More Baltimore

While in Baltimore, we visited a friend of ours from freshman year of college at BYU. Ben Pacini lived on the same floor of the dorm as Mckay and they became really good friends. Ben lives in Baltimore now and it was really great to catch up and meet his wife and son. We decided to meet downtown one day for lunch at a Thai restaurant. This was supposed to be the best Thai food in town but, unfortunately we never got to taste the food. Shortly after being seated, we were told that there was a gas leak in the kitchen and they would have to close for the day. Still craving Thai food, we made a plan B. A nice couple the next table over told us about their second favorite Thai restaurant that was only a few blocks away. We walked over there only to find a sign on the door.

"Sorry, we are closed today." Mckay was not impressed.

We settled on a nearby Chipotle. Not Thai, but still tasty.

Ben teaches middle school math in inner city Baltimore, so he gave us a little driving tour of the neighborhoods surrounding his school. It was very humbling to see some of the living conditions that his students are in and hear stories of the challenges they face.

Later in the trip, we went to Ben's house and the 3 little boys had a blast playing together.

 

They were all singing, screaming, yelling and dancing, each in their own world. It was great dinner entertainment.

***

We had to do a paddle boat tour of the Baltimore inner harbor. At the rental place, the boat choices were a regular paddle boat or a "Chessie" monster paddle boat. Can you guess which one we choose?

The Chessie boat was more enclosed and had safer seats for the kids, so our choice was strictly safety related. It had nothing to do with the boys wanting the cool looking boat...

This wasn't explained to us at all at the harbor, but since coming home and looking it up, I've discovered the meaning behind the boat name. "Scotland may have its "Nessie" but only at the Inner Harbor will you spot a Chasapeake Bay 'Chessie' Monster." (From the paddleboat website)

Connor loved it so much he could hardly keep his eyes open.

We got to paddle around the harbor for 30 minutes. 

It was a very small roped off area, so 30 minutes was plenty of time.

(Another group in a Chessie boat)

Our next stop was Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner during the War of 1812.

(Technically, Key was not at the fort when the events detailed in the song took place. He was being detained on a British ship at the time. Fun fact for you...)

It was a cloudy cool day and we used public transportation to get around that day. The bus drops off right at the gates to Fort McHenry, with a short 1/4 mile walk to the Visitors Center from there. Rain came pouring down as soon as we got off the bus so that by the time we made the short walk to the visitors center, we were soaked. We looked around the little museum and watched a short movie while we waited for our clothes to dry a bit. The rain let up eventually and we walked the rest of the way out to the fort.

We explored all the dark, musty storage rooms.

And we only had to lock up the boys once.

  

It was really interesting to learn/relearn about our nation's history. And thanks to the National Park Service creating the Access Pass, people with a permanent disability (e.g. Dallin) can get a lifetime pass to visit all the national parks for free. The National Parks are even cooler when they're free.

(Pass information found HERE)

Since Washington D.C. is only an hour from Baltimore, we planned a little extra time after Mckay's conference to visit DC. More on that to come...

Baltimore or bust!

In June, Mckay presented at a conference in Baltimore. Like we did for the same conference one year ago in Minnesota, we decided that the whole family should come along and we'd make a little vacation/road trip out of it.

The morning we left Indiana, we pulled the boys straight out of bed and put them into the car. We threw them a pancake to eat and began driving.

(Cheetos must be our favorite road trip snack.)

Connor looks like he's still waking up.

The 10 hour drive was great. I didn't realize how green and tree-filled the east is. We drove on some highways with gorgeous views.

We stopped to eat dinner about an hour outside Baltimore. Can you guess where we ate?

Cafe Rio!!!

I haven't been to a Cafe Rio in 4 years and it tasted just as good as I remembered. Now that our children are getting old enough to require their own meal when we eat out, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they offered a free kids quesadilla (to kids 6 and under-maybe?). It's a simple corn tortilla with cheese on it, but that's all our kids would have eaten anyway. 

 On Sunday (Father's Day), we went to a nearby church. Mckay was very disappointing that it was stake conference for this ward and we didn't get to hear any talks about fathers. We relaxed at the hotel, drove around a bit and went to see the Washington DC temple grounds and visitor center.

I'm always amazed at how much effort goes into landscaping/maintaining the temple grounds. It is a wonderful, beautiful place.

The rest of the week, while Mckay was at the conference, we went to see fun things around Baltimore. I found this really cool library not far from downtown that has a really interesting children's area called Storyville. It's essentially a small, free children's museum contained within the library that has lots of fun activities for the kids with a big emphasis on literacy. They request no electronic usage (except for cameras) so that parents stay engaged with their children while they explore/learn.

Connor took care of diapering the babies and doing the laundry while Dallin "cooked" in the play kitchen.

Next we visited the construction site where there were lots of puzzles and building toys.

Near each station/section in the library is a shelf of books with topics related to that particular area. I was semi-proud that we were already familiar with most of the books in the construction section and that Connor could recite most of them along with me. I guess our local library is not to shabby either...

I did a puppet show with the two boys about the three little pigs and the wolf. Here is their retelling of the story:

script from the show:

Dallin (wolf): (prolonged knocking at the door) Hi, can I play at your house?

Connor (pig): Can I play at your house?

Dallin (wolf): I want to blow your house... (Blowing sounds)

(all the puppets fall down)

Roles switched:

New script:

Connor (wolf): Little pig, let me in!

(blowing sounds)

Dallin (pig): Can I play at your house? Please, I want to play at your house!

(fighting with puppets)

Somehow they think this story is about playing at a friend's house...

There was a fishing/wildlife area. 

And a grocery store.

I know it's video overload, but I loved watching them check out their own groceries.

