few things, like that back in the day, the person on trial actually had to stand and that's why we say "standing trial." The The highlight of that tour happened at the very beginning when our tour group was seated around a painting of the Constitutional Convention. The park ranger had just finished talking to us about the convention and the room where it took place (which she led us to next) and asked the group if we had any questions. Hannah, standing on her chair in the back row, raised her hand, and when the ranger acknowledged her, she said, "Um, what's that frame made of? Wood?" The ranger smiled and said she thought so, and Hannah replied that it looked like gold too. I love her.

Edited May 11:
I was shuffling through pictures on my phone and found two more pics from Philly.

Here's one of Hannah and Grammy in front of the Irish memorial.

And here's one of super dad carrying both his kids on his back.

Sand snacking and other things to do while visiting Ocean City with the family

I forcibly peeled myself from Orange is the New Black tonight which Eric and I have been watching obsessively for the last week so I can finish this post which I started right before I got sucked into the awesomeness of ONB (an acronym that Eric made up and is desperately trying to make stick, but so far it's not quite working).

We planned this year's vacation all the way back in February when Jacob was still in utero. I knew that if I didn't have something locked down, I'd probably chicken out of traveling with a baby and we'd end up going nowhere. Priorities this year were to keep it close and cheap. We weren't sure how he'd do in the car at that time so close was necessary for our nerves, and our constant quest for a house with a yard has us pinching pennies. Ocean City met that criteria! I was hoping to find something in Bethany or one of the quieter Delaware beaches, but for $100/night, we ended up with a really nice condo on 5th Street bay side. I was dubious about staying right in the middle of everything with two kids, and to be honest, I don't think we'll do it again, but the place was really nice and the owners were incredibly thoughtful and helpful so who knows.

Eric took off the week before vacation and by Wednesday we were itching to get out of town so we called the FSK Family resort and booked a room for Thursday and Friday night. Let the record show that this trip was the most kitschy vacation ever. We did all the quintessential Ocean City stuff. It was fun, but we don't intend to do it anything like this in future years. The resort had an indoor pool and an outdoor pirate ship sprayground (made that word up; it works through, right?) that kept Hannah thoroughly entertained.

We drove to Assateague on Friday and spent the day soaking up the rays and saturating ourselves in sand.

Jacob refused to nap on the blanket so when exhaustion turned him into a cranky bear I tucked him into the baby carrier and walked the beach while he slept. I also trekked back to the car to get Eric's boogie board, and he insisted on taking a picture of me when I returned. Alas, I am not not that cool. I did not ride that boogie board. I didn't even get in to the ocean past my knees...but I would have if it weren't so cold!!! I'm not 10 on the fun scale, but I'm not a total stick in the mud, not unless it's cold anyway. No fun is ever worth me being cold for.

Jacob LOVED the sand. I sat him down in it and Hannah buried his feet while he wiggled his toes and grabbed handfuls of it, all the while looking seriously perplexed. A few days later he ended up eating quite a bit of it in spite of me watching him like a hawk. I don't know how much he ate, but it was coming out in his diapers, and he spent much of that night crying as it worked its way through his digestive system.

When I was growing up we went to Ocean City pretty much every year. My mom had to save all year long to make it happen, but she managed. We'd stay in a motel with a mini fridge so we could keep orange juice and lunch meat cool. We spent all day every day at the beach, eating breakfast and lunch from our cooler. We didn't need anything else, but this one time there was a little extra money for whatever reason so we went to Frontier Town. I have memories of having my face shaved with a pretend straight razor in an old-fashioned saloon, riding a pony (the only time I rode a horse until I was an adult), and watching some Native American dancing. They're nice memories, so on Saturday, after checking out of the hotel and before checking into our condo, we took Hannah to Frontier Town.

This turned out to be a not-so-great idea. It's the pretend wild west and in the pretend wild west there are pretend gun fights. We sat down to watch a show, and my jaw dropped as one actor stumbled out with a bottle feigning drunkeness and then started firing shots at the sheriff which started an enormous shoot out. I looked at Hannah's wide eyes, raised my eyebrows at Eric, and shuffled the family off discreetly as soon as I could to areas outside the "town" where we couldn't see the show. She rode a pony, shopped at the general store, rode the train (which gets pretend robbed by some less-than talented actors), rode the carriage (which also gets pretend robbed), rode the paddle boats, mined for goal, got her face painted at the Native American camp, and shot a bow and arrow. Then we had a disgusting lunch at the saloon during which another and much more violent show started. We hurriedly finished and skirted out of there walking behind the buildings to avoid the guns.

