We have actually been away all week! We spent the entire time enjoying all the wonders that Walt Disney World has to offer. We’re exhausted and ready for some real rest (because, really, how can you rest when taking a toddler to Disney World?). Tomorrow I have another crafternoon to go to, but after that I promise to share loads upon loads of photos!
My original plan this weekend was to finish a few projects at home and MAYBE work on CT’s quilt. MAYBE. Of course that didn’t happen, plans are made to be broken right?
Well as it seems lately, we’ve become quite popular, haha. Or everyone is sick of their other friends and family and we are their last resort. I’m cool with either option!
We ended up spending Saturday with family here and there, mostly my Father in law. CT got to enjoy one of those indoor bouncy castle places. She is a very energetic child, so these places are AMAZING! She lets out a bunch of energy and gets to see loads of kids, nice ones and mean ones. It’s a pretty even mix and she doesn’t care either way.
We had Mexican food for lunch, which for me was awesome! Ever since I found out gluten makes me sick we haven’t really been enjoying our favorite foods. It was just easier to make things at home, or get a hamburger sans bun while out. I finally just gave in and got something different I knew I could eat. We were also treated to some frozen yogurt, another favorite of the entire family. Oh and the place kinda close by (Tutti Frutti) has soy, gluten free fro-yo! Again, awesome for me and my lactose issues!!
Sunday we tried the whole calm day thing again, that didn’t last long at all, actually it didn’t last past 9am.
Target had a whole new line of goods come out Sunday as part of their “The Shops at Target” series. I usually end up missing all the neat things that come out because people normally ransack the stores the first day. I didn’t want to miss out this time, especially since Curiosity Shoppe was one of the featured sellers. They use to stock Art School Dropout goods before I went on “maternity leave” and cut back on wholesale, so I thought it was super duper neat to see their name in a huge store!! Anyway, our Target wasn’t done stocking by 9am and I was determined to get something.
I had posted online that I was going to try out one of the other stores in our area. Katie, who lives close by, said that her family was headed the same way for the same reason. We enjoy their company and they suggested walking around a bit and having lunch afterwards, so of course we said yes. CT gets along really well with her little ones, and is STILL talking about them right now!
I ended up only picking up a few small pieces from the Curiosity Shoppe line, I used restraint. I really wanted more. I also really want a few pieces from the Patch NYC line, but I’ve already blown my budget, oh well.
We parted ways with Katie and her family after lunch and thought our day was done. We were wrong AGAIN! While CT and my husband were taking naps I got a message from Molly saying her and her husband were in the area and would we like to get dinner? I was hesitant at first because of how exhausted everyone might be, but I really like seeing Molly so in the end we went. I’m glad we did too! We had Mexican again (I haven’t had it in months so of course I’m going to want it more than one night in a row, duh) Of course we enjoyed the company and stayed WAY too long! It’s nice talking to adults, especially ones who have the same taste as you in most areas. I think it was almost 9pm when we got home. A bit late for us, but worth it.
So as you can see from my very long post, I DID NOT have a calm weekend of sitting around and quilting. But you know what? I enjoyed myself way more than I would have with our original plan. I’m very thankful for all the invites and new friends. A HUGE Thank You to everyone who helped contribute to our awesome weekend!!
(oh and as for the photo in this post, It’s not as random as it seems. I took it during our drive back from Target Sunday, isn’t it pretty? That’s right down the street from us! I’m still surprised at how pretty it is living out in the country, you don’t get these views in the city)
This past Saturday we headed down to Baltimore (with a detour past Columbia to pick up my little brother) to visit the National Aquarium. We use to go every so often when we lived in the city, before CT showed up. I’ve been talking about how much I wanted to go back for awhile.
We chose a horribly hot day to visit. The walk from the parking garage to the aquarium alone was ridiculous. Then once we got to the ticket line we saw that there was a TWO AND A HALF HOUR WAIT! ugh. We ended up walking around some shops in the Inner Harbor to kill time. After an hour and a half we decided to just sit and wait, CT was already looking tired and the fun stuff was still to come. It was too hot so we ended up upgrading our regular tickets to a year long membership so we could get in right away. It made our trip more expensive than we had planned, but now we can go back during the cooler months.
The first thing we ended up doing was the dolphin show. It was in a cool arena with seats! We needed the rest. Since it was a Saturday, the dolphin show was shorter than usual. We didn’t get to see them do all the cool jumps and such. CT still enjoyed it and is still talking about those dolphins!! She even picked out a stuffed dolphin in the gift shop that she now sleeps with every night.
After the show we headed out into the main part of the aquarium. Oh my was it crazy, there was so many people that CT couldn’t walk without getting trampled over. She had to be carried, pretty much the entire time!! I have been to the Aquarium dozens and dozens of times my entire life and I have never seen it this crazy! I guess as locals my family knew when the best time to go was? When you live outside the city for a certain amount of time, you forget how crazy it can get in the summer. We learned our lesson. There are many awesome exhibits at the national Aquarium, some of the best in the country, and within two hours we got to see FOUR!!
