USA Summer Tour: Maryland and Virginia

Our second week home was spent down in my home state of Maryland (with a little Virginia thrown in). I loved visiting the city where I grew up with the kids and spending time with family and my oldest friends.

A very early morning flight down to DC, Maeve knows how to do this travel thing:

Straight from the airport to the Batemans' new home to meet baby Zelda! I'm pretty sure we arrived before 9am :) 

Then a drive south through rural Maryland (and the Maryland Amish communities- who knew!), to Aimee and Michael's new house to squeeze on their brand new twins and meet big brother. When I was helping feed sweet Henry for the second time, I realized we may have over stayed our welcome! But they were the calmest new parents of twins! The kids had SO much fun playing outside in the water and in the tricked out basement. I mean, an indoor kiddie roller coaster?! They really didn't want to leave and neither did we for fear that it will be another 5+ years until we are all together again!

Maeve loving on James, he was smiling after :) 

From one middle/high school friend's home to another, we drove north to Ellicott City to Jessica and Matt's. The kids were so excited to be reunited with Naomi and Lucy. In the afternoon, they hosted a small high school get together (dang childhood communicable diseases kept a few friends home). Their neighbors had a sweet Mercedes toy car they could ride in- don't get used to luxury, kids! 

What is with our kids and their cuddling?!

Pete and I snuck out at nap time to check out their local brewery, Manor Hills and pick up some beer for the BBQ. Beautiful farm setting and good beer. 

On Monday we visited a local state park with auntie Rach. These two were so cute on the trail! 

From Ellicott city we drove to Frederick and spent the morning at the Quinn's pool before heading to the South Mountain Creamery. This dairy farm has a daily afternoon feeding of their calves, which kids can partake in. It was a popular activity and we had to share a cow. The kids got to feed it a huge bottles of milk and then we all got to enjoy their ice cream- the best of the trip- grasshopper (mint icecream with oreos). 

We stayed the rest of the week at a rental farm house near Smithsburg with Nana and Pops. We got to see a few old family friends of my parents, Ken and Sue and Wally and Barb and more of aunt Rach, Gretch and the Bakers in Frederick. 

   

Awesome skies over the farm with summer thunder storms.

Winery with Sue and Ken

S'mores night!

Catching fireflies

Morning spent at Greenbriar State Park, trying to catch the little fish

Local scenery near the farm house

We had a full day spent in Frederick- morning at Baker Park, lunch at Pizza and Pretzel Creations and then Nana and Pops drove the kids back to the farm so they could rest, while Pete and I spent the day shopping, checking out the new Visitor Center, brewery hopping with Rach and going out to dinner downtown. It felt really good to be back in Frederick, remembering how great it was to grow up there. We spent a lot of time on this trip back to the states thinking about where we would want to settle and we haven't ruled Frederick out! In the movie at the visitor center, the history of Frederick county was highlighted, with German immigrants coming to the area and buying farmland, writing back home of the paradise that America was. I was struck by how much has seemed to change.... and how now we write to friends telling them about the promised land that is Holland/Europe. 

Alive at Five on Carrol Creek

Dinner date

On our last night in town, we took the kids with Nana and Pops to see the Frederick Keys baseball game, something I grew up doing. Their interest in the game was nil, but there was a great kids corner with bouncy house/slide, carousel and games. 

Pizza before the game

That's Maeve under there!

Jude loved this thing!

On our last day in the area, we went to the annual Carney Family reunion in Northern Virginia. This was the second year we've rented these beautiful facilities with a resort-style pool, big club house and a pond for boating. Well it poured all day long so the fun was inside instead. 11 kids under the age of 8! They loved it and the adults drank to drown out all the noise :) A really nice time to catch up and reconnect with my dad's side of the family. We stayed the night at my cousin Meghan's house. Her son is Jude's age they were such good buddies again, just like last year! And Brielle enjoyed having Maeve around to help take care of!

Controlled (?) chaos

Some downtime for the girls

The boys scheming

All 11 of them, missing Peyton!

The Clan

USA Summer Tour: Portland, Maine

Hello! It has been a long, long time since I have blogged! We are just back from our 5 week trip to the States. It was so fun, so busy and my computer died the first week, hence the delay. A lot to catch up on so here we go!

We started the trip in a spot near and dear to our hearts, the place where Pete and I met, the great state of Maine (state motto: "the way life should be"-amen). We hadn't been in 5 years, when I was just pregnant with Jude and after missing our 10 year college reunion, I really wanted to find a way to return. When our dear family friends Karin and Allen (of the jumperoo fame!) offered us their apartment in Portland (and a promise of some free babysitting), we jumped at the opportunity. Nana and Pops wanted to join so we could spend more time together. We could not have asked for better weather for the week! We fell in love all over again.

There was way more to do than we had time for!

Portland's Farmer's Market

Portland Farmer's Market

Visit with the Gogolaks:

Nana snuggles:

Little Bowdoin reunion of our own at Mara's and getting to meet Liliana, Landon and Aiden! 

Playtime at the Eastern Promenade:

All fun and games...

...until Maeve takes a tumble and cuts under her chin on some playground equipment. To Urgent Care and then the ER we go for glue stitches (you aren't a Durning kid unless you have had your face stitched with glue :( ). I'd say she was a trooper and handled it great, but that would be a lie. To her credit, she was very jet-lagged, didn't get any dinner and was up 2+ hours past her bedtime through the whole ordeal. 

Iphone to the rescue

By the next morning, it was like nothing had ever happened to her, thank goodness! Back to fun:

Baking English Muffins with Karin:

A visit from the bunny rabbit:

Being totally overwhelmed in an American grocery store:

Visit with the Soper-Coxes

Checking out the coast and eating lobster rolls at Two Lights:

Evening Strolls and Playtime in the gorgeous Fort Williams Park:

Requisite visit to LLBean

A too-brief tour around Bowdoin:

Lunch at Big Top of course:

Date night back in Portland. Pete was impressed with the burgeoning craft beer scene (in Maine and honestly everywhere on our trip!). If you want to know what Pete misses most about America, this is it!

Morning at Wolf's Neck Farm, which looks like a sweet place to come for a camping trip in the future!

Portland Children's Museum with Daddy and again later in the week with Pops: 

Morning at Ferry beach. Perfect beach day, freezing cold water! 

More time with Erin (AKA "dos"): 

Dinner out with Cory, Mike and Jen. 

Walking to Tandem for cheddar/jalapeno scones:

Nana and Pops left a day before us, so we spent our final day brewery hopping:

Rising Tide

Bissel Brothers

And the afternoon at the park/splash pool with Cory, Mike and Ben. The kids did not care that the water was ice cold! 

Karin babysat on our final night so we could join Cory and Mike for dinner. It was so sweet watching her fed Maeve her dinner!

Karin and Allen, thank you for your amazing hospitality! What a great way to start our trip: well rested, well fed and with some great memories to keep.