I spent the rest of the day reminding Hannah that guns are not toys, and that I do not approve of shows like that.

We checked into the condo that afternoon and Grammy and Winnie met us there a few hours later.

It rained all day Sunday. In the morning Eric and I left the kids with Grammy and headed to the grocery store. These days, a trip to the grocery store without kids is considered a date. We held hands in the parking lot.

That afternoon we braved the crowds at the indoor mini golf place, and Eric and I duked it out on the greens. I was ahead until I wasted 7 puts on one hole at which point Eric seized the lead and won by 2 points.

Since we didn't end up getting the house we'd put in an offer for at the beginning of the month, we decided not to stress about money while on vacation, and to do every little thing that we thought sounded fun. By this point in the vacation, we were well on our way, but it gets better.

On Monday morning while Jacob napped, Eric and I took Hannah for a ride on one of those two-person bikes. We rode down the boardwalk from end to end taking note of places we wanted to revisit (Hannah set her sights on the Haunted House and talked about it relentlessly).

Monday was cloudy but no rain and not too hot: perfect beach day in my opinion. Grammy came with us, and we juggled the baby between the three of us and tried to keep Hannah from covering the blanket in sand.

We took advantage of having an extra set of hands and had Grammy take a rare family photo.

She took the next few pictures with her camera.

Photo courtesy of Grammy

Photo courtesy of Grammy

Photo courtesy of Grammy

Photo courtesy of Grammy

At one point we left Grammy on the beach with both kids (the baby was napping on her shoulder), and Eric and I went on mini date number 2: destination Thrashers french fries. When we got back, Grammy took Hannah to the boardwalk and bought her the dress she's wearing in the next picture.

Photo courtesy of Grammy

I don't know where this kid learned to pose like that. We don't have magazines in the house except a few old, unread issues of Whole Living. Is the media that hard to escape???

On Tuesday we did something that I had always wanted to do and that I was dying to share with Hannah: the Jolly Roger water park. Who doesn't love a water slide? I'd been planning this for months, and it's the main reason we recruited Grammy to join us for a few days. Unfortunately, we were a year too early. Aside from the kiddie section which Hannah was not a fan of because it sprayed, splashed, dropped, and poured water all over you the whole way from the ground up to all of the slides, the other slides required a minimum height of 42 inches. Hannah is 41 1/2. It was a hot day outside of the park, but breezy inside, and although she liked the first water slide she got on, she was freezing from getting soaked on the way up and refused to endure that soaking again. We snuck her onto one four-person ride (picked up a random kid to join us who was also part of a party of three), but really, we shouldn't have. She loved it, but she really was too small, and it wasn't safe even though Eric and I each clasped a wrist.

Since she couldn't ride much and since neither Eric or I wanted to stand in any of the lines alone, we took Hannah back to the condo after a couple of hours, I nursed Jacob, and then we headed back to the park where we had our third and final mini date of the trip. We ran all over that water park and got on just about every water slide in the place, moving through each methodically the way we worked our way through all the trails in Zion so many years ago, then we went back to the condo, picked up the family, and headed out for a seafood buffet dinner--another Ocean City must.

Grammy left on Wednesday morning, and we spent most of the rest of the week on the beach.

LOVED this Go Pod that our next door neighbors gave us for Jacob to sit in!

On Thursday afternoon we walked down to the pier to let Hannah ride the rides at the Jolly Roger amusement park. Jacob and I stood by watching. He's obviously too little, and I don't do rides due to my extreme inability to be on anything that moves as fast as or faster than an elevator.

We  spent our last day at the beach, and I decided that next year, we most definitely need to be able to fork out the extra cash on a place that is actually on the beach because schlepping back and forth multiple times a day with all that stuff and all these children is exhausting. If Jacob would have napped on the beach, it'd have been easier, but since he wouldn't, I walked back and forth from beach to condo all day, and I don't know if you've held him lately, but he's heavy. He's gotta be 20 pounds by now. I wear him in the carrier almost constantly because he's too heavy to carry any other way, so I ended up with him on my front and my backpack on my backpack walking the four blocks to the beach four times a day, and by the end of the day, my shoulders and neck and back were screaming at me, and I was farther from relaxation than when the trip started.

The only thing I wanted to do, the only thing I ever want to do--in other words, all that I want out of life--is to sit in my beach chair, dig my toes into the sand, and read my book while the waves crash in the background and the wind blows through my hair. Fantasy unfulfilled. If we were beach side, at least when Jacob was napping I could have sat on a balcony or porch or something and read on the beach. I could even tap in Eric and let him sit around and read while I played with Hannah. Instead, I spent most of the time straightening up the condo and reading there while Eric jumped waves and built sandcastles with Hannah.