I guess they are learning and picking up a lot from their surroundings, even at the grocery store.

After the library, I drove back to downtown, getting lost several times along the way. We finally found our way to the harbor.

We walked around for a while and waited for Mckay to be finished for the day, then joined him and his colleagues for dinner. Dinner was great until Connor threw up on me. We left quickly after and I got lost once again walking back to the parking garage. It was a fun day, but at the end of it, I was very glad to be back at our hotel.

Strawberries and hiking

Last month we went to a local farm to pick strawberries!

The field was a little damp/muddy from rain the day before so we wore boots and prepared to get dirty.

The beautiful strawberries were all bright red, sweet and juicy. 

Connor and Dallin helped pick for a few minutes and then they just watched me pick the rest. Thanks, guys. The farmers gives you an orange flag so you can mark where you left off picking on your row for the convenience of the next picker. Dallin took care of holding the flag for us.

Connor took pictures for me. I'll spare you from most of the finger covered shots he took of other people picking with butts in the air. Here are his two best pictures: 

Not bad. 

We picked 6 pounds of strawberries. That was more than enough for snacking and making a lot of strawberry freezer jam.

Later that week, we went on a little hike with some friends at the nearby State Park.

Connor and his 2-year-old girl buddy held hands on the walk.

 Then Dallin and his 5-year-old girl buddy decided to join in the hand holding.

They tried walking with hands held in a circle, "Ring-around-the-rosie" style, but that proved very difficult for them.

So they finally settled on holding hands in a line. 

 Our friends will be moving in a few weeks, so we've been soaking up all the fun time we can get with them. We've really enjoyed getting to know their family these 4 years that we've lived here.

Walk for Williams 2014

In May, I organized a Walk for Williams in Indiana to raise awareness for Williams Syndrome. We've been to several walks before, and even helped to plan one two years ago, but this year it was all organized by me. Well, me AND Mckay. There is no way that I would have been able to get it all done without him. He helped me plan it all out, we bounced ideas off each other, he was my "muscle" with setting everything up at the event, and he walked/ran the walk route several times to plan out the walk path and put up signs.

In addition to the actual one mile walk at the park, our event included a silent auction. I have several amazing, creative friends who donated handmade craft items to the auction.

Skirts, hair bows, artwork, a quilt, a tote bag, and felt food. Can you guess what I made? Yep, I love felt food a little too much.

 My aunt Stephanie works for Ulta Beauty and she sent some donated beauty products for the auction.

It was the best smelling package I've ever received.

The other fundraising part of the walk was selling tickets to carnival games. That meant we needed to get some carnival games. So Mckay made them.

Skee ball and Plinko.

Yeah, he's pretty amazing.

The prizes for the games were donated by several  businesses.

Coupons for free appetizers, drinks, breadsticks, movie popcorn, family video rentals, and pizzas. 

The days before the walk were really rainy and cold. I was worried about the weather, but it ended up being a beautiful day. It was a little cool in the morning as we were setting up, but the weather was very pleasant.

A photographer in the area donated her time and skills to take pictures at the walk. Kim Davis did an amazing job. All these pictures below were taken by her. (If you ever need a photographer in the Lafayette area...)

 At the registration table

I can't remember what we were excited about here, but we were having a good time. My wonderful friend Nicole helped with registration. (She did so much more than that. She brought us dinner a few times the week before the walk because she knew how busy we were. She came over the day before the walk to help with all the last minute things, including an 11pm run to the grocery store for last minute food items for the walk. And when the walk required me to be in two places at once, she became my clone and did anything I needed her to do for me. Seriously, such a good friend.)

 Silent auction table

Dallin and Kendal (5, WS) are buddies. I love that they're holding hands here.

Mckay and another WS dad leading the walkers.

I made signs to put along the walk pathway.

Mckay, inspiring the crowd.

Dallin's preschool teacher came to the walk. It was great to see how many of our friends came to support the walk.

The two oldest participants with WS.

This is Amy. She is such a wonderful person. She is very friendly and genuine. I'm pretty sure she personally introduced herself to all 100+ people at the walk.

James, a very handsome young man.

 At the end of the walk path, we had lunch waiting.

Jimmy Johns donated sub sandwiches. We also had bagels from Panera. Bottled water and apples were donated by two grocery stores (Kroger and Marsh). And Texas Roadhouse donated rolls. With the cinnamon butter. DE-licious!

People ate and listened to live music provided by Friends n' Stuff.

Then we began the games.

The missionaries in our ward volunteered to help run the games.

We had a frisbee toss game. 

The kids loved this water gun game. They had to shoot all the ping pong balls off the tees in 30 seconds.

And Mckay made balloon animals.

I bet you didn't know he could make balloons animals. He is a man of many talents.

Two girls from church (they also happen to be my piano students) did face painting.

The Lafayette Fire Department brought a fire truck over so the kids could climb inside and have a seat.

We couldn't have a walk without a picture of Dallin in a fire truck.

A wonderful young man from church volunteered to watch Dallin and Connor for us at the walk. I knew that with Mckay and I being so involved with running everything, I would need someone to keep a constant eye on the kids and to keep Connor from running away to the playground.

He did a great job and kept the boys safe.

Amy loved dancing along with the music.

I said a few words about the importance of raising awareness.

And I announced the silent auction winners.

It was a wonderful day. We raised just over $2000 for the Williams Syndrome Association. We didn't quite reach our goal, but I'm still impressed with all we managed to pull off in our small city. (If you're interested in helping us meet our goal, donations are still accepted through the end of July. :)  )

I'm proud of what we accomplished. It was time consuming and a lot of work, but I'd do just about anything for this sweet boy.