O Say Can You See?

When a thunderstorm over Phoenix caused us to miss our previously scheduled Baltimore plans, we decided to adjust the itinerary again to fit in what was missed.  Caleb had really been looking forward to seeing Babe Ruth's home and Camden Yards.  I'd had my heart set on Fort McHenry.  So we backtracked about 30 miles to see those sites in a slightly more abbreviated fashion.

We parked near Babe's home, then walked the old cobblestone streets of Baltimore to Camden Yards.

Camden Yards was so cool!  We weren't able to squeeze in a game, but we got a very up-close and personal view of the field.  We're such sports fans that we appreciate these sorts of things, even when they are not our team.

On this walkway, which runs along the back of the diamond, home run balls are commemorated with baseball-shaped plaques, placed exactly where the ball landed, showing when and by whom the ball was hit.

We found Ken Griffey Jr. in a couple of places.  All but one of the plaques are found imbedded in the sidewalk shown above.  But Griffey hit one that hit the wall on the other side of the walkway. Awesome!

I was standing as close to the fence of the ball field as possible so you can see just how far away Caleb is from me in this next picture.  That ball was hit a long way!

Caleb really loves visiting sports venues.

The Orioles have done a really great job paying tribute to their star players.  Lots and lots of statues of players and retired numbers and such.

The kids and Cal 

Next we made our way to the Inner Harbor.  I wish we'd had a little more time to spend here, but we just looked around briefly and got to catch a glimpse of the USS Constellation--a 1797 frigate.  I had learned from my John Adams reading, that he was a strong proponent of establishing a US Navy. Not everyone agreed, however, and this was a cause of debate in Congress.  Eventually, the Naval Act was passed and the USS Constellation was one of the first three warships of the US Navy.  Having read about this history, I really wanted to see this ship.  

From the Inner Harbor, we drove a short 10 minutes to Fort McHenry.  I'm a patriotic person with a real affinity for our nation's anthem.  I know all three verses and have been known to grumble on occasion about the fact that other countries seem to sing their songs with gusto, but Americans often don't even bother to mouth the words.  Such a shame!

The broad stripes and bright stars waving o'er the ramparts:

An aerial view I borrowed from the internet:

Caleb spent some time in the prison cells of Fort McHenry just for fun:

There were several short films shown in the old barracks, which helped bring the history to life and demonstrate just how important this fort is in our country's history.

We walked on the ramparts and admired the giant cannons.

The feature film in the orientation center really brought home just how close our infant country had come to falling back into British power.  I could feel the terror of those families who watched from their rooftops in Baltimore as they waited to learn of the United States' fate.  And when Francis Scott Key looked through this telescope, saw the flag and knew the underdog had defeated the Empire, I felt a tiny bit verklempt.

"Does not a country and such defenders of their country deserve a song?" --Francis Scott Key

"'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Next on our list was the Washington D.C. temple.  It's grand.  It's gorgeous.  It has a wonderful visitors' center.  I just love how much my kids love seeing temples.

The visitors' center has a cutaway model depicting the inside of the temple.  Really neat.

Caleb got in a little interactive scripture study:

And we took our first selfie stick picture of the trip:

We left the temple and arrived in the heart of D.C. just in time to make our reservation at the National Archives.

No photography is allowed inside the building, so I had to borrow this picture of the rotunda from the internet:

It's cool and quite dark inside so as to preserve the documents.  The Declaration of Independence is on the left, the Constitution in the middle and the Bill of Rights on the right.  Even with reservations, we had to wait about 30 minutes to view the documents.

Afterwards, we explored the exhibit galleries which contain an endless array of interesting archives. Natalie took a turn at the president's podium.  (We weren't supposed to take this picture.  oops.)

It was here, at the National Archives, that I learned just how much Caleb loves museums.  Who knew?  He wanted to see it all and took his time in each exhibit.

A rather sizable parking ticket was waiting for us when we came out of the archives and I felt my grouchiness meter dial up one notch.  We had dinner reservations nearby so Jon and Natalie searched for a parking space while the big kids and I walked to the National Museum of Natural History for a few minutes.  We hadn't eaten since breakfast and since our planned grocery stop never happened due to the change in our itinerary, we had no snacks and we were all starving.  Cue grouchiness meter. The kids were amazing.  Such troopers!  It was Mom who was growing discontented.

