Our mini vacation

We were going to go to the beach. But it rained 7 inches on the two days we planned to go. So we altered plans and went to DC instead. We realize it doesn't look rainy in DC. It wasn't! It was gorgeous! Too bad the beach didn't look like this....

First stop: The National Portrait Gallery and Museum of American Art. We went on our first date here, and hadn't been back. It's so fun! Above, the preamble on license plates. 

Lydia loved climbing. She did a remarkably good job for being a kid who loves to touch everything. (I think that's all kids...)

Me and my BFF.

The floors in the American Art side were gorgeous!

We took a really similar photo on our first date. :)

After the museum, we hit up some Jazz in the Sculpture Garden. Lydia really liked it. :)

And then wandered over to The Mall. End of Day One. 

And now for your random photo of the post: proof that Lydia likes her chair. 

Andrew took another day off the next week, but it rained again at the beach. (It's tricky to say, "well, let's just go tomorrow," because Andrew schedules about 50 meetings a day. So if he wants to take a day off, he'll hold that day a few weeks in advance and not schedule any meetings. So we have to look pretty far in the future to reschedule things.) Rain, meant that we went back down to DC. In all the years we've been here, we'd never been to Mt. Vernon. We are now annual season pass holders, so let us know if you want to go! We'd love to join you!

7-11 stop for the drive home, on 7-11.

Another adventure, and what do you know? More rain!

This time we decided to try to go for a hike. It wasn't pouring, and it was pretty cool, so we figured this weather was better than 100 degrees and 100% humid. 

We got out to the State Park, and they were filming "House of Cards" (a Netflix original :)

Proof it was raining.

The crew behind us. 

On overlook at the falls.

Extras from the filming. I'm totally confused about the need for 19th century civil war extras. I was pretty sure House of Cards was set in modern times? But when we tried to ask questions, they couldn't answer because of non-discloure agreements. 

And then we played some games, to round out our rained-out vacation. Seemed like a fitting thing to do. :)

The 4th

So we're a little behind over here....

On the morning of the 4th Andrew took a friend to the airport at the crack of dawn. He totally surprised me by stopping by the store for things that I had mentioned I had forgotten the day before. He also picked up these cups. "They didn't have any Fourth of July Flowers, so I built you this tower." :)

Out for our morning run/bike ride at Fort McHenry!

The parade. in the shade. 

Our neighbors at the parade had this little chair and she LOVED it. We promptly went and got her one of her own. It was longest she had ever sat still. I love her focus, and the clapping. :) 

Cute little steppers.

Our festive Gelati! Order something red, white, and blue and get 50% off. Don't mind if we do. 

Later that night we had a BBQ with friends, and did some sparklers. We had plans to actually go to fireworks, but Lydia was terrified of the fireworks that people were shooting off into the sky, so we decided to wait until next year. 

Friday

It continues to rain everyday. And I still love it. Lydia reading on Friday while we waited for Dad to get home for our family night out. 

Our original plan was to go get some Italian takeout in Little Italy and play Bocce Ball. The courts were flooded, but I think Lydia probably had more fun that way. :) We opted to take her dress off so that when she was done splashing, we could trade out the pants, and put on the dress. We decided a LITTLE modesty was a good idea, since we didn't want to carry a wet toddler the rest of the night. 

A rainbow on our way to get Gelato. 

Drumming in Fells point. Lydia LOVED the beat, and these ladies were really fun!

We stopped at Harbor East in the Under Armor Flagship store. Lydia loves going through the hangers. It's really funny to watch. 

They had a killer dressing room. With free bottles of water. Which came in really handy after gelato. 

Saturday morning bike/run! I rode this week, and Andrew surprised us all by running fast and far!

climbing at the park!

While Dad's Away....

Andrew was at ISTE this week. He comes back TODAY and we're so excited!

A few pictures from his absence. 

Lydias eating habits have been all over the board this week. For dinner Sunday she wanted nothing but blueberries. So that's what I let her have. And a pound later, she was done. And diapers were awesome for the next two days. 

Who is this child, and where is the baby that lives at my house? All on her own, folks. It looks pretty vertical, but it's really at a slant, she's not THAT advanced. Check back next week. 

A friend invited us to go to the fountains in the harbor Monday Morning. They are awesome. A little high for Lydia, but there is one that is just her size. That's where we hung out the whole time. She is getting braver and braver around water. We hope someday she sits down in the bathtub?

After fountains (not pictured) Indian Food with a friend from church. Lydia loved it, I was totally surprised! But also so happy! 

Tuesday morning we went for the longest run of young Lydia's life: we made it all the way around the harbor. I had planned it out so that we parked at a point where if she hated running in the first mile, we could just turn around. At about mile 1.5 and 2.5 and 3 there were parks we could stop at if we needed. And the Ferry ride back to the car was at the end, counting on her needing to get out of the stroller

She really liked playing these chimes.  We've been to this park before, but I think she gets overwhelmed/distracted by other kids. You might not know this, but parks in the middle of downtown in the tourist part of town aren't filled with kids at 7 am. 

Our view while we waited for the ferry back to the car. We ran over there!

Checking out the water from the ferry. We've ridden the ferry a few times, and she always chews on the zipper. Gross? Probably. But you have to choose your battles. Trying to jump off the boat vs. Chewing the Zipper. There's a clear winner of the battle I fight. 

Later that day, lots of book reading. It was HOT outside. We read all the books at our house, and then went to the library. The little girl in the background was helping Lydia put on all the costumes. One of Lydia's favorite parts of the library is all the other kids that want to play with her. She was the firefighting-police-doctor. She loved it. 

Today while eating yogurt. She thought she was so funny!

We went back to the fountains yesterday afternoon. After the fountains, it was much cooler than I had thought it would be, and I could tell Lydia wasn't ready for a nap. So we went to the park at the top of Federal Hill. 

We have walked to the park about a million times. But we always walk on the same side of the street. Today we crossed and walked on the other side, and we walked by this gorgeous house! I've never noticed it before. This is actually the side of the house, looking into the side-courtyard. I kind of wanted to take pictures of the front looking INTO the house, because it was just gorgeous. But I felt too self conscious. So instead this was me pretending to check my phone...while taking a picture. I could probably be a spy with my skills....

Lovely planters on our walk. 

And TODAY Andrew comes home. :)

Yay!