Category: Family

We spent the weekend in Middletown, MD with the Phillips-James-Barba clan! Always great to get everyone together for a little family time. The cousins (Charlotte, 4 1/2 and Everett, 15 mos) seemed to enjoy running in a pack. Andrew was especially enthralled with Charlotte and thought she was the funniest person on the planet. He did all he could to keep pace with his older cousin! The days were spent playing in the pool (a HUGE favorite), visit to the Middletown Memorial Day town picnic, playing on the playground, BBQ with the James gang and riding an old steam engine train in Walkersville. Andrew is so taken by trains (and all things with wheels) and this was right up his alley!

The temperatures were pushing 90 degrees and even daddy got in on the pool action!

Planning his next jump. ANYTIME Andrew was outside last weekend he bee-lined it for the pool and rolled head first into the water- including at 7am! So many wardrobe changes….

Uncle Gabe introduced Andrew to the movie Cars. He was clearly a fan.

Thanks for a great weekend Grandma and Grandpa!

Before we could officially bail out for the long weekend, Andy needed to do a meeting in Baltimore on Friday morning. Since we plan to spend the weekend in Middletown, MD, we thought it was a great excust to head down early. We drove to Baltimore Thursday night, had dinner with the Harrell’s and checked into our hotel. This morning I took Andrew to the Baltimore National Aquarium while Andy worked. The morning was filled with a lot of ‘oh wow’ from the little guy. While I think he was a little scared of the big fish his favorites of the experience were the bubbles, other kids, the pigeon who flew inside the building and the escalators.

To summarize: 
ticket cost = $38.95; value Andrew got of the experience = $0 ; time with your son = priceless ?

Quick trip to the beach- mostly because the water was 3 degrees above freezing- and visit with friends Pam and Mike to check out their new house. Andrew was especially fond of their dog, Grady! And no, we are NOT getting a dog.

We officially kicked off the beach season this weekend on LBI! It was great to get down to the beach despite the fact that everything about the weather felt like winter; not late spring. Regardless of the cold and rain, Andrew seemed to really love exploring the beach and bay. Can’t wait until we can go back and actually spend more time outside!

Friday was the only nice day- too bad most of us spent it inside and working. We did manage to sneak away to the bay and playground. Andrew really like the ‘giant sandbox’ that is the bay!

On Saturday the weather turned dreary and cold. We did manage to sneak a trip to the playground in before the rain started. Andrew’s best buddy Austin (and his whole family!) also joined us. Per usual Andrew was like a moth to a flame with the swings. He also loved riding the- exceptionally tall- slide with mommy and grandpa. And to top off this fun morning we stopped at the local ice cream parlor for lunch. Yes, I fed my kid ice cream for lunch. A++ parenting!

Andrew went made his first trip to our nation’s capital! While I look forward to future trips to DC with the little guy to take in the history, monuments and cultural significance; this was not that. Instead it was the case that Daddy had to go to Chicago for work on Wednesday. Mommy had to go to DC for work on Thursday. So Andrew tagged/was drug along. The little guy and I drove down to DC on Wednesday afternoon and enjoyed dinner with dear friends, Preethi and Shiwali. On Thursday Preethi watched Andrew in the morning while I went to work and Andy commuted back from the midwest. Thursday afternoon Andy was on daddy-duty and took Andrew to meet some other friends. Friday we all drove home together back to New Jersey. 

While DC was filled with good times, great friends and successful work, the logistics in this family truly exhaust me sometimes. 

Road trip buddy. Such the conversatialist. 

Move over Obama. Andrew for president! 

Friends! ❤️

#hotellife