Baltimore, D.C, and Family Fun

The Lincoln Memorial. This was one of the highlights for me.
I was really dissapointed this was under construction. Still a neat thing to see.
At the end of the day after walking, and walking and more walking. They were HUGE troopers.
Jane was a happy girl and even took her afternoon nap right on schedule.
Justin and Juma trying to recover from the miles and miles we covered.
Us. How often do you have a picture just the two of you. Thanks for the idea Sarah :)
Abe Lincoln himself. Two shots basically the same, but it's good to have proof that I am part of the family once in a while.

The Washington Monument
The whole clan.
The White House, like you needed the label.

I think this was a treasury or something? Too long ago...
The first night we went down to the pier to see the boats and cool stuff like that. It was obviously chilly.
The sign where we had dinner. You had to laugh.


This is one of the best pictures of the whole trip.
Anna at the Pier

The kids sitting on a HUGE Anchor






Part of the campus at Johns Hopkins, it was beautiful.

These two hit it off quickly and had a great time. Too bad we don't live a little closer.

This was outside the farmers market we walked too. I loved the brightly painted row houses.
Justin and Sarah's apartment. It was really cool with a awesome sun room out the double doors.
the "nice" part of Baltimore, or not ;)

In April we had the chance to go spend the weekend with Rand's sister Sarah and her husband Justin and son Juma. We don't get to see them very often and hadn't seen them since we moved East. None of us had ever been to Baltimore and so it was a fun trip. Baltimore was very different than I imagined it. Some parts were really sad and broken down and other parts very charming and inviting. It was interesting how immediately the vibe there was much more relaxed than around here. Ethan and Juma are just 2 months a part and really got along great, especially for how little time they have spent together over the years. We love it when Ethan has the chance to spend time with another boy his age because somehow it seems it is always girls, girls, girls not just home but everywhere we go.

Friday or Saturday night we went down to Inner Harbor. They had an old Navy ship (I think) and a "pirate ship" that was fun to see. It was just nice to get out and see around the down town area a little bit. We also ate at a great little neighborhood pizza place. One of the favorite pizza's was a pear with gorgonzola and a balsamic reduction sauce on it. It was delicious. Sad that I can remember everything about the food but not the sites.... Saturday morning we went to a local farmers market which is always fun. There were many different kind of booths like home made soaps, honey, soups, fresh mushrooms, buffalo jerky ( a hit with the kids), flowers etc. I love me a good farmers market. The one here in Summit is on Sunday mornings so we always miss it because of church.

Then we walked down to see Johns Hopkins University campus where Sarah is currently working on her PhD. It was a beautiful campus and it makes me reminiscent for my days at University of Michigan. Later we went to the harbor and the pizza place. It's all coming back to me now.

Sunday Sarah and Justin were kind enough to take us to D.C. even though it seems with every visitor they get they have to do the tour. We Randall and I very quickly realized the D.C. is not for larger families with small children. As soon as we found parking Kate had to go to the bathroom etc, etc. By the time we found a public restroom and made a bottle for Jane and fed and changed her and met up with Sarah and Justin at the Natural history museum they kids were already hungry for lunch. Typical. So Rand and I were in the museum long enough to walk in and take a picture and walk out to find a nearby hot dog stand. It was really fun to see all the historical and and iconic things like the White House, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial. It was pretty much a walk by quickly and say see, see, hurry see. But it was still totally worth while. The kids did amazing and walked forever without complaining. Needless to say we were all exhausted by the time we had to head home. On the way home I just happened to get a horrible migraine which never happens to me. I ended up throwing up in a big gulp cup for about the first 3 hours of the trip home. Needless to say other than the long and miserable trip home, we had a fabulous time with family, hurray!