Jon and Natalie were seated at Carmine's, an Italian restaurant, a few minutes prior to scheduled reservation.  The big kids and I were stalled at the museum by a sudden, torrential downpour.  When we thought it was letting up, we made a run for it.  But the rain picked up again and by the time we arrived at the restaurant five blocks later, we were drenched from head to toe.  I visited the restroom hoping some paper towels might sop up some of the rainwater from the insoles of my sandals.  

Carmine's was just o.k.  Our family has such diverse tastes (and a special needs eater) that ordering family style (which is all Carmine's offers) was difficult.  Additionally, the cuisine, while good, was perhaps a little too authentic for those whose Italian food consumption rarely extends beyond Olive Garden or Old Spaghetti Factory.  Still, we got full.

And we got another parking ticket.  The kids thought it was funny, calling our vacation "The Trip of the Parking Ticket." I was not amused and it did not help the tilt of my grouchiness meter.  We decided it was time to call it a day and decided to go check in at our hotel, which was in Crystal City, right near the Pentagon.

We were so happy with our D.C. accommodations, the center atrium being adorned with two enormous American flags.  

The girls loved the glass elevators and sometimes rode them all the way to the top and back down again just for the thrill of it. 

The kids had plenty of room and their own TV, while Jon and I enjoyed having a king-size bed and our own TV in a separate bedroom.

After a trip to a nearby grocery store, we stocked our little fridge and cupboards with snacks and were grateful for such a comfortable room at a really reasonable price.  Our accommodations also provided a wonderful hot breakfast, which included cooked-to-order omelets and even had french toast and cranberry juice for Caleb.

Parking tickets and wet clothes aside, it had been a really great day.  We were grateful to be in our nation's capital and were excited to explore history and stir our patriotic spirits.

Change of Plans

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.  Our meticulously planned trip began with a bit of a hiccup.

We were scheduled to fly into Baltimore on the red-eye flight after connecting in Phoenix.  Our layover was a very short 29 minutes, so I'd already spent a fair amount of time worrying about whether both our bodies and our luggage would make it on the Maryland-bound plane.  Jon called the airline in advance and though the agent could obviously make no guarantees, she assured Jon that they were in the business of getting people and their luggage where they needed to be, according to the schedules on their tickets.

The girls and I shared a suitcase that measured exactly 50.0 pounds on the check-in scale.  Jon and Caleb planned to carry their luggage on, but due to our flight being very full, were asked to check their suitcases at the last minute.

The flight to Phoenix was uneventful right up to the moment of final decent.  It was then that a strong thunderstorm decided to settle directly over the airport.  We witnessed massive lightning rods striking the earth through our tiny airplane window.  Then came the captain's explanation of the situation.  We would have to fly in circles for what was predicted to be about 20 minutes or until the storm moved past the airport.

Oh no!  We only have 29 minutes!  And we knew this was the last flight out until morning.  The flight attendant was annoyed by my pressing of the call button and when he came to my seat, he beat me to my question by asking dryly, "Your connecting flight?"  We knew there were at least 20 people connecting to Baltimore, so I wanted to know if they would hold the flight.  He told me in a rather condescending tone that no flight would be held.  But then he gave just a smidgen of hope by saying, "But if we can't get down, the other flight can't get up."

So we impatiently flew in circles for what seemed like forever.  When we finally landed at the gate, Jon noticed that the airline's website was showing our next flight to be 30 minutes delayed. Furthermore, a know-it-all passenger nearby was telling everyone within earshot (the majority of the plane had connections somewhere) that from his experience, if the flight crews know their connecting passengers are on the ground, that they will hold the flight.  We were at the back of the plane and it took forever to disembark.  Still, we thought we could make it.

You know that scene from Home Alone 2, where the family is racing through airport?  That was us. We were as near a full sprint as we could be, with our backpacks bouncing wildly while we dodged other slower moving passengers.  When we got to our gate, our plane was nowhere in sight.  We later learned it had left on time after all.  Boo!  Phoenix was not where we wanted to be!  It was not on our itinerary to stay the night in Arizona.

