July 4th!!!

Well, since it's technically still July, I'm not THAT late with this post.  Patrick's family came to our house to celebrate the holiday.

Nathaniel with his great grandpa (aka Pepe) (Patrick's mom's father)

Uncle Damien has the touch...

We played several rounds of bocce.

Camille and Mikey had a blast together.

Seriously, how cute is that outfit?!?  (yes I know Mikey's cute too)

The girls decided to play dress up.

We ordered crabs.  This was the first time I've ever ordered crabs to serve at my house.  I'm from PA.  We don't do such things there.  The Maryland crew were all pros at picking out the meat.

Adeline, unsure if she is scared of the dead crab....oh, and yes, still playing dress up.

Desmyn holding Nathaniel (he peed on her the first time they met right after we got home from the hospital.  She forgave him...)

The kids had their own table.

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If you know my children AT ALL, you don't even have to ask if we saw any loud, bright, scary  fireworks after bedtime.  

Port Discovery

Thanks to our awesome friends, Chris and Missy, we had some free tickets to Port Discovery, a kids' museum in Baltimore.  We took our friends, the Fixes (also known as Mr. Fix, Mrs. Fix, Rock, and Louisa).  What a blast!

After karaoke (sorry, no pix), we went to explore the land of Paul Bunyan, where we...

...built a log cabin,

and stood in his footprints.

Princess Camille (aka "Cindawella")

The kids loved painting...

Nathaniel was just taking it all in...

 ...except when he was sleeping.

 One of our favorite activities was the gas station/convenience store.

Who needs a cart?

Louisa (one going on 16), "driving" the car at the gas station.

Our attempt at a picture of all the kids in the train...

Giant light bright....SO COOL!

 You can't tell from the picture just how fun this was, BUT, a projector reflected pictures of leaves, water, etc.  When the kids would walk or jump in the oval, the leaves would scatter, water would ripple, or lilly pads would move.

 Time for a little quiet time to read and build.

This is my best attempt at taking a picture to show you the inside of the museum.  The center is just a giant, three story play area to climb and slide.  Adeline went through this tunnel with her daddy.

Another super fun room was the "water room."  No, that is not Adeline standing with her daddy.  It was too scary for her.  This is a random younger girl who wanted to try it...

This hoop rests in a trough of bubbles.  When you pull the rope, you are enclosed in a giant bubble.  So cool!!!  If you look behind Patrick, you can see the bubble coming up from the ground.

This display showed the water cycle.

Our last stop was the diner.  The girls had such fun taking our orders, making the food, and checking us out at the register.  So well done.

Adeline was not shy about letting this boy know she needed a piece of bread for her mommy's sandwich.

What a great day!!!