Day 3 Solomon's

Satuday morning was great. We got out and did our kayaking in the morning. It was definitely a little more serious kayaking this morning as we were out with the big boats and we were the little guys. I know what it feels like to be a small fish in a big pond. Brenna was tandem with me and was very upset about it! She felt she was big enough and strong enough to go in a single kayak. So, she refused to do much of anything other than pout the whole time. And because we were out on the bay, I was a prisoner to it, unable to walk away, I had no ear pieces to tune her out with; she didn't make it one of my finer trips. Oh well, but I know my Pagley boys had a fun time of it.

In the afternoon we went to the Calvert Marine Museum. It was actually a cute, little museum. It had a lighthouse that we were able to go up into and see what it might have looked like in the light keeper's time. It was really interesting and neat. We walked through the history of boats; it was actually neat to see the progression from the primitive boats made out of a log to the more advanced sailboats of today. They had an aquarium piece attached to the museum as well which was neat. They actually had the snakehead fish that found its way into the Potomac in 2004 on display. They had otters that were really cute swimming around. I only say cute because they were behind a glass wall.

And the best part of the museum was that they were able to tell the kids what kind of sharks teeth they had found on the beach yesterday. They brought their teeth with them and spent about a half hour trying to identify the type of shark from which their teeth came.

At one point, I came around a corner and found half of the kids sitting and listening to a summary of the war of 1812 and a light display of where the two opposing forces forged to to try and gain victory using the bay. I was shocked that these active kids would sit and listen to that as I couldn't even get them to half appreciate the art gardens from a day ago. Very interesting. We were still there at closing time and Tobin even said to me, "I wish we didn't have to leave now. And I feel like I had to rush through the museum because we came so close to closing time. Next time...." Next time!! I thought it was great that Tobin would want to come again and I will certainly take him up on that offer!

Day 2 Solomon's Island

On Friday morning we woke up leisurely. There is nothing like sleeping in a king size bed. I didn't even know that both Brenna and Noah were in the bed with me. Luxury! I know one day I'll be sad that my kids don't want to cuddle and sleep with me, but right now I'd be soooo happy if that were the case.

We went to Breezy Point to look for sharks teeth. Tobin is quite enthralled with this acitivity and spent most of his time on the hot sand looking for sharks teeth. Drew, Tobin's friend, was the one who turned Tobin on to this activity and they liked doing it together. He found quite a bit of teeth and was so pleased. Noah was also invested in looking for sharks teeth and actually found one of the biggest of the day. When he found something he felt was noteworthy, he would call out, "Mrs. Thompson, look what I found!" Or he would say, "Look at this, what is it?" when he found something he thought was bone or something sharky. And Brenna quickly abandoned the sharks teeth for the water. She had a great time at the edge playing around.

After a while the heat pushed everyone into the water. Tobin, Noah, and Brenna (my 3), along with Drew and Alexa (my friend's 2) played so well together in the water. They played marco polo, hand stands, and splashed around. The water was its usual August temperature, but cool compared to the sand and the temperature.

It was really hot with no shade, so we only stayed about two hours. Brenna lost her nice flip flops the last five minutes we were there? Only Brenna could do that.



That afternoon, Andy arrived in time for our kayaking trip on the river! This was probably our most fun kayaking trip, but our least amount of kayaking, if that makes sense. The boys were given to bouts of silliness and naughtiness! Tobin's friend Drew is like Tobin in many ways; they have a penchant for wanting to make people laugh and instigating with younger siblings. I knew I had to not be so serious about this trip and I ended up laughing quite a bit.

At one point, Tobin thought he would latch on to me in the back of my kayak without me knowing. It worked and it dawned on me that I was having a harder time paddling. So, I dug in harder and with more determination to catch up to the others. Finally, I heard this laughter behind me and I turned around to find Tobin laughing hysterically. I laughed too. In fact, once I started I couldn't stop. I was so glad to know that it wasn't my delusional thinking and that I actually had a squatter causing me to slow down. It was really funny.

The boys tried to make obstacle courses in the water. They wanted to go around poles, under docks, and bump into each other's boats. Yes, I'm sure you can see why we didn't get very far that night. But I loved the laughter and will take that any day over all.

Kayaking pictures will come later!

Solomon's Island

Our friends, the Thompsons invited us to Solomon's Island for most of last week. I had never been to Solomon's Island and was delighted to accept the invitation. I knew we were up for a little summer fun. We drove there on Wednesday to stay through the weekend. I love exploring places I have never been to before and I knew that my friend was a wonderful go-getter who would have our time planned to maximize the potential of this small island.

