Family Vacation 2010: Next Stop- Maryland

Air & Space Museum- Washington, DC

We left Phily on Sunday, to Gabe's dismay without a cheese steak, and drove to Bel Air, MD to stay with one of my best friend's from college, Jacqueline and her husband Ross.  Thank you  to both of you for allowing our brood to invade your house for the week.  You were VERY patient and accommodating:):)  Sunday night we had a wonderful BBQ and were able to chat, relax and watch an actual "adult" movie (in this context adult means anything not rated "G").  Monday morning we had the wonderful idea to check our a few of the Smithsonian museums given that is was 90 degrees out and they would be air conditioned.  We, however did not take into consideration that we would have to walk from a parking garage to the museums... oh well!  Jacqueline was a good sport and obliged our crazy plans. Don't worry we did buy the Bertucci's for dinner as a peace offering;)  Here are the pics from the air and space museum.

Strasburg Railroad, PA

On Tuesday drove up to Stasburg, PA in Lancaster County to visit the Strasburg Railroad.  This was by far the highlight of the trip for Noah! We got to ride a big steam train AND have lunch during the ride.  We ate lunch a bit early, but as a result, we had the entire dining car to ourselves. Again, Noah would have stayed here all day long watching the trains if it were up to him.  We had considered some other activities in the area, but it started to rain and we wanted to get the kids back in time for naps... per usual, we found some other things to do on the way home and, once again, our children remained sleep deprived and we had no one to blame, but ourselves.  Unplanned stop #1- Dansko factory outlet.  That's right, the only one in the country.  I have never paid full price for Danskos thanks to Jacqueline's knack for outlet shopping.  Gabe and I both purchased our new clogs (orig- $130, on sale- $67)- this may have been the highlight of the trip for us:)  Unplanned stop #2- a tour of the Herr's chip factory- free tour and free, just off the belt chips, how could we resist? No pics of either stop, but trust me WELL WORTH IT:)

Bel Air, MD

Still on Tuesday, we greatfully ate leftovers, then let the kids play in the sprinkler.  I thought it was a fine idea to let James play with only a diaper on; then the diaper got wet and water logged, and I thought it was a good idea to let him play naked, he is just a baby after all... two days later (when we arrived home and I actually had a chance to look at him) I wondered "what could be causing this weird rash, it looks like he got bug bites everywhere?"... oh well, just his luck for being number 2, no complaints from him!  He had a great time playing in the water with Noah- in the 4th picture you will see he is trying to get Noah to save him from the water that was spraying him... he eventually knocked Noah over trying to save himself.  The bottom two pictures are of Noah's first experience with "Maryland S'mores" ... he thinks they tasted perfect!