Ft. McHenry

A couple weeks ago we took an adventure to Ft. McHenry.  This was one of the whole families favorite adventures!

Here is your brief history moment of the day:

Ft. McHenry's shining moment in glory happened during the War of 1812.  Britain preferred things pre Revolutionary War so they decided to jump in for round two of American Independence.

They got off to a strong start retaking the Nations Capitol and saw Baltimore's Harbor as the next key conquest needed to seal the deal.  They moved their ground troops near Baltimore, but were pushed back.  They determined Ft. McHenry, which is out on a peninsula in the middle of the harbor, would need to be taken so that they could move their navy in to support a second push at Baltimore.  However, the British underestimated the Fort's artillery.  Because of the damage they knew the Forts close range canons would do to their ships they stayed far out in the harbor where their long range artillery could fire, but the Fort could not fire back.  This severely limited the damage their own canons could do.  All night the two sides fired at one another neither being able to take the upper hand.  As the sun rose Frances Scott Key (who was on a ship trying to negotiate the release of a fellow American prisoner) saw the American flag still flying and realized the British attack on his city had failed.  He then wrote a memorable poem describing the event.  His poem spread through America quickly and was soon put to music: The Star Spangled Banner.


Britain realized it could not overtake the Fort and consequently Baltimore so they went home and ended the whole campaign.  The lesson we learn from this:  Go Big ( and possibly sink your navy) or Go Home (which in the end they opted for).  To this day Marylanders have great pride in this victory.  Seriously, they do.

Inside a kind of bomb shelter

Class is concluded for the day.

As far as sight seeing went Ft. McHenry is a wonderful place.  They have a great museum and video inside.  Outside they've kept the Fort so that you can walk through nearly every nook and cranny.  Its too bad that the flag pole didn't make it to present day, but still very cool to see our flag waving over the fort and realize that's what Francis Scott Key was looking for when he wrote our anthem.

Prisoners Cells

The kids had a great time climbing in and over just about everything.  Savannah, well she was content to sit in her car seat inside the stroller.  I'd say the adventure was a success and definitely recommend a visit to anyone who feels like visiting Kimball and I (wink, wink).

Happy 31 Kimball!

Happy Birthday Kimball!!!!

Kimball turned 31 this year.  I think he's dealing with it much better than I am to be honest.  I always enjoyed teasing him about forever being older than me, but I'm starting to realize that him getting older just makes me feel kind of old too.  

Despite my ridiculous insecurities I think he still had a great birthday.  The kids worked hard all week painting birthday signs for him and we decorated with balloons, because you know Kimball, he's gotta have balloons. Or is that me?  Either way we had balloons.

We were especially lucky to have Kimball's sister-in-law Kristen, and Kjirsten and Will come to help celebrate.  To top it all off they brought a delicious lasagna which just happens to be one of Kimball's favorites!  

Last but not least, ICE CREAM.  Because he's really gotta have ice cream.

I hope Kimball had a great day.  I know I don't tell him enough, but he is wonderful!

Last Day of Kindergarten!

Seeing as First Grade is about to start up I figured I should probably do a post on Kaden finishing Kindergarten.  Here goes.

(Quick side note:  Kaden was way excited to take pictures with his graduation cap on.  He even posed himself.  Jocilyn just couldn't stay out of the fun, so you'll see some of her too.)

Kaden had a great year in Kindergarten.  The kid is such a trooper; after moving in the middle of the year and having to make new friends and get used to a new school and teacher I had a lot of anxiety about the whole ordeal.  Kaden on the other hand was not so worried.  He did great!  He made friends so fast and fell in love with his new teacher.

I was surprised to see Kaden caring a little more about his appearance this year.  I thought he was still too young for that, but he was always asking me to gel his hair and one very sad day he went to school wearing a white dress shirt because I forgot to wash his uniform shirts.  I thought he looked very handsome, and seriously doubt any of the kids would have noticed, but Kaden refused to take his jacket off the whole day because he was worried they would see.  I'm telling you he can't be old enough to care already!

A special shout out to Mrs. Jett, and Junie B. Jones for making Kindergarten such a wonderful year!

