Cousin Emma! And those other two people...

Apparently seeing Audrey the previous weekend wasn't enough for them and Brian, Sarah, and Emma came out for more this week. With a government shutdown looming, their timing was perfect to come visit all the monuments and attractions before they were locked out.

Our house isn't that close to D.C., but if you are willing to deal with some commuter traffic and spend a little time on the metro, it's not too painful to use our house as a springboard to the city. They were extremely successful, seeing most of what D.C. had to offer, and then some.

Brian and Sara arranged a personal tour of the Capital Building with their Representative before coming out so we joined them on their second day. They were nice enough to get up a little later and take things in at Audrey's pace, but we still managed to tick off Arlington National Cemetery, a tour of the capital, the Air and Space Museum, and a few dirty-water-dogs for good measure.

Emma was so sweet to Audrey while she was here and Audrey was genuinely excited to be around her big cousin. Shortly after they arrived we took a trip to Soloman's Island to walk the boardwalk. Audrey is getting to that "No, I will not hold your hand and I will go where I want to go!" stage but she let Emma push her in the stroller the entire length of the boardwalk one way, and held her hand the entire way back.

Thanks for visiting, we all had a great time!

Great Grandma and Grammy

Two weeks ago we made a quick trip to Ohio for Audrey's Great Grandmother's 90th birthday and met a number of new extended family members. The event was really sweet with a large turnout and Great Grandma really seemed to enjoy seeing all of her friends and family. If I counted correctly, the above picture is Great Grandma with three of her children, six grand children, and eight great grand children, and a few in-laws thrown in for good measure.

To avoid traffic on Friday we took the "long drive" over the Potomac on the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge into Virginia, then through West Virginia to Charleston before cutting up to Dayton, Ohio. One wrong turn (or lack of a turn, as it happened) and a quick stop for lunch put us in 10.5 hours after we started. Audrey was starting to fuss toward the end, but all things considered, she did wonderfully.

Saturday included a morning dip in the hotel pool, the big birthday celebration, a good hotel room nap, pizza with the extended family, chocolate cake with caramel icing, and a good night sleep before getting up for our 9.25 hour drive home on Sunday.

I can't even begin to describe how perfect Audrey was on the ride home. I thought for sure if we survived the drive out to Ohio, the ride back just two days later would be excruciatingly painful. Audrey barely made a peep, not even complaining when we put her back in the car seat after her brief tastes of freedom during diaper changes. To top it off, she took a great nap in West Virginia -- something I never expected to happen. Kelly keeps telling me about these mythical car naps, but I have only witnessed one of them in the last year. When I noticed her reading the same two pages in her book for about 5 minutes straight, I politely asked her to close her eyes (she complied), then sang her a song. She giggled at first but was sound asleep in less than 30 seconds.

Grammy accompanied us back to Maryland and spent the next week following Audrey around to her favorite haunts: the library for book group, play groups, and the Calvert Marine Museum for a Kite festival where Audrey got to decorate and fly her own kite.

It was a fun filled week and a successful start to "family month". Next up is Brian, Sarah, and Emma followed by Nana (Grandma Vicki) a few weeks later. Audrey is excited for all the late nights and fun activities while everyone is here.