Because of my possible job change and other factors we didn't really plan a summer vacation this year. Well, I did get a new job (still with the FAA :-), and we squeezed in a 6-day trip between finishing in one office and starting in my new office. We thought and thought, and finally figured it would be really nice to see my brother and his family again, so we called and begged and they said "Come on up! We'd love to have you!"
We drove the 14 hours to MD and crashed for the night. The next day Claudia had made blueberry coffeecake with blueberries from their back yard (!), then took us swimming in the neighbor's pool. Michael grilled chicken and played baseball with all the boys in their big back yard while the girls went shopping for VBS stuff.
We went to Gettysburg on Saturday. It was a good trip - about 2 hours to drive, then we got out to stretch our legs, bought the auto-tour CD, and rode around reliving the battle of Gettysburg in our vans. It was a great way to see the place, and was better, more comfortable, and a lot cheaper than riding the open-air buses. We ate pizza in Gettysburg, then bustled back to MD.
We went to their church on Sunday (Calvary Baptist), which was very nice. They had Michael teaching Sunday School and Claudia getting all the crafts for VBS, so I think they are glad to be able to plug some good-quality people in to help. We took the kids to see Ratatouie that afternoon (awsome movie - go see it even if you don't have kids), where I did something I've never done: I spilled the popcorn we bought! They allowed free refills, so it was OK, but I was very embarrassed. Claudia had tacos for dinner (a family tradition :-), and then served blueberry cobbler for dessert (more blueberries from the yard).
Claudia took us down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, and she, Sue, and the kids rode the paddleboats while I took pictures. We ate some great seafood, then went back to their house and invaded their neighbor's pool again. Claudia had another family favorite for dinner, homemade pizza, and then we learned all about them on their 13th anniversary by playing the "Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus" game. (They know each other quite well.)
It was a great trip! The kids all had a big time playing together, even though Jacob acted bored. Thank you, Michael & Claudia, for having us - we had a great time!
