Adventures in Maryland

Even though Megan and Jon have a house big enough to sleep all of us, it quickly gets crazy when everyone wakes up. We knew we would go crazy if we stayed inside everyday, so we got to go on a few different adventures. And boy were the adventurous!

Adventure #1- Milburn Orchards/ White Clay Creek State Park

This adventure started before we even got to the orchard. We were almost there when the van with all the Weirich and Blood kids (minus Seth) pulled into a gas station. We thought maybe they just needed some gas... NOPE! Catherine threw up all over herself! Fun times. But she said she was feeling better and didn't want to go home, so we continued on.

The orchard was cute and lots for the cousins to do. It would be fun to go back when they actually had apples! They had lots of little animals for them to feed. Russell found a chicken to chase, and that was all he was interested in!

Our chicken hunter in his giant coat!

We peeled him away from the chicken. Went to check out their horses and cows, then found some wooden vehicles for the kids to explore.

Russell the train engineer

Russell the truck driver

Russell the pilot

 Then we got to the sandbox that will haunt our dreams, ha. While the rest of us were enjoying eating squeaky cheese and apples, Russell was eating fists full of sand. He would not stop!

We left the orchard and went to Delaware to a the park. Russell loves swinging, but is slightly scared of heights.

He prefers to swing with me, so he can be safe! 

Then we went to explore the slides, where he proceeded to slip and bust open his lip. Poor guy. 

We were thinking about continuing onto Philly with the Weirichs, but with a bloody lip and no nap Russell was not in the mood for more traveling. Definitely a good call. We got home and put Russell down for a nap. He woke up screaming because he had thrown up sand all over himself and his crib. He was victim #2 of the flu bug.

Adventure #2: Kayaking

We joined the party late because Russell was still sick and grumpy with the flu. We wanted to make sure he got a good nap before heading out. Russell loved being able to throw rocks into the bay. You are never too sick to enjoy playing with rocks.

You can, however, be too sick to enjoy kayaking. You can kind of tell in the pictures, he was throwing quite the fit about being in a life vest. He got to stay on land with Grandma while Stephen and I set out on an adventure. It was a lot harder than we thought it would be, even without Russell. There were two islands that looked decently close that we wanted to get to. We thought we were about half way there when we turned around. After further investigation, we weren't even close. It was fun! It isn't often you can go kayaking in December and not freeze to death.

As we were about to leave Russell decided he could venture out on his own, ha. It did make for a fun picture though!

Adventure #3: Washington DC 

Megan, Jon, and Aaron fell victim to the flu, so they opted out of this adventure. Seth and Catherine decided they wanted to go. A decision that I think they regretted after walking all day long, ha. It was a long day, with lots of walking (especially when someone refuses to sit in a stroller and must be carried. Actually the only ones who wanted to ride in the stroller were Seth and Catherine haha). Stephen and Brian had never been to DC, so they got to see our wonderful capital. Their 

conclusion- it looks nicer in the movies... Oh well.

Grandpa got to show the grandkids his favorite museum- Air & Space

(also one of the last times we were all together that day)

Russell loved being able to push buttons

Pilot Russell

Bubba got stuck being our photographer, 

so we let her in a picture to prove she went

WWII Memorial is beautiful- Blood kids 

spent most of their time in DC here. 

Can't blame them!

Family Selfie with Lincoln

You can kind of see Obama's house waaayy back there

We finally made it to my favorite Smithsonian- Natural history

Russell wanted to take this rock home for his collection.

Russell learned the word water in this museum. His sippy cup got left at Megan's house, so all we had was a McDonalds cup. Russell was so thirsty and we couldn't find a drinking fountain anywhere to fill the cup. He started chanting water, water, water... poor dude. He was surprisingly well behaved for not napping at all.

After meeting up with the family, we were hungry. I requested that we go to Cafe Rio since I've been craving it since moving to Texas. It was so delicious that we didn't take any pictures we were too busy eating! Then we swung by the temple to check out their Christmas lights. It was beautiful. Love that temple!

Russell was showing everyone the nativity star...

Wish we could have has even more adventures with everyone!