We were even more irritated when we learned that because the delay was weather-related, we would have to pay for our own hotel accommodations for the night.  The kids actually suggested we just sleep in the airport, but we decided a good night's sleep was a better option.  So while Jon got on the phone with the airline to solidify our reservations for the first flight out the next day, I got on the phone to find a hotel.  We had no luggage.  No toiletries.  No pajamas.  Not much of anything.

We crawled into bed with unbrushed teeth around midnight.  We would get about 6 hours of sleep before returning to the airport the next morning.

We were relieved to finally touch down in Baltimore at 4:30 p.m. and even more relieved to find that our luggage had made it as well.  The race was still on, however.  We had dinner theater tickets at 6:00 p.m. and we still needed to pick up the rental car and drive 30 minutes to our hotel.

We'd missed a whole day's worth of items on our itinerary, but we managed to check into our hotel, do the slightest bit of freshening up and arrive at Toby's Dinner Theatre on time.

The musical, 1776 was playing, which I thought was a most perfect historical preview to the sites we would soon be visiting.

I borrowed this next picture from the internet.  It shows what the theatre looks like.   The buffet dinner was set up right on the stage.  After dinner was served, the buffet was quickly and efficiently dismantled and transformed into the set representing Independence Hall in Philadelphia.  The actors were also the servers.

It had been quite some time since we'd had a real meal, so we dove into the all-you-can-eat buffet and got our money's worth.  Caleb devoured ribs, Nat favored the mac and cheese, Lys loved the salad bar and all three kids enjoyed specialty drinks in souvenir glasses.

The show was fantastic.  I love the music and the way it brings history to life.  This dramatized version of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was an excellent precursor to our viewing of the actual document the very next day.

The cast of 1776 

It was a great way to end a rather frustrating 24 hours.  Now, with overstuffed bellies and catchy tunes repeating in our heads, we were officially ready to get this party started!

How was your trip?

We travel a fair amount, but our destinations are largely determined by a gymnastics competition schedule and are rarely more than 2 or 3 states away.  So a lengthy trip across the country for the sole purpose of visiting iconic sites while spending quality family time together was a real treat.  Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience, even.  

Preparations for this vacation began several months in advance.  As soon as basics like airline tickets and hotel reservations were secured, we started zeroing in on the details.  I simply cannot stand driving or walking in circles and didn't want any "What should we do now?" or "What do you want to eat?" back and forth banter to steal precious time from what I hoped would be a most memorable trip.  My kids like to know what to expect and I furthermore was convinced that planning the details would keep griping and arguing to a minimum.

We surveyed the kids to determine what sites they most wanted to see and paired those lists with the sites we most wanted to show them.  Google maps became my best friend.  I studied the locations of attractions in relation to one another so as to be most efficient with our time and then decided what transportation should be used to get from place to place.  I researched nearby restaurants that would allow for fun and new experiences, but also provide gluten-free and picky-eater options.  We contacted our local senator's office to set up tours of the White House and US Capitol.  We made countless reservations and printed what ended up being a very full folder of tickets.  New walking shoes and warm, humid weather-friendly attire were purchased.  Our excitement and anticipation grew.

After countless hours, the final itinerary was unveiled at an almost ceremonious family meeting.  Jon presented each of the kids with copies of the itinerary and then they took turns reading through the plan for each day of our vacation.  When we'd come to an item requiring a ticket, Jon would imitate Tom Hanks from the Polar Express and announce, "Tickets!  Tickets please!" while he checked the ticket folder to make sure they were included.  It was reiterated multiple times that the itinerary items in bold were non-negotiable because they involved reservations, but everything else could and may give.

There were other preparations, too.  We watched the musical 1776, which prompted me to read a 600 page biography of John Adams.  My big kids have studied U.S. history, but when I asked Natalie if she knew what the Declaration of Independence was, I was shocked to learn that she didn't.  So we held a viewing of School House Rock's, "America Rock."  I also went through the entire itinerary and pulled up pictures on the computer so Natalie could preview the iconic sites she would be visiting.

