The now annual fall trip to see the Chiefs play and visit a new bball stadium!

I'm going to start this blog by documenting the fact that my crepe myrtle is FINALLY blooming after being in the ground for about 3 yrs. now. My dad bought it and put it there and is greatly relieved (as I am) to see it blooming finally. Yeah! So anyway, we set our alarms for 1am Sat. morning so we could leave by 2am to drive up to Washington DC. We wanted to spend a half day there before driving on north to Baltimore. And that way Maddox slept in the car. So we got to DC about 7:15 on Sat. which is a great time to arrive if you want a good parking spot right along the Mall. We wandered around and saw all the memorials and white house and ate our breakfast on the Lincoln memorial steps. Here's J and M in front of the Washington monument.Behind us is the new WWII Memorial and of course beyond that the Washington Monument again.

Maddox thought it was great fun to run with us. Especially after sitting in the car for 5 1/2 hours.

She's so tiny compared to the Lincoln Memorial!

Goofing around at the Korean War Mem. which is off to the left.

After spending the early morning wandering around all the memorials we went to the Holocaust museum for a couple of hours and then to the Air and Space Museum. Obviously the Holocaust museum was not much fun for Maddox so we found the hands on area in the Air and space museum and let her loose.

We then started walking back to the car where we had a picnic out of our trunk on a bench by the Mall. On the National Mall in front of the Capitol:

After DC we drove north to pick up my parents at the airport and drove on into Baltimore. That night we just went out to dinner and wandered around the inner harbor.
"Mom, this bike isn't really a comfortable ride."

When the science museum on the inner harbor closed they brought out all the left over bubbles for people to play with. She couldn't figure out that you didn't have to blow these bubbles, that you were supposed to wave them. Whatever, she was having lots of fun . . .

Maybe too much fun . . .

After getting up at 1am to drive, and a long day sightseeing Jeremy and I decided to utilize our free babysitters and go to Howl at the Moon. Can't pass up a chance to go to a dueling piano bar!! We only stayed a couple of hours and were home by 10. What partyers. But it was fun anyway. Short but sweet.

Sunday morning we got up and walked down to the Ravens stadium without any tickets. Since it was the home opener it was a lot harder to get tickets than expected and all the scalpers wanted $100/ticket. My limit was $75 (for 55 dollar seats). So Jeremy and I split up and left Mom and Dad and went searching. If you ever have to buy tickets like this be a woman and have a baby with you. Then you don't get picked on by all the Ravens fans and you get 4 tickets for $290 instead of the $400 they wanted.

It was pretty warm out there! Sometime early in the 3rd quarter I got Maddox to fall asleep and she slept until the end of the game.

In between drunk people falling on Dad and other drunks wanting to start something with Jeremy we had a good time! The Chiefs lost of course, but did better than i though they would!

Monday morning we went to the aquarium. We did it all including the Dolphin Show and the 4D theater show. We got warned that M would probably be scared in the 4D theater and we'd have to leave if she cried. She was fine and intrigued. She wore her glasses for the last half of the movie and only jumped when she got water squirted on her.
Grandma and M looking at the fish:

Found a sandbox--one of her favorites

Big fish . . . I think we have a picture just like this from last fall's Atlanta trip and the aquarium there.

Towards the end of the Aquarium visit Maddox was getting hangry (hungry/angry) so she threw herself on the floor and started kicking. That lasted about 10 seconds before she realized that we didn't care and it was more fun to laugh and be tickled.
Monday night after the aquarium we went to a Baltimore Orioles game. They played Tampa Bay which is mom and dad's new team and TB won. Maddox kept pointing and saying "bay ball". J and I and M stayed for the whole game until about 10:15. Then she kept saying "bye bye bay ball".

M knew what she was supposed to do with these binoculars, she just couldn't quite get it right. She tried and tried!

After a while Grammy, Maddox and I wandered down to the kid's zone where M played and got balloons ("boons").

On the drive home from Baltimore we stopped to have lunch at a park and play on the playground. Maddox's feet got really dirty but luckily one of her favorite things to do is clean. Giving her a wet wipe took up another 20 minutes.

We got her one of those drawing magnetic board toys for the car and she played with it for over an hour. She loves it! She also played with it this morning for about 25 min. in my bed while I kept sleeping. I'm liking this toy!

Maddox was so good the whole trip. A lot of long days, very late afternoon naps or just very short ones in the stroller or a lap, and late nights, and she never got grumpy or fussy. As long as she's on the go she's happy and so easy going!

It's another rainy day here in NC so I got out her Elefun which she's hasn't seen since she got it for her birthday. She just holds her net up in the air and hopes a butterfly falls in.

I am now going to be late picking up the kids at school . . . gotta shower and get going! Thanks Mom and Dad (Gammy and Papa) for a great trip! Let's do it again next year!