Our Road Trip to Maryland (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday)

Sunday was a nice, slow-starting day. No one had anywhere to get to right away and we had time to hang out and relax. Bobby had scheduled a baseball practice for that afternoon but had timed it so that we would still have time to check out the local pool during the hours for recreational swimming.

Fergus was invited to join Bobby and Ben for baseball practice and while Quinn was initially excited about going, he quickly realised that he needed some time alone with his mommy. He and I hung behind and played a game of Battleship followed by a few hands of Crazy Eights. It was the quiet time we both needed.

I don't think that anyone showed up for baseball practice. I did hear that Steph had been recruited to play with them. I also heard that the practice was put on hold for a while when Bobby hit a ball into the rough and everyone had to pause to look for it. From what I understand the original hit was never recovered but while looking around for it, two other balls were located so they still came home with more than they had left with.

The local recreation facility has three pools. One is a shallow pool with a mushroom cap sprinkler and a variety of small and medium length slides for young children of all ages. The next is a medium depth pool used, while we were there, mostly for lane swimming. The last is the dive pool. It is over 13 feet deep and they had at least 5 different heights of diving platforms. Fergus and I tried out the bottom two levels but that is as far as we went.

There are also two LONG slides. You climb a set of stairs that is about three stories high. The slides wind around the facility before eventually emptying out in their own very small pool near the shallow pool. Both Steph and I tried the slides only a few times while our four children went up and down quite a lot.

This was a great way to wear everyone out. It was a quiet evening after that and while Kate and Ben worked on homework and went to bed in good time, Fergus, Quinn and I hung out and read some Artemis Fowl.

Monday we decided to go to a mall. That was one thing Fergus had been requesting we do. It was a lovely day and in retrospect it would have been perfect for our planned trip to the zoo but alas, we did not think of that. I was trying to do everything they boys wanted and Fergus wanted to go to a mall. We would do the zoo on Tuesday.
At the mall we found a toy store and were happily looking around when Quinn spied it! My card shark and UNO junkie saw the game he had asked for the previous year for Yule. UNO SPIN! Doug and I had looked EVERYWHERE for it but discovered that while the adverts for it were on Canadian television, it wasn't actually available here to buy. Guess what Quinn, Fergus and I pooled our resources to pick up??

We made a trip to Target as well and finished our outing with a lovely lunch at a great burger place beside the river. It was fun to watch the Canadian Geese as we ate.

We raced back to get Fiona (an after-school charge of Stephanie's and a good friend to Kate), Ben and Kate. Monday evening was filled with many games of UNO Spin. I am wondering if this new novelty item will ever wear out?

Tuesday we woke to rain and gloom. So much for our trip to the zoo. I was thankful that we had been to the Toronto Metro Zoo only a few weeks before so there wasn't TOO much sadness from Quinn. We also talked about planning a trip to Washington with Daddy in the coming years and arranging to put the zoo on that agenda. He seemed to be appeased.

Quinn was also happy because we decided to make a trip to the local library, where Stephanie is part of the "Friends of the Library" non-profit group. She had some work to do and we set off for the children's section to read.

After the library we went to Best Buy (to look for video games for Fergus and Quinn's home computer, a Mac and therefore one that is hard to find games for - except online). Steph and I then took the boys with us while we went grocery shopping at Whole Foods in preparation for our lunch the next day with friends from around the country. No rest for the weary! It was fun preparing food for everyone in advance of their arrival.
I even made a pumpkin cake with spelt flour that every loved! I say this because most of you know how it can be with children. If they don't know what the ingredients are, they are more willing to love something. Stephanie is eating wheat and dairy free. This cake met those requirements AND the kids inhaled the mini cake I had made for them to sample.