Sweaty, hot, and happy

Saturday was hot and muggy but we were committed to our "explore Baltimore" agenda.  

So we went to Cylburn Arboretum  

The park includes a mansion built in 1888, beautiful gardens, and a nature center

The mansion and nature center were both closed, so we just walked around the grounds

We'll have to go back in the spring- I'm sure it will be magnificent.

Jilly found her very special jack-o-lantern necklace and assigned me to wear it all day 

(just in case you were wondering...)

Jilly rang this (very loud) bell about 20 times before we had to drag her away

hello humidity

I can count on one hand the number of pictures of just Bryan and me since Jilly was born.  I asked Jilly to snap a picture of us and what do you know- girl's got skillz.  

We were all slick and sweaty by the time we made it back to the car

Both girls were happily soothed to sleep by the blasting A/C

The rest of our day included yard work, Five Guys, and a sweet BYU victory.

Not a bad day at all.

seven on sunday

ONE- I am scared to death of downtown Baltimore.  I'm not the most confident driver- especially when it comes to skinny lanes, traffic, surprise one-way roads, and the possibility of losing service and being completely lost without my phone.  But I put on my brave pants and took the girls down to the harbor for a pirate story time on a real pirate ship (or at least that's what I told Jilly.)  After story time we walked around Fell's Point, which is a charming old neighborhood.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and not difficult at all- Baltimore, you're all mine.

TWO- We have a new Tuesday tradition.  Free kids meals + entertainment for Jilly in Smaland + stuffed animal heaven + I can always find something I NEED to buy.  Ikea has won us over.

THREE- Mattie had her first ultrasound this week.  When we went to her new pediatrician she noticed Mattie had a heart murmur.  This is pretty normal in little kids but since we were new patients she wanted to check it out so she sent us for an echo (basically an ultrasound of her heart.)  It was one of the most unpleasant hours I've spent in my life.  Mattie was not at all interested in sitting still for over an hour and not thrilled to have the goo and wand all over her chest.  I had to use every trick in my book (by the end I was feeding her smarties I dug out from the depths of my bag that were who-knows-how-old.)  But we survived and stopped at McDs on the way home to celebrate.  Mattie was way more interested in my DP than the ice cream I got for her (turns out she's my daughter.)  Happily the results came back totally clear for our sweet kissy-faced girl.

FOUR- Last Saturday Bryan's office had a family picnic at his co-worker's house which is right on the bay.  Even though it rained most of the time we had fun playing games, eating, fishing, and playing with their toys.

FIVE- We had to run some errands one day and Jilly insisted on bringing her Book of Mormon around with us- my little missionary.  Also, her word of the week is "totally" which is kind of killing me.  "That is totally cute," "Mattie is totally awake," "We are totally going to have fun at the library"

SIX- We went to our first Orioles game on Friday.  My parents, Tyler, Beth, and Katie and Neal came up to go with us and we had a great time, we even got to see a grand slam! (by the O's of course)

SEVEN- On Saturday we went to Sandy Point State Park, which is a beach on the Chesapeake bay.  We had a great day relaxing and soaking just a bit more sun and sand out of summer.  

There are few things sweeter than a Sunday night before a Monday holiday.  Happy Labor Day!

home sweet home

We signed a year lease for our townhome. Sometimes I'm terribly sad that we'll have to leave this house in a year and sometimes I am counting down those 365 (now about 300) days.  Here are a few reasons why:

+ Basement/Playroom- it took a little getting used to but we love having all the toys downstairs.  The door to the basement is right next to the kitchen so the girls can play down there while I'm cooking dinner (theoretically- they have yet to figure this out and leave me alone for a few minutes to get an actual meal on the table.)  The basement is also the coolest (temperature-wise, and possibly in the figurative sense too) place in the house so Bryan escapes down there quite often as well.

+ China Cabinet- we never saw the house in person before moving, but we did see lots of pictures and when I saw this built-in China Cabinet I knew it had to be ours.

+ Wood floors, crown molding, tile, granite counters, ceiling fans in every bedroom- I love the beautiful features in this home.  Granted, the floors come at a price.  They are old and crrrreaky.  There's absolutely no sneaking around at night, you can hear every single step.  (Consequently we are planning on moving back here when the girls are between the ages of 14 and 18.)

