Baseball Revisited

So here's how the state tournament went down.

Last year they made it to the single elimination tournament play only to loose their first game. Top 8.

This year, they made it to the top 4, and finished in 3rd place.

I think just knowing what to expect made the three days of nothing but baseball bearable compared to last year. That and they played 10 minutes away instead of 25 minutes away. But by day three we were all tired of being hot and sticky and eating out of a cooler.

Roman was excited to get a medal and a Slurpee ;)

He's back to being undecided about baseball next year... but I think that's just because he doesn't want to do swim team. Ha! Poor kid.

Anyway, it was an exciting end to the season and fun to watch. Roman even got a few good hits which makes me hopeful for next year if he decides to play. Nothing is more boring than watching baseball where the kids never swing because the pitchers aren't good enough to strike them out.

Switcharoo

We decided to switch the kids' rooms for a change. The boys were not really on board (who knows why), Marisa was ok with it and that was all I needed.

I did not realize what a challenge this was going to be.

I didn't realize how much pink and purple STUFF that girl has.

I emptied Marisa's room first. What a chore! I was sweating like a pig so I put on my exercise clothes and called it a workout.

We vacuumed the floors, cleaned the walls and enjoyed the empty room for a few seconds.

Then we moved on to the boys' room.

SCARY!

These kids have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!!!

Slowly but surely we moved all the boys stuff over.

The kids were in charge of moving their clothes.

I threw away a big garbage bag of junk, put some stuff in the garage sale pile and moved the rest over.

The boys opted for taking their bunk beds down. It takes up a lot of room but it wasn't even possible in their old room. It's kind of nice that Roman doesn't have to climb to get in bed.

Marisa loves her new room. She wanted to have a lower bed, so her mattress is on the floor for now until I can find a cheap and suitable alternative.

It took almost the entire day. But it's nice to know that we have a lot less dust lurking under our kids beds, and not so much junk hiding in their closets.

I Ran Away

Once upon a time, my dear husband was feeling generous (or stupid) and decided to allow me to go to my brother's house on vacation... by myself!

My brother Jonathan lives in Baltimore, MD and I had never been to that area of the world so I bought a ticket and left my poor family to fend for themselves. :)

We did so much in 5 days! I had such a good time!

The first day, while Jonathan and my nephew went to work, Mishel (my SIL) and my cute niece Esther and I went to Fort McHenry for a picnic and some games on the bay.

I love how much US History is in this area. All that stuff I hated learning about in school is so much more interesting when you can actually see what they are talking about. Now I want to rent a history book on tape. (no time for real reading)

After a game of Phase 10, we picked up the boys and went to lunch at this fun little eclectic place called Paper Moon. It's a diner type place that has millions of toys, and nic-nacs all over the walls etc. We played I-spy while eating our yummy food.

That evening we went downtown to check it out. There is a lot to see and do down by the harbor. They have a maritime museum with this cool WWII sub.

 

We saw the USS Constellation, and the other interesting things downtown had to offer.

We also got some yummy gelato.

The next day was the 4th of July.

We headed out in the country a bit for some fireworks and the Baltimore City Symphony at a local nature preserve.

The hillside was PACKED with people.

We played and ate with some members of their ward and then watched more fireworks go off in five minutes than I thought possible. It was like a 5 minute finale. I love fireworks.

Saturday, after not enough sleep, we headed to D.C. to check out the sights.

We packed a lot into one day.

We waited in line for tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument only to have them run out just before it was our turn. Bummer.

First we hit a few Smithsonian Museums. American History/pop culture:

Had to get a picture of Harry Potters robes since Roman and I are reading the series together.

Julia Child's Kitchen

 

 

Dorothy's ruby slippers

We saw a few fascinating things including this fabulous shoe rack that my brother made with his own hands that was in an exhibit in the natural history museum. Kinda neat if you ask me.

 

 

Then we went to the National Gallery. Walked past the National Archives and decided not to go in.

TONS of people were crowding around this little gem. The hope diamond.

The National Mall was starting to get really packed with people, so we decided we had had enough museums and the ridiculous crowds and it was time for monuments. I ran up to the top of the mall to snag a picture of the Capital building.

Then we took the long walk to the White House. You can't get very close at all, and it seems so tiny in comparison to all the very large buildings... The people had really started to come out of the woodwork at this point and everywhere was crowded. I knew it would be.... being so close to the 4th of July.

After the White House, we headed to the Vietnam Memorial.  Very cool.

 

 

Then the Korean War Memorial

 

Up to the Lincoln Memorial... my favorite.

 

SO MANY PEOPLE!

 

The view from Lincoln Memorial

Then we were off to the Jefferson Memorial, which is way on the other side of a big lake.

We passed the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the way.

Got some great pictures (I'm such a tourist.... I like taking pictures, what can I say?)

 

 

 

I really liked all these cool domed ceilings.

We were going to stop at the WWII Memorial but we were so tired we completely forgot. We hiked back to the car and collapsed just as soon as we got home. What a day! My poor 12 year old niece was probably cursing me at this point because she's seen it all many times and we did a lot of walking.

Sunday was quite a bit more relaxing but we still packed a lot in. We went to church in the morning, then came home and packed up for another day in D.C.

This time we headed to town via a different route and stopped at the Washington D.C. Temple

 

I'm sure you've heard it before, it's amazing driving down the freeway, you turn a corner and it's like it's floating in a cloud of trees. Super cool.  (pictures borrowed from internet)

I was wishing for my SLR camera but I got a few keepers.

 

 

We stopped into the visitors center

I thought it was really interesting to learn more about when/how it was built. They had some sketches of possible designs on display. I like the direction they went.

 

After the temple grounds, we headed to Arlington Cemetery.

We saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

President Kennedy's grave.

Thousands and thousands of soldiers' graves. It was very humbling.

From Robert E. Lee's mansion, you could see a lot of D.C. including a bit of the Pentagon.

I ran into my neighbors. Crazy!

 

After even more walking we were ready to crash. So, it was back home for some serious rest.

The next day it was already time for me to go home.

We had lunch at Joe Squared Pizza. Swung over to Federal Hill for a great view and a little fun with our panoramic pictures of downtown Baltimore. A quick trip down to the water for some Italian ice and then it was off to the airport.

I had such a good time. It was such a fun but busy vacation. Thanks Jon and fam for showing me a good time.