When we drove around Solomon's that first day, I was completely surprised at how small it was. For a place that has such a name, it was rather small and quaint. I feel like we got the best of Solomon's during our sojourn there. The first morning, we did a kayak trip down the river (it leads to the bay). We had a fantastic time and I was paired up with Noah. Noah and I were completely in sync within minutes of being paired up. I knew what he was going to do before he did it becuase I quickly realized our thoughts formed the same way. When he was going to keep his paddle on one side or the other for an extra pull, I was ready. In short, we were absolutely great partners! But, Noah desperately wanted to ride in a single kayak. Tobin and his friend Drew each had their own and Noah just knew he could do it too!! As luck would have it, Drew's sister was ready to go tandem with someone about half way through and Noah traded her his tandem spot (with me) for her single. He did great. We ended up kayaking to a dead end and we saw a nest of herons. A darling little baby blue heron was perched on a tree branch while a white heron stood at the shore. Noah wanted to go to the white heron, but it was in too shallow of water, so we watched it pretty close.

Tobin and Drew disappeared behind this grassy marshland pathway for a little while. Noah tried to get me to venture there, but I really didn't want to go in there and get stuck. I have no idea what mischief Drew and Tobin got into back there, and I'm not sure I really want to know, but they came back laughing.

That afternoon, we headed out to an art museum and art gardens. The kids were not impressed, but I loved two things about AnnMarie Gardens. One, was that all of the art was done by local artists which is incredibly amazing when you see all of their talents in one room. The other was that some one had the brillant idea to make it interactive. During the gallery walk there were two notebooks that asked the guests questions that related to the art and you were supposed to write your answers right into the book. Some of the questions were really great. Some were: Who is your anchor and why? This was right next to artwork done with an anchor. Another was, Which landscape do you like and why? It was a 1/4 mile walk of art. They had borrowed some art from the Hirschorn and some from some other Smithsonian museums. We, Bettina and I, loved the walk, the kids definitely not so much. I thought they would like it once we got outside and walking around, but no, we were managing their behavior much of the time.



We walked up to one piece and Noah says, "look, it's Stonehenge." While I was impressed with his connection, the other kids jumped on him with comments of how silly was he, Stonehenge was in England, blah blah blah!!! But we added some of our own art to the stones. I hope you like it.





The girl in this picture with my Brenna also happens to be named Brenna!! At one point, Brenna had run up ahead without telling me and so I was calling her name telling her to come back! As we walked by this family, they asked me if my daughter's name was Brenna. When I replied yes they smiled and said that their daughter's name was Brenna!! Small world and of course, I had to get a picture.



At the end of the walk, the kids were beyond done when we saw this quiet grove. We told the kids (thinking they would get rid of some energy) to go into the grove and make their own art. This is what they came up with.

More Visitors

Tobin was able to swim breast stroke in divisionals. He had a pretty good time, but it wasn't his fastest overall. What was great though was that my dad and Marie were able to come up for the day. They saw Tobin swim in his 30 seconds of glory! My dad and Marie were really good sports to stay out in the heat for about two hours for a 30 second race. Then they also went to the swim team banquet that night. It was a crazy night becuase it poured rain and we had to run to the pavillion for cover, then we decided to move the banquet to our church, and setting up all the chairs and everything took quite a while. It was so nice though to have a place big enough for all of us. Again, my dad and Marie were such great sports to do go to a banquet when they didn't know a single child other than ours. We had a great time together. And then my dad and Marie were off to the beautiful caribbean.

Summer Visitors

My high school friends, Dave and Karlee came with their family to visit us. They have been living in Italy for the last three years and are moving out west. Karlee and I were roommates in college, so I was really excited to see them and reminesce over good times as well as get our children together. Karlee and I even taught one year together at a middle school.

It was like we had never left college. We had a lot of great laughs and fun times. We spent a lot of our time looking at houses on the internet to see what was available as they headed out west. I can hardly believe the difference in the prices of houses in the different areas of the country. They were looking at some beautiful houses that would be way out of our league here, but were we to move there, we could easily afford to live in those houses. I mean beautiful houses!! Karlee knew And we spent a lot of time on Youtube!! Every one of us had some video we knew of that we loved and wanted to share. We had a great time. We tried to get to a furniture store (Great Stuff) that I wanted to show Karlee and she had actually seen it listed in all of her housing magazines. But unfortunately we weren't able to get there due to time constraints. I can't wait to get out to the west coast to see them in their new home. Karlee and Dave, mi casa is su casa!

Are you sitting down?

I am not a do it yourself kind of girl. In fact, I would love it if I could have everything done for me. I would love it if someone would do my hair every day. I would love it if someone would decorate my house for me. I would love it if someone would keep my car clean for me. I would love it if someone would help me remember my appointments; I could definitely live like royalty.

So, I amaze myself when I even think that I might attempt the following for my future dining room (the one I will sometime within the next two years move into). Gotta start planning now. The good thing is I have two years to figure it out and get it right. And it's inexpensive enough that I can do a few trial runs. I just think it will be a great way to express our personality with decorating. Without furhter ado, here is a picture of what I would like to attempt.



Anyone want to do it for me?

The Sky Must be Falling.

These are some of my favorite pictures of Noah and Brenna from this summer. I love how blue the sky is and rarely see it this color in photos. It makes me think the sky must be falling. I love though how it surrounds the kids.