Family Visit in Raleigh

Monday we left VA and drove to Raleigh to visit James's family Barbara and Bob and his cousins Tim and Becky.

They have a dog, Caribou, that the girls loved. We took Caribou to a nearby pond to throw the ball and let her swim. The kids couldn't stand to watch Caribou swim and not get wet themselves. What started as dipping toes in ended in cannonballs off the end of the dock. The kids loved it. We went back to the house and had a bbq feast. Molly and Barbara ran to the store together so molly could pick out a birthday cake. We all sang and topped off the feast with cake. Tuesday morning we went to a few playgrounds and then Barbara and Bob brought us to a park where the kids could ride a very old carousle, a small train and little boats. The kids had a ball.

It was a great visit with family members that we don't get to see often enough. Off to Ashville.

Eastern Shore MD and VA

On Saturday we left Baltimore and headed to the Eastern shore of MD. We explored some sleepy fishing towns like Oxford and Cambridge. In Cambridge we saw another light house, and James bought steamed crabs from a placed called Kool Ice. We took the crabs to a playground and started to eat them but we didn't really know how to so we googled it like total rookies.

A storm started coming in so we took off. We arrived at our friends house in Salisbury, MD in the early evening. Kate and Chris have three kids our guys age and they all hit it off right away. They were running around playing war with nerf darts all night. We had some delicious pizza and beers and caught up. The kids all slept in the same room. Sunday morning the kids were at it again and had water balloon fights. We took off after breakfast and headed to Chincateague island in Virginia. The kids know about this island from the book Misty of Chincateague. We were able to spot a pack of the wild ponies but they were far off. The kids looked through the binoculars to see them. Then we parked and did another bike and jog out to the beach. It was pretty gorgeous. James finished his crabs on the beach while kids swam. There have been a lot of shark attacks recently so I was stressed. After a few hours we biked back to the car and headed out. We have not had a bike ride yet on this trip without molly crashing. This time she and julia tried to race and crossed tires and molly went down hard. She's got quite a few band aids on her. We made a stop at a great ice cream place where everyone had ice cream for lunch.

Everyone snoozed and we headed south to Virginia Beach. We drove over and under the 16 mile bridge/tunnel. We went to the First Landing State Park in Norfolk, VA to camp for the night. We set up our tent and then went to the beach for a late swim. The beach was at the opening of the Chesapeake Bay and we saw a number of huge container ships go by.

The swim helped cool us down before climbing into the tent for the night. The kids were pretty wired and took a long time to fall asleep. They played games and made shadow puppets. Monday we woke up and drove into Virginia Beach. We got Dunkin for breakfast at Molly's request since it was her birthday! Molly wanted to bike to the playground so she and James went and we drove the car down. The kids goofed around for a bit then we got suits on and swam at the beach for an hour and a half. It was a great day. We could hear and see the military jets going overhead constantly. We wanted to see if we could tour a base but it was no open to the public. We parked the car at the end of the runways and watched a lot of planes land right over our heads and saw some take off as well.

It was very cool to see them so close and it was so loud. Molly wanted pizza and French fries for lunch so we drove around and found a spot with both. The people were so nice and put candles in her pizza. After our lunch we drove out to Raleigh. 

Baltimore

We took off for our annual summer road trip on Friday, June 26th. An easy four hour drive, and we arrived at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The battle that took place here in 1814 against the British was the inspiration for our National Anthem. We enjoyed checking it out and seeing the huge cannons and ducking in and out of all the tunnels and nooks. 

It was pretty hot out so we didn't stay for too long. We drove into the Inner Harbor and checked into our hotel. The kids seem to go bananas anytime we are in a hotel room. Always jumping from bed to bed and wreaking havoc. We let them get some energy out before hopping into the car and heading to Camden Yards. This was the first time James or I had ever been to Baltimore. Through a connection we were set up with a VIP tour of Camden Yards and had the best seats in the house. 

Our kids saw their first professional sporting event from the front row and will forever be spoiled!! We got to go onto the field for batting practice and were allowed to hang out in the dug out. 

James and I were stunned and loving it. The kids were given gift bags and had no clue how special it was. They liked getting cups of Gatorade from the coolers on the bench. We met two players including their star, Manny Machado. After BP we got some food and sat in our seats right behind the on deck circle. We didn't expect the kids to last very long but they did so well.

We got them snacks every two innings which helped! Molly flirted with the 10 year old boy in the seat behind her and drew a picture for him. It was hysterical. We saw a great game in which the O's came from behind to win it late in the game. It was also lucky that once a month they do fireworks during the summer and that night we stayed in our seats and saw a great firework show.  We went home late and Everyone crashed at the hotel.

Saturday morning we went out in the rain and explored the harbor. The kids were on their bikes and we jogged. The harbor area is very cool and reminded us of Boston a little bit. There were old ships, submarines, lighthouses, and fountains to explore with a nice path for biking and running. We were out early and combined with the rain it was not crowded.  Molly rode her bike through the water fountains that spurt up. We went up and down all the piers and checked everything out. All told the kids rode about 6 miles. We went back to the hotel and the kids got into the pool for a quick dip before checking out. It was the worlds smallest pool! We got a traveling lunch (2 baguettes and some cheese) and hit the road for the Eastern shore of MD.