Baltimore

Isaac's work sent him to Baltimore for a conference where he got to learn all kinds of neat statistic-y things of which I have zero understanding. Awesome for me, though, because my brother and his family live just outside Baltimore, and I hadn't seen them in almost five years! So the kids and I tagged along, if course. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to plan the trip, and we ended up with only two days on the east coast, which was in every way not enough.
I had a few ideas of things that I wanted to do while I waited for my brother and sister-in-law to finish work for the day, but the first day we ended up just walking around the city. It was HOT and it was HUMID. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it.

I got to see the original Washington Monument:

some gorgeous buildings, a huge library, the harbor, and rows of these lovely houses and businesses:

Here's what the kids thought of our little walking tour of the city:

Yeah, they weren't so impressed. Eventually we were all able to meet up down at the harbor, the cousins got to meet, and we had a great time. That night I asked Lizzy if she had a good time that day and she said, "Well, part of the day was good. I liked the part with Maya." (Justin and Maya are her cousins.) The next day we got to spend more time with them. We went to a children's museum together and had a great time, despite losing track of the kids several times.

The boy cousins playing Lego's together:

Beautiful Maya:
Maya, Lizzy, Aliyah holding Bear, Justin, and Tanya (my gorgeous sister-in-law)

Cousins!

Justin driving.

We had such a good time. It was frustrating to have to leave so soon, but we hope to be able to go again soon. We certainly won't wait five years to see them all again!