+ Only one bathroom (well, there is a second bathroom, but it doesn't have a shower, is in the basement, and is kind of scary- I personally choose to avoid it though Jilly thinks it's awesome.)  For the most part this isn't a huge deal, but when we have visitors (and we better have lots because Baltimore is a cool place!) it will be pretty tight.  On the bright side, that's only one bathroom I have to clean.

(this is the normal bathroom; and yes, that's a black toilet...not odd at all)

+ Each door has a different trick to get it to close completely.  And, even with knowing the trick, you are not assured success.  Mattie's door is the worst, and there's nothing more frustrating than getting her peacefully in bed then having to try 15 times to get the stinking door closed.

+ We have a park at the end of our street.  Let me repeat: at the end of our street.  This is HUGE for us.  I can't even describe how wonderful it is to be able to walk down for a few minutes of swinging and sliding any time we want.

Super Saturday

Baltimore is such an exciting place to live.  There are so many fun things to do close by, and then a million amazing places to visit just a few hours away.  (NYC, we're coming for you!)  And we have suddenly found ourselves not spending every Saturday wandering Home Depot/ doing house projects (the joy of renting!)  So we've made an effort to use our Saturdays well.  Last Saturday I had a baby shower to go to so we didn't have a ton of time but we found a little hike to Kilgore Falls about 45 minutes away.  The weather was perfect, the hike was nice and easy, and we all had a great time.

^We read that Kilgore Falls is the second tallest waterfall in the state to which Bryan said, "So Maryland isn't exactly known for its waterfalls."

^ mini camelback for the win 

^ at first Mattie was content eating trail mix with me, but then she decided she wanted in on the fun (Bryan and Jilly were playing in the freeeeezing water.) 

^ no chance of losing Rainbow Bright out in the wilderness 

^View at the top of the falls, I was hyperventilating just a bit that one or all of us were going to fall down it

I love you Baltimore

Will the Hairspray references ever get old?  I would say no, but Bryan most likely would disagree.  I even caught Jilly singing "Good Morning Baltimore!" this morning so I'd say my work here is done.

On Saturday we headed to Baltimore's Inner Harbor for the afternoon.  Bryan and I went about 6 years ago with my family, and it was so fun to take our girls this time to explore our new city.

 First stop: Carousel.  We think Mattie liked it, but her expression remained stoic the whole ride.

We walked pretty much the entire harbor from one end to the other.  There were lots of shops, boats, and great people-watching; there was an anime convention that weekend so tons of people were dressed up- some fun, some scary, and some that forced us to cover the girls' eyes.  We checked out the lighthouse, which was quite small but neat to see (and free!)  

After walking and walking and walking we took a break at Barnes & Noble and let the girls play while we enjoyed the A/C.  Then we got a ginormous and delicious waffle bowl of ice cream to share.

Lastly we let the girls play in the Splash Pad.  We hadn't brought swimsuits and at first Jilly was very hesitant to get her dress wet but eventually she just went for it and loved it.  Mattie wasn't quite as crazy and brave, but she definitely got splashed.

We stripped off their soaking dresses and took our happy, wet girls home.  We have many more Baltimore adventures to come I'm sure.

Good Morning Baltimore

Ch-Ch Changes are happening around here.  

We're moving.  Across the country.  To Baltimore.

Bryan was offered a job at NMP Consulting, 

and in just a few weeks we'll head out to our new Maryland home.

About half of our stuff (okay, maybe a quarter) is packed and our house is sold

(thankfully we got an offer after only 4 days because selling a home is a real treat.)

There are a million and one things we'll miss about Sacramento

Top on that list is being so close to Bryan's parents
And next is all of our dear friends.

And there are a million and one things to be excited about in Baltimore.

Fireflies, snow, trees, and- best of all- being close to my family
(Bryan says to cross out snow.)

I can't even begin to count the emotions I've felt in the past few weeks,
but most of all I've felt grateful.
Grateful for the four years we've had here,
and grateful for our exciting new adventure.