Sweet Jocilyn

Yesterday Jo and I were chatting and she said completely serious: "Your eyes never ever have hearts in them... (sigh) except when you get married."  And last time we went to Costco they had a movie displaying diamond rings for sale.  Jo ran over shouting "Pretty! Pretty! Pretty!"  A guy nearby started cracking up saying, "It's genetic!"  It just might be.  :)  

She is such a cute little romantic.  Its pretty fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great few days over Memorial Day Weekend.  Kimball's sister SaraLyn and the Veech clan came to visit for a few days to watch their son Trevor in the parade in D.C. and of course to visit us.  Since they had already seen a lot of the monuments and such on other trips we decided to go to the zoo and melt there for a few hours.  This was our second trip to the zoo:  The one that showed us all the kinks in our zoo planning.

It was very hot and crowded, but I think everyone still had a great time together.  Besides, it was memorial day weekend, it was going to be hot and crowded no matter where we decided to go.  One extra bonus that came with the veech family staying with us was a night of babysitting so the adults could go out together.  Thank you!  We had such a great time!

Saturday night my sister Monica and her friend Letti came into town as well.  Luckily we live in a bigger place and were able to squish everyone in.  I absolutely loved seeing everyone; hopefully they didn't mind the extra squish.

For Memorial Day everyone went their own way.  The Veeches went to get a good spot to watch Trevor in the parade, Mo and Letti toured monuments, and Kimball and I took the kids to Arlington National Cemetery.  What an amazing experience!  This isn't one of the places people are usually dying to see when they visit D.C., but it is definitely worth a visit.  Seeing so many headstones of people who fought for our country is very humbling and inspiring.  We visited the Kennedy grave site as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but by that time the kids were collapsing from the heat and the walk so we didn't actually see the changing of the guard or anything.  I know I say this every time, but we'll have to go back in the fall when the crowds and the heat die down a little bit.  I'm still so glad we chose to go there though.

Extra bonus!  We accidentally saw the President driving in to give a speech!  Technically Kimball was the only one who actually saw him.  I was too busy trying to find the record button on my new phone, but I still think it counts for the both of us.

After the Cemetery Kimball and the kids met up with the Veeches to watch the parade while I saw museums with Mo and Letti.  I don't know how Kimball felt about the arrangements, but I had a great day.  Letti wore a pedometer the whole time and said they walked nearly 12 miles that day.  Ugg.  So exhausting, but we had such a great time!  Glad I could tag along.

I've decided my favorite war memorial is for the Korean War.  Seeing it at night was a little spooky, but very beautiful.  There are 19 statues of Soldiers scattered in a triangle shape.  They are positioned so that while you are standing in the monument one of them always has your back.  One of the engravings says "Freedom is not Free".  A little dark and heavy, but I really liked it.

We finished the visits off by taking Mo and Letti to the beach.  I've decided I love taking the kids to Chesapeake Bay.  Turns out military gets in for free so we don't have to worry about the ridiculous admission fee!

Thanks to everyone for the visit!  We had such a great time!

All Grown Up

Just a quick congratulations to Kaden.  Not only is he graduating Kindergarten this week, but he just recently lost his front tooth.  I love seeing that gaping hole in his smile!

I Love Mother's Day

Most of you probably know that I have a serious addiction to entering contests.  I never pay money or anything, but the spam in my email account can attest to the fact that I enter nearly every contest I come across.  In case you were wondering: No.  I didn't win the hgtv dreamhome this year, but I'm gearing up for the next one!

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with Mother's Day.  Well I'll tell you.  I finally won something!  I won an overnight stay at a resort, a $200 gift card and two 4 day 3 night getaways to other sister resorts.  Can I get a Woot Woot?!

For Mother's Day we took the kids to Virginia for the overnighter.  We had a lot of fun.  Kimball and I love to play, but I think this was the first getaway we've been on with just our family for no other reason than to getaway!  The resort offered a lot of fun activities, but since these things all cost extra and we were very determined to keep our free night free we spent the whole time at the pool.

We did have to let a saleswoman show us around for an hour and a half to try and convince us to buy a timeshare, but it was worth the price.

I had a great Mother's Day!  No cooking, no cleaning, and for the most part the kids were happy.  When we got home that evening I was even bestowed with gifts the kids had made: Tissue paper flowers and a bead necklace with a J for Jocilyn on it.  I love my kiddos!

A big thanks to Kimball too.  He was a great sport changing all diapers and taking care of every crisis before I had to step in.  Thanks Babe!  I love you!