Last weekend we took a little 3 day trip to the Outer Banks. It was super-nice weather the first day so we dug in the sand and collected shells on the beach in the morning, took a little walk in the dunes at Jockey's Ridge after that and played on the playground. Because the next day was full of rain. So we took a ride to the aquarium and around the island a little bit. And yes, we all went a little bit insane. Even a trip to the junk store for coloring books and souvenirs and another trip for frozen yogurt didn't totally solve the problem. Still, we survived and it was all-in-all a pretty good trip. 

We had a really nice visit with Brendan's brother's family last weekend. There was a winter carnival at the kids' school, a birthday party, cousins galore...

messes, home-brewed beer, a lesson in chocolate melting...

and brrrr, it was super-cold. Bunches of fun for all of us. 

Thanks to a generous gift from Brendan's mother, we spent Monday overnight to Tuesday at the Gaylord National Harbor and took the kids to see ICE.

I think though, that Johnny would have been happy with the balcony.

At some point while we were in line, our point and shoot got dropped and appeared* to be pretty broken. The lens wouldn't close or focus. So we were left with our camera phones in what turned out to be a pretty low light situation.

Poor Johnny had pretty much had it with being carried by the time we reached the ice slide, which was packed. So we left Bridget and Brendan behind to slide away while we finished up the exhibit and got warm on the other side. Bren was pretty happy to be able to go down the slide himself (we'd heard it was a kids only activity). I really would have liked to linger a little more and look at all the details of the sculptures, but it was so crowded I always felt like I was in someone's way.

The next morning we had breakfast with the Grinch. Bridget was thrilled at the sight of him (though you wouldn't know it from this photo)** and surprisingly, John really couldn't have cared less. Now, if the Grinch had touched his precious cantaloupe, there might have been a problem.

It was crazy crowded, but mostly pleasant.

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*Before the kids were both asleep, Brendan had ordered us a new camera, that is meant more for video. And sometime yesterday he had the broken camera fixed, but it was too late to cancel the order on the new camera. It was delivered today. If I hadn't seen and held the camera when it was broken myself, I'd be more suspicious -- he'd asked for the new camera prior to Christmas.

**I might be softening on my Disney stance just to see her smile (I really don't want to go)...

Over the long Columbus Day weekend, we packed up the kids and headed to Ohio to visit with Pat, Steph and the kids at their new house. Heading to the pumpkin patch has become sort of a tradition around this time, as it's always close to Hannah's birthday.

We headed to the local apple orchard, had a some delicious cider and donuts.

Johnny thought about taking a step or two.

And then we celebrated Hannah's birthday with some of her friends from school. (I love this picture because it looks like Johnny is a little ladies man!)

The kids always have such fun together (and grownups do, too).

[All the photos in the gallery]

We're back from our vacation at the cottage.

Photos of lake activities and our side trip to Niagara Falls are up in the gallery.

Yesterday, Bridget asked about one of the photos from our honeymoon that's hanging up in the dining room. It was that question that led me to pull out our our travel memorabilia. 

The photo was one from our day near Amden. In my opinion, it was easily the most picturesque place we've been. And as I've written previously, we had a lovely room and enjoyed the company of some guests and the proprietors.  But my blog post didn't reveal the name of the place we had stayed. Thus, I pulled out the big accordion folder where I keep all our travel ticket stubs, brochures, receipts and postcards. Of course, I had notepads or pamphlets from all the other Swiss places we stayed except for this one. Fortunately, we still had the big book of Minotels from the trip and this one was marked (not that there were many in the area to begin with) - The Bellevue in St. Gallen. Perfect. 

However. 

The hotel isn't a hotel anymore.  It's a Buddhist retreat. I guess that means that we won't be able to go back and visit. Not 100% a bad thing though; now we can't be disappointed that our stay the second time is not as wonderful as our first. 

Reliving some travel memories.

On Saturday we decided to play tourist and go into the city and visit the Natural History museum. Bridget requested a "dinosaur museum" and we hadn't been in a while.

When we travel, I go to great lengths to not stick out as a tourist. If I need a phrase book, I keep it in my purse and study it at night, in a bathroom stall or try and hide it under the table. If we need a map, I try and be discreet (I really like the Moon Metro series, btw). I just want to blend in. I spend a lot of time in the summer annoyed by tourists on the Metro and I don't want to be the same thing to another person. 

However, this weekend I decided that this was totally silly and whipped out the camera on the mall to snap some photos of Brendan and Bridget with the Capitol in the background. After all, we were surrounded by tourists and no one knows that we live just across the river. Plus if anyone asked, we could always pretend to be from Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Ohio. No problem. A nice lady even asked if we wanted our picture together. Sweet. 

The museum was a total hit. Once we got to looking at stuff, that is. By the time we got bags packed with diapers and lunches and the camera and the kids into the car and to the Metro station and finally to the museum we all had to hit the restroom and John was hungry. Note to nursing moms, there's a quiet spot next to the IMAX theater entrance with a single bathroom (and changing table and chair!) and benches outside. While I nursed, Bridget let loose to the totally awesome muzak that was playing:

And then, the rest of us decided we should get some lunch. So it was down to the cafeteria to eat the food we brought with us.

Now, finally, we were ready to see the museum. Bridget declared it "the best museum I ever saw."

It's almost time to take our annual trip up to the cottage. Unfortunately, it won't be  as long as we'd like but leave needs to be saved up for after the little man arrives. All three of us are really looking forward to it.