Still a nice trip, and I'm grateful that we got to go, but I see room for improvement, for a simpler, more relaxing vacation, and I can't wait to execute it!

Under the orangutans at the DC Zoo

DC zoo!! Woohooo! Eric finally got a break from work mid-August so we hightailed it to DC to visit Amy and see her sweet new digs! After touring her apartment and watching Hannah open more birthday presents (including this awesome book that we are loving), we trekked over to the zoo and walked right in because the DC zoo is FREE! That's so sweet.

Amy and Hannah hopped in the letters out front and Eric photo-bombed from the back. And I somehow managed to cut off part of the "z"...as if getting the subject inside the view finder is terribly difficult.

These photos (along with the fact that I'm losing tons of hair from breastfeeding) are the reason I cut a significant amount of my hair off. I'm not sure what I was thinking slicking my hair back in a ponytail like that. Sheesh.

Hannah has been complaining about walking lately; I think she's jealous of her brother getting to ride in the stroller and the baby carrier. Anyway, I let her ride in the baby carrier for as long as I could manage, and she got a big kick out of that.

The orangutans commuting to school were the highlight of the day. They climbed up the tower in their yard and then climbed across those ropes over the walkways and trees until they got to the think tank. It was so cool!

After a few hours we found a shady place to sit so I could try to nurse Jacob who pretty much boycotts the boobs while we're out and about, but I managed to get him to eat a little, enough to tide him over until we were back home and could lay down in bed and let him nurse in style. This is where he's high maintenance. He'd rather starve himself than eat in public while sitting up. Amy and Hannah rode the carousel while I tried to force feed him.

The DC zoo is beautiful with these huge, gorgeous habitats and a ton of interesting animals, like Amy's favorite, the sloth bear, an adorable animal that I'd never even heard of. We had an awesome, albeit exhausting day and look forward to future visits to the zoo to see all the new babies that keep being born!

Another trip to DC

Hannah was off school for Yom Kippur so her and I took the train to DC that Wednesday to visit Amy and the museums, starting with the Air and Space Museum. We weren't sure Hannah would be interested in much there, but we gave it a go anyway. They have a whole kid section that we hit up first, and Hannah enjoyed running around pushing the buttons and test-driving the plane. She didn't get any of the science experiments that were linked to the button pushing, but then again, neither did I.

We walked around for a bit looking at the planes and shuttles and tried to figure out how astronauts poop in space. Hannah had to poop while we were there and while she was going, this thought occurred to her. I have talked to her about gravity but I don't think she really grasps that so my guess is that her question had more to do with "where's the bathroom" than "how do they poop." We walked through the model shuttle but couldn't see the bathroom. We never did find an answer to our question...

We walked around the gift shop next and Hannah picked out a space kitty and refused to put it down no matter how many interesting things I handed her. It's not that I'm opposed to this astronaut Hello Kitty doll, it's just that we have stuffed animals out the wazoo, and there are only so many that can be snuggled at a time. I'd love for her to have toys that she can do something with other than snuggle and cuddle. I found two books that looked really good, You Can't Do that Amelia! and Violet the Pilot. Neither were more exciting than the kitty though, so I gave up, bought her the kitty, and added those books to my Amazon wish list.

After the Air and Space Museum we walked over to the sculpture garden, ordered lunch at the cafe, and hung out near the fountain.

After lunch we went into the National Gallery of Art. 

We scoped out the dancer paintings they had by Degas and then realized that if we wanted to chill out in front of an Imax, we needed to book it over the National History museum. I was hoping to see the polar bear movie, but the only one that fit our window was the one about the coral reef. It was a good one. Next time I want to see the butterfly one! It wasn't released yet when we were there.

Speaking of butterflies, after the Imax, we checked out the gemstones and then went to the butterfly garden, even though we went there the last time we visited DC. It's so cool that we can't get enough. I heard that there is an even bigger and better butterfly garden somewhere in the DC area. When I Google it, the only thing that comes up is Brookside Gardens in Bethesda. My guess is that this is the place, but there's a thing on the website that says the Wings of Fancy Live Butterfly exhibit ended in September....so it looks like we missed it, but it also lists a butterfly garden in their list of gardens, so who knows, maybe there's always some sort of butterfly garden there. If anybody reading this knows anything about this place, leave a comment please!

In the meantime, the little garden in the museum is nice. Hannah sat very still hoping one would land on her.

