Field Trips, Beaches and Baseball

We've had a wonderful few days! Both boys had field trips on Friday and they had gorgeous weather for it. Max's class went to St. Mary's City and toured the Dove. I was really impressed with everything down there. St. Mary's City is the site of the fourth permanent settlement in British America. The Ark and the Dove sailed here and the Dove was later lost at sea. The town was later destroyed and is being reconstructed as a historic site. As a side note, we went into a building that was once an Inn and Max was looking all around. One of the guides was explaining stuff to him and as she did, she took a musket off the wall and handed it to Max. I must be a city girl because it was VERY strange to see my four year old holding a gun that was taller than he is! Shoot...let me be clear - it was weird to see my four year old holding a gun at all! (I promise that my kids don't get to handle firearms unless you count light sabers)

Nolen's class went to Elm's Beach on the Chesapeake Bay. Sadly, I didn't get to attend that field trip and only got the stories. They held a crab and a turtle and brought home some oyster shells.


On Saturday, we went park hopping. No, we weren't at Disney (I WISH)! I want to start exploring new parks in the area. At the end of last summer when we moved here, we conquered most of the parks that are nearby but we never ventured too far from home...partly because at the time gas was $4 a gallon! So, sorry planet Earth, but we'll be taking some day trips to area parks in the next few months. Saturday we checked off the Recreation Area at Patuxent River NAS (the base that Ed works at). I had heard there was a beach area at the end of the base but hadn't ventured out there yet. The kids and I took off and found it. It was a nice enough beach at the end of the Pax River where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It was no Naples Beach, but it did cure my beach craving! Finally!!!

Max freaked out at first because the sand had a lot of rough rocks and shells and he refused to walk on it. Once he decided that playing in the sand and water fun enough, he sacrificed his precious feet and he had a blast! When we arrived, there was a sign that said, "Beach Closed due to Jellyfish Infestation." I immediately had flashbacks to Lake Tholocco and our standoff there with the MPs last spring. I wasn't feeling quite that brave - especially since its sort of a stretch that I still have base privileges at all. At first, I told the boys they could only get their hands in the water but by the end of the day they were up to their necks in the water. The jellyfish warning is bogus by the way. Jellyfish season starts in summer (July I think) and after that you REALLY can't swim...so I think its dumb that they're telling us not to swim now when we actually can. Oh well. No one bothered us about it. Luckily. Oh and by the way...at bath time that night, Edward found a tick on each boy. Gross. He picked them out with tweezers and the boys didn't like that at all. Max told us he isn't going to play outside anymore because he doesn't want a tick. We'll have to find some good bug spray!

Sunday was another great day! Ed cooked us a big breakfast. Then we worked in the yard for awhile...I mowed the grass and dug up some plants that I wanted moved from the front yard to the back. (Ed did the actual replanting. Thanks Ed.) After our work, we showered, grilled some hot dogs, and headed up to Waldorf for a minor league baseball game. We went to see the Maryland Blue Crabs. They have a really cute stadium up there and this is only their second year. It would have been more fun if it hadn't been 91 degrees! I kept telling myself not to complain because this is nothing compared to a summer day in Florida but it actually was pretty hot to be sitting in the sun watching a game. The good part though was that the humidity was only about 40% so it wasn't that horribly suffocating heat. You know, the one where you have sweat dripping down between your legs and your underwear are stuck up your butt and there's no getting them out because they're pasted there with sweat. Sorry - is that TMI?? Its true though and you know it. :-)

We had great seats at the game. Ed got the tickets from work. We were right by first base and our team beat the Long Island Ducks 12-2. We saw 8 of those points before we left....in the fourth inning. I'm telling you - it was hot! Look at poor Nolen's red face!

So, we had a great weekend. This was what I needed a few weeks back during spring break when it was 50 degrees and raining. I've been grumpy ever since waiting for this weather so I'm enjoying at as much as I can!!! I was outside so much this weekend I had to put on sunscreen! I'm just a Florida girl at heart!