The four we saw were as awesome as I remembered. The jellyfish exhibit was beautiful! I had seen the same exhibit when I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2008, but it was still neat to see it locally. Plus CT got to see real jellyfish! We have been talking about jellyfish a lot lately.
The sting ray tank was super cool and had a bunch of divers interacting with them. There was also a huge turtle swimming around, CT really liked him (her?).
There is also the entire top floor which is supposed to mimic a rain forest, we saw another turtle and a bunch of birds. That was always my favorite part of every aquarium trip.
The last exhibit was the dark shark tank that you walk down huge ramps to see. CT did not like the sharks, she said they were too scary. That was also about the time that we noticed just how tired she was.
We figured we have a year membership now, so if we missed anything cool, that we could just come back in a couple of months and see it with less people around. Maybe even try a day during the week when the crowd is just a bunch of kids on field trips, not frustrated/tired parents and screaming babies. The funniest and kinda saddest part though, if you ask CT what she saw at the aquarium her first response is “lots of people”, then she says dolphins and turtles.
After the aquarium we decided to drive around since we hadn’t been back to the city in awhile. We drove by the space (just to see what the outside looks like now) and we drove past the first place I lived on my own in Hampden. We also stopped by Atomic Books and Double Dutch (I bought some toys).
It was nice seeing it all, but it reminded me just how much I love living in the country! Baltimore will always have a place in my heart, the city gave me a lot of what I have now, but that doesn’t mean I want to ever live there again. I’m a lot less anxious these days, and I think thats why, haha. (just to be clear, everyone feels different about where is right to live, I’m not bashing city living, it’s just not for my family)
I know I complained a bunch about this trip, but CT didn’t know just how miserable the whole thing was. She loved it all and she really wants to go back. We definitively learned our lesson though, and will plan the rest of our weekend family outings for the fall. The heat and crowds are just too much in the Summer. I still want to visit Port Discovery, the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo and then of course visit my absolute favorite place, The National Zoo!! So we’ll head to all those come October, or later.
I know I’ve asked this before and got a few awesome responses, but does anyone else have suggestions for places to take a toddler that are super fun?
Pin ItThis past weekend was one of those weekends where you want an extra day “off” just so you can recover. I work from home, I’m home all the time, but that doesn’t mean that weekends aren’t as special to me. Weekends mean that there is TWO sets of eyes watching CT, which is really nice. Weekends also mean lots of errand running and spending time with the people we really like.
This past weekend was no exception. We were supposed to spend Saturday morning at the MVA, trying to get me a drivers license (fun fact: I don’t drive!). Those plans changed the night before because I didn’t have all the information needed and I wasn’t really feeling too great. You really need to feel your best to deal with the MVA. So instead I spent most of Saturday dealing with one of the worst migraines I’ve had in a long time!
I didn’t spend my ENTIRE day in bed! around 4 we headed up to Heidi’s monthly Crafternoon. My migraine had subsided slightly, but I still felt out of sorts. This months project was carving stamps that we then used to decorate some reusable tote bags. (the only photo I took was the one above, sorry its an Instagram photo, I just wasn’t feeling like myself) I somehow finished my stamp with only a little cut on my finger. I thought about it on the way home and I have no idea how I didn’t cut my entire finger off!! Who carves with sharp knives when feeling tired? Apparently I do!!
I loved seeing everyone as usual. I also got to enjoy three awesome gluten free deserts that were made because some of the girls knew I couldn’t have any. How sweet is that!?!? The girls who come to these crafternoons are seriously some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It’s awesome! Thank you Heidi!!
We had to leave a little early because first off, it was close to CT’s bedtime and we were an hour away from home plus we had family coming Sunday and we needed to tidy up a bit (aka clean for the first time in two weeks). Instead when we got home we got sucked into watching the new Nerdist specials on BBC America. I totally recommend them!!
We woke up way to early Sunday and “tidied up”. My sister in law and brother in law, along with their three kids came up to visit for the a bit. It was awesome!! CT was so excited to see her cousins and I was happy to have family over. Our weekends get so crazy that sometimes we don’t get to see the people we want to see, so days like this are nice. We had a little barbecue, I got to play with my little baby nephews and CT had the best day ever! (in her words).
The family left early in the afternoon so we tried to spend the rest of the day relaxing, we kinda succeeded, as much as you can with a toddler I guess…
I think I caught a cold somewhere along the way and seriously did NOT want to get out of bed this morning. Their building a house next door, and we had painters fixing our bay window at 6:30, so sleeping in wasn’t really an option! Maybe tomorrow?
I’m thinking next weekend we MAY try and go to the aquarium, it all depends on how exhausted we are by Friday night!!
I’m sorta, kinda, in the DC and Baltimore area. Both cities are pretty close. Do any of you have suggestions for neat, indoor, things we could do with a toddler on the weekends? Something all of us could enjoy? I’m waiting until Fall to visit all the outdoor places, So I guess I could take suggestions for those too.
