Fourth of July Fun

We've had such a fun week with Uncle Jake here.  He's been such a great help with the kids, and we've tried to entertain him, and he's been a good sport to put up with our travels and adventures.  Tuesday night we headed to a local minor league baseball game, the Renegades ate some yummy ball park food (that is the reason I go!) and watched fireworks.  The kids loved it.  Lyv kept saying "oh, so pretty!" Jack on the other hand didn't appreciate how loud they were.  Loud noises seem to give him the fright sees.  

For the 4th we tried to beat the record high temps here in the east by heading to a favorite swimming spot.  The Big Deep - our good friends the Baptista's introduced us to this swimming hole near Woodstock, and it's perfect for the kids.  I love any thing that provides activities for the varied ages of my kids.  Sam can swim, Jack can try to swim, and Lyv can wade and play with rocks.  Minus the heavy dose of marijuana smoke we hiked into on our exploration of the creek (yep this is Woodstock - the guy was even wearing a Bob Marley tie dye shirt!) it was perfect.  We finished the 4th with a salmon bbq, a flag cake, and some old American past-times baseball and basketball!  Yesterday we took Jake to Belleayre beach, and had another great day cooling off in the water.  Today we all just took it easy.  Thanks Jake for coming out, we had a great time with you!

I just have to note this last picture of Lyv.  If I haven't already mentioned... she has some MAJOR drama and attitude.  She really will let you have it if things aren't going her way.  This is point in case.  She wanted Sam's bat, clutched it for dear life and started to yell, "Let go!" in her I'm possessed by some sort of devil voice.  Love this little angel, but there is a streak of sassy I'd prefer to only see in small doses!

Washington, D.C.

Having visitors is always great because we usually go sightseeing.  This time was no different, except it was just the boys.  The temperature was supposed to be in the 100's plus a heavy dose of humidity, so Lyv and I opted to pass on this trip, and relax at home. The boys headed down to D.C. on Saturday morning and stopped first at Arlington Cemetery.  The boys thought the soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers were pretty impressive.

 The two brothers - Jake not so little anymore is a few inches taller than Shawn.

 After sweating it out at Arlington, they decided to head to the hotel to swim HOWEVER... all hell broke loose!  Unbeknownst to Shawn, the night before a huge storm had torn through D.C. and it's suburbs and left over 2 million people without power, including the hotel they had reservations at.  For nearly 6 hours Shawn and I tried to find a place for them to stay.  The problem was that people started to go to hotels further outside of D.C., and so it was impossible to find a hotel within a 150 miles radius. They ended up driving back north 2 hours to a town above Baltimore, Maryland.  This put a little wrinkle in their plans tacking on an extra 1 1/2 drive each way.  So they decided to just hit the mall hard the next day, and head back home on Monday!

They visited the Smithsonians: The Natural History Museum & the Air & Space Museum

 The Spirit of St. Louis & the Wright Brother's first Airplane

 A favorite was the WWII Memorial because they got to soak their feet in the pool there.  They also saw the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives and the U.S. Capitol building.

 The boys are standing in between Idaho and Utah!  Woo! Woo!

 A visit to D.C. isn't the same without saying hello to Cousin Abe! or to the President.

 The boys striking quite a pose. Despite the set back caused by the storm, they had a great time, and saw a lot of really cool stuff.  I wouldn't mind heading there again before we leave, but until then... adios D.C.

Aerosmith Takes Albany

Shawn's little brother Jake came to visit for the week to see us, but mostly to see Aerosmith.  Shawn has always loved the band, and instilled the love in Jake, so we rocked out into the wee hours.  I felt a little out of place in my Gap t-shirt and my pregnant belly, so I had to hold myself back from getting up and throwing my bra on the stage.... Shawn and Jake were hilarious though, they stood the entire concert, completely overcome with joy, but do they dance? No. Do they sing? Sometimes. Do they just stand there like two goofballs...? Yes! 


I have to admit that Aerosmith isn't my favorite of all time, but I'm amazed at their ability to put on a good concert at age 60+!  The first time we saw them ten years ago Steven Tyler came bounding on stage and did a front handspring!  10 years later, there weren't handsprings but there was a lot of his signature dance moves.  We saw some sweet 80's attire, my favorite was directly in front of me..... oh, yes this is a banana clip, and I'd dare say that it dates back to the 80's!