Peyton watching the dolphins
Awesome Jellyfish

Calypso, the sea turtle, has a missing flipper
Mixing up a brew at Port Discover, Baltimore Children's Museum
Peyton inside a giant bubble

We celebrated Peyton's 6th and Liam's 4th birthdays with a trip to Baltimore. It was Liam's first time staying in a hotel and both kids thought it was cool. Mark and I slept on a horribly uncomfortable sofa bed so that our kids could sleep in the queen bed. The hotel was about two blocks from the inner harbor so we were able to go back and forth fairly quickly. We spent a day at the National Aquarium and then visited Port Discovery on our last day in the city. The aquarium was nice, but the children's museum was the best part of the trip, at least for me. The aquarium was crowded and pricey for what was there. The one in VA Beach is probably a better deal, but it was fun to get out of our town and spend time with our kids in a different place. I think if we get back to Baltimore in the future, we'll plan a trip to the science museum. So many people have told us how awesome it is, so maybe when the children are a bit older.

North Bend State Park, West Virginia

It's a little tight for both kids in the pull trailer. We think we'll try a tag-a-long soon!

The first trail we did had 3 tunnels on it. We rode through them yelling and hearing the echoes.

Eating s'mores cooked over a charcoal grill

This tunnel had several openings for people who needed to a safe place to get off the tracks if a train was coming.

We saw hundreds of these butterflies on the bike trail

Mark's parents invited us to come spend a few days with them in West Virginia. North Bend State Park is gorgeous. There are loads of trees, a huge lake, hiking trails, and a rails to trails bike trail. We did two bike rides, had a picnic, fished from a canoe on the lake (Peyton and Liam did this), and spend some quality time with family. It was such a peaceful trip and we loved staying in a cabin versus tent camping, especially because it rained quite a bit!

Celebrating Peyton - 6 years old!

Peyton turned 6 this week. It is hard to believe she has been here 6 years! I am constantly amazed at her, how sweet and considerate she is and how much she is learning. We celebrated her birthday with a trip to the Route 11 chip factory. We ate chips and had a picnic with some sweet friends from church. Peyton chose her cake design from a book that we have at home. We made the cake from scratch together and then decorated it with lots of frosting and sprinkles. We are going to celebrate both children's birthdays with a special outing, but we did have a few gifts for her, a new nightgown and a custom made dress (thanks, April!) She didn't want to wear it to church today because the lady who made it was going to be out of town.

Happy birthday Peyton!