Places to go...

We have been enjoying the different museums here in the Baltimore and DC area.  We have been to quite a few now and have thoroughly enjoyed getting in free everywhere with David's company passes and a nice employee of the Newseum for his passes.

We started off with the Port Discovery Children's museum in Baltimore.  It is a huge fun place.  It is targeted for older kids...like 5-10 would be a fun age to really enjoy it.  But I thought everything was really cool too and I enjoyed playing there and climbing around helping Katelyn take in the full effect.  I may have used her as an excuse, but I had a good time.  

They have a HUGE three-story jungle gym/obstacle course that Chris and I willingly took our kids through.

From the third level there is a big slide that finished off the play place.  Katelyn and Liam even went down!

 There are different rooms/areas/zones through out the museum and the water zone is always a favorite. 

 David loved that they had spray bottles and squeegees for window cleaning training.  He was sold this was a magical place!

 You could make giant bubbles with this and we all gawked at this for a few minutes captivated by the contraption.  Bubbles were cool in nursery and are still just as mesmerizing.

 David sat with Katelyn as she created her art.  For the last few months she has loved drawing and coloring.  That is often how I keep her entertained and it was a lifesaver on our flights to and from Washington.  Sometimes during church she will sit and draw too....only sometimes.  (Nursery is so close!)

 Katelyn still loves mirrors. At our hotel in West Virginia there were big sliding mirrors on our closet and I realized that she thinks of her reflection as a friend.  She would play peek-a-boo and giggle from excitement, but she does that at home as well.  What really made me realize it was that I gave her a little bowl of cereal to snack on and she went and sat on the floor in front of the mirror.  She was playing a kicking footsie game giggling and screeching in excitement and would talk and point to her friend as she laughed trying to breathe all at the same time.  She would also try to give her cereal to her friend in the mirror as she would reach her arm out all the way to the mirror.  Her friend wouldn't take it out of her hand so Katelyn would put it on the ground and push it to her.  She was pushing the cereal into the track that the mirror door ran along and it would disappear.  Later I opened up the closet door and there were tons of pieces of Katelyn's cereal that she shared with her mirror friend.  Turns out that little friend wasn't as hungry as she seemed!

 Here's the happy campers in the mummy cave zone.  Katelyn never has been a smiley girl.

 The classic "stick your head in the hole" pictures were a little different for Liam.  He secretly likes to put on a show for his mom and dad as long as no one else is watching.

 Katelyn is the happiest queen around!

 The random horse bum was for brushing the horses tail....Katelyn thought it was interesting.

 They had a mini indoor soccer court with a beach ball soccer ball that was fun.  I got a little into it and Liam and Katelyn would run through here and there and even got knocked in the face with the ball.  It was soft and they weren't too bothered by it.  I miss playing and would so much rather play a sport to get my exercise in than plain running or exercise videos.

 Fun toys like this were all over the place.  This museum would be perfect for 5-10 year olds and they could thoroughly enjoy it all.

 Usually David has a hard time keeping his eyes open, but it was me this time so we tried again...

 Oh great...next time the Rudds will just sit out.  Half of this picture looks amazing and the other half need some serious help!  Even Liam is doing what he is supposed to!

 Next we went to the Baltimore Aquarium.  I was most excited for the dolphins.  I have always loved whales and dolphins and my secret dream job is to be a whale or dolphin trainer...and has been since I was 10.  The show was a little wimpy and had less dolphin action and too much of a presentation on keeping our oceans clean.

 It was still fun though.  Dolphins always look so happy!

 I loved that we were able to go and watch the dolphins from underneath the water.  I love watching their playfulness and how they twist and turn and jump!  So fascinating to me!

 Like I said...David is usually the one that has a hard time keeping his eyes open and here's proof...

 and another...

 and another...

 make that four...

 and then he tried too hard...I was laughing too hard to try again.

 He's a cute dad.

 There's some pink birds in the back of the picture, but I mostly like Katelyn's face here.  That's a new one and I think a bird snatched her hand off.  She hasn't needed it much lately ...kidding ;)

 The inner harbor is really pretty at night.

 After a long day of playing she lets us snuggle in and read some books...she can be so sweet sometimes!

 New Year's Eve we went to the Newseum with Chris and Tricia.  It has everything news there and was not as fascinating for little kids.  On the top floor you can go out on the balcony and get a really nice view of DC.

 Afterward's we went to the National Harbor shopping center.  They still had lights up everywhere from Christmas and it was fun to see.

 We waited for a light/water show for way too long.  The people and signs kept saying it would start so soon, but after a while we gave up hope.

 We hung out that night at their place and played games, ate yummy Brazillian food, and slept/watched a movie to ring in the new year and Chris' birthday.
The next day we had yummy cinnamon rolls and rushed off to church.  Chris slaved away and cooked up some pizzas for his birthday dinner.  He has his special recipe (I think he makes it up as he goes) and we sang probably the most beautiful Happy Birthday song to him.  He looks very impressed.

 Our Newseum passes were good for two days so David and I ventured out on his extra day off to finish seeing the rest of the museum we missed the first time. David liked seeing this Dallas news helicopter on display...he is still a proud Texan!

 The next weekend we visited the Discovery Center Museum.  This is the harbor on a beautiful sunny winter day!

 This museum is targeted towards the older kids and has everything science.  It was fun and interesting for us and Katelyn liked most of it too.

 I laid down on a bed of nails...much better than just one pokey nail.

We have loved having these free passes to all these fun places!  It makes them so much more fun when you get in free!  Now I am trying to figure out where I am supposed to find the shopping spree passes to H&M for some cute new clothes :)