Maryland Adventures

We took a 10 day trip out to Maryland. Rick had to go out for work so we decided to take the whole family. We talked about packing a lot & Joseph decided he would get himself all packed up with the essentials he needed.

Our trip was awesome, except a delayed flight out to MD (we got in super late so the first night we didn't get to the hotel until 3:30 am Saturday morning), everyone getting sick (at least one person threw up 7 out of the 10 days), & Rick getting poison ivy (at least we think that is what it is, we have no idea where he picked it up). Thus we only got half of the things done that we wanted to, but we still had a lot of fun.

Saturday we started meeting with some realtors about our townhouse. You would think that with the housing market as it is there would only be really good realtors left in the business, but we managed to find some pretty flaky ones. That evening we had dinner with one of our old friends there. Lexie & Joseph didn't remember their little boy, Zachary, from when we had lived there before, but it didn't take them long to become reacquainted. They could not wait to see him again & again during our trip. Sunday (Father's day) we went to our old branch for church. It was so awesome to see so many old friends & how well they are doing. We have really missed them. The building that we met in used to be a Community Health Center. When we left, the church had bought the building & started remodeling it. We were amazed with the changes & with how awesome it looks now. The kids loved going to a new Primary & meeting new friends.

We also headed down to the College Park ward which we attended after we were first married. It was so fun to see old friends & family there (my cousin is now in that ward). We really enjoyed our time there. After church we headed to our old apartment. Lexie wanted to see her tree. We lived up on the 4th floor & every morning Lexie would talk to this tree out the window. She loved it, whenever she saw it she would start giggling & babbling.

Then we headed over to the University of Maryland where Rick went to Grad School. Of course Lexie had to go over & see what the flowers were on the big letter M.

The throwing up began Sunday night & Monday we (the kids & I) pretty much camped out in the hotel while Rick went to work. Tuesday the kids were stir crazy so we went & played at the school playground & made clover necklaces & crowns.

Then we headed over to our townhouse to see our old neighbors we have missed so much & played a little with them. Lexie also climbed a tree for the first time in her life (pitiful, I know).

Tuesday evening we went to dinner with our old neighbors & had a blast. Then we headed over to Rick's old roommate's place. Koda was very gracious to entertain us & he even let us play Rock Band with him. Andrew got the high score of 91% on this round (he was on vocals & he can't even talk). We have no idea how he did it.

As we were saying goodbye, Lexie found the letters on the fridge & left a message for her brothers. (It says, "stop it ok!")

That night & into Wednesday morning, Rick & I bowed before the porcelain throne and made our offerings (& we were very generous with our offerings). Man, I really hate throwing up. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plans of going to the temple that night.

We kept it low-key & hung out with neighbors & a co-worker of Rick's & did some work on our house until Friday. I met a friend, Corinne, at a park to play with her kids & have a picnic. It was really fun & amazing to see how big her children are now. Andrew freaked me out a lot trying to climb on all of the big kid toys & having to do it all by himself.

Friday night we got to go to dinner with 2 of my friends from High School. It was so great to catch up with them! Andrew enjoyed running circles around everyone there. That was interesting.

Saturday we headed up to Hershey, PA to go to Hershey Park. We had a great time. The drive was gorgeous & the rides were great. Lexie loved the roller coasters while Joseph & Andrew enjoyed all of the spinning rides (especially the scrambler-they did not want to get off). After playing all day at the park, we had to rush over to the Chocolate Factory for the little tour where they give you a piece of chocolate at the end. Joseph really wanted his chocolate bar. Luckily, we made it just before closing time. Ironically enough, the day spent on spinning around and riding roller coasters was one of the few days that nobody threw up. We were very grateful for that!

While at Hershey, Rick noticed that what he thought were bug bites started spreading into a rash of swollen bumps. By the end of the trip it had spread to his fingers, arms, legs, stomach, and neck. Our best guess is that it was a reaction to poison ivy.

Then Sunday came again. We went to the branch & the kids were spoiled rotten. They really enjoyed their time there & would love to live in Maryland again. Once again, the kids had a great time being goofy with their friend, Zachary.

After church we headed down to the Washington, D.C. Temple & Visitor's Center.

This is the bridge that Rick help build for the Nature Trail on the Temple grounds.

Monday we said good-bye to our blue house again & to our friends.

And of course, Lexie had to climb on the tree one more time. She really likes tree climbing now.

Our plane on the way home was Maryland One. So fun & exciting, well Lexie & Joseph sure thought so.

We're grateful for all of the good people we got to know & associate with while in Maryland. We're so glad we got to visit with so many of them again!