At long last, our bags were packed and we were on our way.

Anytime you return from a long vacation, thoughtful friends and family will ask, "How was your trip?"  They are not likely looking for a detailed blow-by-blow account and though the memories are countless and the stories to tell endless, we are often resigned to choosing one word as an insufficient summary.

Since this blog is our family's history, a detailed account of our vacation will follow.  But in the meantime, we have each decided on a one word answer to the "How was your trip?" question:

Incredible.  Amazing.  Awesome.  Memorable.  Breath-taking.

Promotion

Truth be told, I think Natalie had a crush on her fourth grade teacher.  It was a positive year for her and she really enjoyed being in Mr. Richstad's class.

School was out at 10:40 am and by 11:30, Grandma had arrived to take Natalie and Emma to Great Wolf Lodge.  She was going to help with the Melody Lane Singers, who had a show planned at the lodge, and the girls got to tag along for a most perfect end-of-year celebration.

The next morning, I attended Alyssa's 8th grade celebration.  I've had a middle school student for the last six years, but with Alyssa promoting to high school, I will get a one year break.  

Is Alyssa that tiny, or is she standing next to a giant?

The students had to line up in alphabetical order with their first period class.  Each student was called up and shook hands with the teachers.  She said almost all of them mentioned encouragement in her gymnastics career in addition to their congratulations.

We got a picture with one of our favorites.  Mrs. Carnahan was Alyssa's (and Caleb's) social studies teacher and prepared her very well for our upcoming trip to Washington D.C.

And we also got a picture with Alyssa's favorite school buddies, Ana and Brianna:

I guess Lys really is that tiny.  But I swear the other kids are giants!

The ceremony ended with the principal officially declaring the students "freshmen."

And just like that,  I'm the mother of two high schoolers.

Heaven help me.

Knobby

"Alyssa hurt her toe!" her teammates announced to me as soon as I entered the gym to pick her up from practice.  Her coach was helping her bandage up the bleeding toe that she had injured when she somehow punched a board with it curled under.  

We soaked and iced it, but when it still looked bad the next day and she was unable to bear any weight, we decided to pay our pediatrician a visit.

An x-ray showed a fracture and because of the all of the bleeding, the doctor deemed it an open fracture. So we were sent home with a prescription for antibiotics and a funny-looking shoe that Lys would have to wear for the next couple of weeks.

The next day, a squishy protrusion appeared on the ankle bone of Alyssa's injured foot.  It wasn't causing her any pain but it was unattractive and disturbing in both appearance and feel.  We didn't know what to call it, so we nicknamed it "Knobby."

On the left is Knobby and on the right is what a normal ankle bone should look like.

We went back to the pediatrician who decided this was beyond his expertise and suggested a visit to the podiatrist.  

Jon thought Knobby was due to the buckle of the shoe rubbing against Alyssa's ankle, so we taped it up trying to provide some cushion. (It had nothing to do with the buckle.)

The podiatrist seemed equally stumped as to what Knobby might be, but he suspected it was a ganglion cyst.  Because this was a very unusual place for a ganglion cyst, the doctor suggested an MRI.  So, the following day, we went to our fourth appointment in one week--curse you, Knobby!--to have an MRI verify that the fluid-filled sac was emanating from a tendon and it was indeed a ganglion cyst.  We decided to have the doctor aspirate the cyst even though he told us the success rate was low.

He numbed up Alyssa's leg and drained a fair amount of apple jelly-like fluid from Knobby.

The next morning Knobby looked like this:

Since the doctor explained that the next course of action would be to surgically remove Knobby, we were really hoping that it would not return.  But within 24 hours, Knobby looked like this:

If Alyssa wears a compression sock, Knobby's squish is gone and just looks like an enlarged ankle bone, but as soon as she moves around without the sock, Knobby fills right back up.

At our follow-up visit, the doctor said that as long as Knobby remains painless, we can leave it alone for the time being.  He has definitely overstayed his welcome and we'd really just rather Knobby leave already!  But for now we are putting surgery off and deciding on the "watch and wait" course of action.  

The toe, however, has healed and Alyssa is happy to once again be wearing two matching shoes!