Weekend Trip #1

Alright, I've finally gotten around to putting the pictures together from our little vacation Memorial weekend.

Around lunch time on Friday I put together a plan for a weekend trip consisting of places south of Philly that we'd been wanting to see. After a little of convincing, Johnny agreed to it and we packed our bags and headed out Friday night.

First off, this is the Steelman's, Sam and Stephanie. Sam (who's real name is Ryan) and Johnny have been friends since high school in Montana. They were with us the whole trip and it was GREAT! It was so fun spending time with them, and the two extra set of hands to help with the boys was probably the greatest thing ever. We got to their house late Friday night and stayed with them.

Day 1

Saturday morning, Sam and Steph showed us around their town, Baltimore. We walked along the docks and stopped for lunch at Hard Rock.

Drake was thrilled to be on a bridge hovering over chocolate milk.

After lunch, we headed down to Washington, DC where the United States Botanical Gardens were. This was high on my list of things to see, and I'm so glad we did!

Drake loved the children's garden! In the picture on the bottom left, Johnny put Drake in front of a fish then pushed a button to shoot water at him. Johnny also kept doing that to innocent bystanders walking by, right in the pants.

There was a spot in the ceiling that slowly dripped water. This is Drake waiting for the next drip, that got him right on the forehead.

We then went around and saw these different sites:

Capitol Building

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Memorial

Lincoln Memorial (from across the reflection pool)

All of the walking was exhausting but well worth it!

Day 2

After seeing the sites around DC we drove down to Charlottesville, Virginia and got to our hotel late that night. The next morning, we headed to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

His home sat on top of a huge hill with amazing views.

Here is a little glimpse at the gardens. They were perfectly kept, and Johnny picked lots of the vegetables and ate them along the way.

This was a little nook in the gardens where Thomas Jefferson would go to read and think. I loved it and wish I had something like that.

Here are Drake and Bubbs discussing how Jefferson idealized the independent yoeman farmer as an exemplar of republican virtues.

We walked around the grounds and this place was amazing. We also went inside, but I wasn't allowed to take photos.

Gravesite.

In the afternoon, we spent time in Historic Williamsburg, a fun little town with little shops. During the day they have people dressed up like the old days but we got there too late for that.

Our first stop, while there, was a candy shop for Drakie. I guess I should appreciate that out of all this candy, he just wanted a Hershey Kiss. I got him and Bubbs a lollipop which kept him, Bubba, and Johnny sticky the rest of the day.

A few stops on our walk around town (I love this kind of stuff):

Right before the sun went down we saw Jamestown, which was founded in 1607 and is regarded as the first permanent English settlement in the country. You know, where the whole John Smith - Pocahontas thing happened.

Day 3

Memorial Day we headed up from our hotel in Norfolk, VA to Ocean City, MD. The weather was PERFECT!

This was Bubba's first real time at the beach, and he LOVE LOVED it! He told me eating the sand felt like a soothing massage on his aching, teething gums, so I couldn't help but let him eat a few handfuls.

Every time he saw a hole someone dug, his ostrich instincts kicked in and he'd try to hide his head in it....Maybe I let him eat too much sand.

Bubba also decided to give surfing a try and was a natural. Sadly, after losing his binky in the ocean, he called it quits and vowed to never surf again.

More pics of the boys beach day.

Bubba attacking Johnny with sand kisses while he was too buried to do anything about it.

Nice shells.

Stopped in traffic on the drive home, they were all exhausted and snoring.

Cute.

This was such a fun little getaway and we're so glad we did it! I'm so thankful the Steelman's put up with us the whole weekend and we loved spending time with them, seeing these amazing places.