Our visit to Maryland - Part 1

It seems difficult for me to update the blog lately.  There are things that I've wanted to write about and just never have a chance between being busy and chronicling our fun and growth.  If I don't get to the post about 1st grade until Jackson is in 2nd grade, I wouldn't be surprised.

We had a wonderful trip to Maryland.  I was NOT excited about the drive because Grant is still not a cooperative driving companion.  However, we thought we would drive at night while the boys slept and stop for a few hours to sleep at a motel.  The following day we planned to wait until nap time and complete the trip.  Everything went well (except for the fact that our car has VERY little cargo space) the boys had fun watching movies and slept.  When it came time to stop Barrington decided that it wasn't necessary thanks to his big ego a couple doses of 5 Hour Energy.   We pulled up to my parents house at 4 am.

We had so much fun seeing our families and friends.  I was not, however, good at carrying my camera with me so I only have pictures from a few outings.  Some of the undocumented events were spending the first weekend with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim.   We had a fabulous Fourth of July with the Kelleys and Jacksons including the traditional a cook out and then to the University of Maryland for some fireworks.  (I am very proud that we haven't missed this event once since we moved away two years ago.  There is something so comforting about knowing that a few things will be relatively the same each year.)  I also bumped into at least 5 people that I hadn't seen in years (Rach, Chris and Carolyn - who was visiting from teaching in Afghanistan!, and Sherri to name a few).  It was great to catch up, if only briefly.   Barrington, then, went back to work and the boys and I started our mad and crazy visits.  We got together with our fabulous friends, Denise and Miriam and kids at Denise's new house in Columbia.  And got to meet Miriam's sweet new baby boy.  There were trips to at least six different pools!  This included taking the kids to one of the very first pools I worked at as a teenager AND seeing many old neighbors at a different pool.  I got to go out to dinner with my sweet friend Kelly.  We spent lots of time with the Jacksons and went to spend the day with  Alison and Karen (visiting from AZ) at Tammy's house up near Frederick.  

The second week was far more documented.  I knew that I wanted to bring my boys to play at the ocean during our visit.  Jackson is really the only one who remembers the beach which is sad to me because we used to go all the time when I was a kid.  So, I wanted them to experience the waves crashing and their feet getting buried in the sand if they stood on the waterline long enough.  We found a condo at Bethany Beach and my wonderful father decided to treat us!  My sister, Stephanie, decided to join us and drove us there in her enormous car, which was great since we had a lot of stuff!  (For some random reason she has a DVD screen in the front seat of her car, directed at the driver!  My father and I gave her a hard time about that...we can't even eat while driving in Troy, MI anymore!

 

 It was a perfect place.  There was a shuttle to the beach and we got the use of an oceanfront pool (which the kids LOVED).  This is a picture of Jackson and Luke waiting for the rest of us to leave for the beach.  Isn't it a pretty place?

We spent loads of time on the beach or at the pool.  We went to the boardwalk once to get some ice cream. It was my intention to spoil the kids and let them be free from my constant corrections.  I'm not sure how I did but I think they had a great time, after all, the beach trip was for them.   My father and sister were as patient as they could be considering we had different ideas of how to spend our time.

Luke adored the beach.  After his initial intimidation he wanted someone to hold his hand and stand with him at the edge of the water.  It seemed to me that he squealed with joy after every wave came in.  Jackson had fun trying boogie boarding and making enormous holes in the sand.  He also allowed us to bury him.  Grant loved the water and the sand.  The last day, we met up with the Jackson's (some of our favorite friends) who were spending the week at the beach.  It was fun to talk for a couple of hours since it would be the last time that we see each other for quite a while.  This beach trip made me realize that we must to start planning family vacations to the beach.  Even if it is just our little crew or we meet up with some friends, renting a beach house for a week is heaven and I'd like to start doing it every other year.

A side note:
(Blogger is being incredibly annoying and not allowing me to add text in between my pictures from this point on, for some reason.  So, I'm going to end with pictures from the beach and write another post about the last part of our trip.)

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