The woman working there kept bringing one over and trying to get it to stay on her shirt, but they all fluttered away upon landing.

All except the green one, it stuck around for a while. These butterflies must be chill because it's the same one that landed on me last time we were there.

When Hannah got tired of it, she shooed it away, and we left. We checked out the model of the giant snake built based on the bones they found to the biggest snake ever, then swung through the dinosaur bones exhibit before heading back to Union Station.

We kept a pretty leisurely pace the whole day (except when we were running to catch the Imax), but we still covered a lot of ground and were totally exhausted by the end of the day and stayed that way for the next two days. I suppose exhaustion is a natural result of a really fun day.

End of summer beach days

Biggest blogging foul ever--I totally deleted this post and now I have to recreate it. What the heck!! Who has time for that??? I'm already behind...I hope when I re-post this it posts in its proper place and doesn't jump to the top as the most recent. Sheesh. All I did was click the edit button and then attempt to add a "t" to the end of "firs" in the sentence that introduced this "first" picture. When I added the t, the entire post disappeared. I frantically hit control z to undo it, but nothing. Then I tried to "revert to saved," but the button changed to "save" and voila, post gone. Blank page saved.

I'm not going to try to remember what I wrote because I'm tired and that would make this even more stressful than it already is. We'll have to rely on memories to recreate this one for Hannah when she's older. Fortunately, with four of us adults there, it should be easy to piece the whole thing together.

The basics: end of trip to Sandbridge, Virginia, a beach just south of Virginia Beach that is referred to locally as the start of the Outerbanks. The outcome: awesome. The journey in pics:


Boogie boarding with daddy first thing.

Lots of sandcastle building.

Wave hopping with daddy.

Snuggling in the surf with daddy.

Massaging a wonderful sand pack into Uncle Joel's shoulders.

 Rolling in the sand. It was impossible to keep this kid sunblocked because if she wasn't in the water, which is where she was most of the time, she was rolling in the sand.

Playing with Reagan in the sand (friends who live in the area who made it out to the beach to play two of the days we were there).

Running on the beach with Amy (our day 2, Amy's day 1).

Sandcastle architecture with Uncle Joel.

A buried mommy with a pregnant belly and giant pregnant hooters to match.

 

Playing in the water with Amy and Joel

Our house was awesome, minus the fact that the cord to the toaster burned up when I tried to plug it in and the bathroom light could only be turned off by hitting the light plate repeatedly. It was on the back part of the island, farthest from the beach (which means two streets away), tucked into this wooded lot that backed up to a lake.

The view from the back porch.

After long days in the sun at the beach, we all enjoyed some time fishing out back, until the last night anyway when the water moccasins came and scared Eric and Joel into the house.

As usual, Hannah befriended the bait.

The quintessential way for native Marylanders to celebrate summer is with a bushel of steamed crabs. I'm native, but my parents aren't so this is something I grew up doing with my friends, but not with my family. As such, I'm an okay crab picker, but not the best. This was Hannah's first crab feast. She loved it.

It started pouring rain on our way back with the crabs so we set up our picnic at the table underneath the house and watched the rain come down while we picked.

The yard was gorgeous when the sun returned.

 And it was full of huge puddles, perfect for hopping in with Uncle Joel.

After crabs, Hannah caught her first trout.

And then they showed me this super dangerous rope swing that they had found earlier in the day by trespassing across the neighbors' yards. I freaked out about her not wearing a life jacket and swinging that far out over a lake that deep and infested with water moccasins. Eric seemed to think it was perfectly safe, but this was before he realized just how many water moccasins were in that lake so maybe now he'd sing a different tune (seeing the few that we already had up to that point was enough for me to conclude that it was infested).

Snuggle fest with Amy and Joel.

Surveying the waves on our last full day at the beach.

Looking for shells with Amy.

Decorating castles with Amy and the daughters of our friends who made it back out that day.

This is currently in the running for "all time favorite pic of Hannah."

We took one final walk on the beach before driving away on our last day. Hannah took Lila and let her get her feet sandy.

We attempted a few family pics. I can't pick my favorite of Amy and Joel...they're both pretty similar.

This friendship goes waaaaaaaay back. I'm talking more than 15 years...

Hannah screamed bloody murder about having her picture taken, then when I posed with Amy and not her, she screamed about not being included. As a result of constant screaming, our family pic did not work out the way that I'd hoped it would...but here we are after a super fun and happy half-week at the beach!

The writing on this version was definitely half-assed, but it's the best effort I'm willing to put forth at this point. I am so mad at Blogger for deleting my post so cavalierly an then refusing to give it back!! Ugh!