Soooo Happy They Came!

At the end of April we had my mother and sister visit us...a long-awaited arrival! I never had to do any dishes while they were here:

First night: caught in the act

We celebrated Mom's birthday (Isaac helped blow out the sad-looking candle)

Mom got sick, but at least she had Isaac to snuggle with her.
And we got to play "drive through" at the Urgent Care while we waited. Then we played at Oregon Ridge Park...
Noah sat

And climbed

And kicked

And climbed

And slid

So did Noelle!

The next day was spent at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore

(we needed sunscreen)

We happened upon the Star Spangled Banner House first

Then we saw a sand artist. There was a big Carnival promotion party going on.

Aboard a submarine

Coming into one of the many chambers of the Torsk

Trying out the bunks (pretty tiny)

Playing with the controls

The Torsk sank three Japanese ships right at the end of WWII.

Pretty tough (arrrgh!)

Mom and the Torsk are the same age!

Noah with his new friend, Noelle.Aboard the USS Constellation ...

This was the last all-sail ship built by the US Navy, and it has quite an interesting history.

Personally, I think I'd sleep better on the Constellation than on the Torsk.To learn more, go to http://www.constellation.org/welcome_vid.html because I just can't casually tell it all.

With pirate sunglasses from the giftshop, Isaac's ready to cruise.

So...the Inner Harbor is a cool place.

Our Sunday walk...

We really live in a lovely area. Mom always notices the flowers and unique trees, hedges, and so forth.

Dandelions are fun, too.

My beautiful sister, Noelle.

Singing together (a must)

Hey everybody, Mom's a senior now! We spent Monday in D. C.

On the Metro (a lot that day)

After a picnic, the boys and I went to the zoo while Mom and Noelle went to the Holocaust Museum (as well as other museums and monuments).

We saw LOTS of animals...surprising for such a hot day.

The flamingos were fun.

The hippo was just coming in for a snack (HAND-FED!), so it was perfect timing.

It was so fun to see Noah notice and enjoy nearly everything!

Tuesday we sort of took it easy. We stayed local and saw Fort McHenry.

Isaac and Noah each got prizes from Grandma--one each day she was here. One of those prizes was a kite, so we took it to the fort grounds.

Noah REALLY likes balls. He was in heaven with all the cannonballs we saw.

"a bowel!"

"bowel!"

Noah didn't want to come down from the embankment...

Some students from California were there, so we got to benefit from their learning demonstrations. Noelle had just seen the original Star Spangled Banner at the Museum of American History the day before. She knows everything there is to know about it now!

We had to be REALLY persuasive to tear Noah away.

I'm pretty sure he said ball! at least 593 times.

Cannons are interesting, too.

"Cool!"On the way home we stopped at an art/philosophy museum so we could see anything we didn't have to pay for...

You can go inside this nifty tree building

And have a seat.

And spy on people

Back at home, there was some quality Grandma time spent. It was nice to just relax between excursions.

The last day we went to --

Unfortunately, no pictures were taken that could even come close to describe the things we learned there. The movie was excellent; the cyclorama was reported to have made veterans of this battle weep when they saw it; and the museum was very very interesting.

It was disappointing to see so few young people there. Especially because so many of the people who fought there, suffered there and/or died there were very young. What a different world it is today!

I confess, I would hate to hear of either of my boys having to be put in harm's way or being asked to kill another human being. "Hate" is too weak; it would kill me to know of such a thing. But at least they can learn something about our history.

We had such a great time with Mom and Noelle...we immediately missed them afterward!

Okay, who's coming to see us next? I know the Maxfields are coming, and we're SO EXCITED...!