Washington, DC

On Sunday August 23rd we embarked on a week-long roadtrip to NY for my cousin Bridget's wedding via DC and Baltimore. It was quite ambitious but we thought, hey, we have a mini-van, why not?

First Stop- DC. We stayed with some Raleigh friends- The Delgados- who just moved to Northern VA. They were great hosts and their kids were so good to Jack and Madeline. Monday morning we got up and took the Metro into the city. First we went to the KaBOOM! office to see my former co-workers. It was lots of fun to catch up although I felt like a stranger in a place I spent seven years. When I started in 2001, there were 12 of us and now there are over 75 employees! Jack loved all the fun toys in the office.

Every office has one of these, right?

Madeline found some toys too!

Then we headed over to the Mall and the Air and Space Museum. We had high hopes for this with Jack but he lasted about 20 minutes. We'll try again in a few years!

Jack enjoyed the Natural History Museum more though and loved the dinosaurs!

I am "hope"ing for this baby for our 5th anniversary :)

I tried to get a shot of the crew and the Capitol but it was the end of a long day...

Baltimore

We left NoVa bright and early Tuesday morning and headed over to Baltimore. I have great memories of going to Baltimore as a kid. We would always go when my dad played the Orioles. Shannon and I loved shopping in the Inner Harbor b/c they had Contempo Casual. Do you remember that store? It was the 90s version of Forever 21. Anyway, we had planned to take Jack to the aquarium but seeing how his attention span was about 20 minutes at the DC museums we decided to not spend $60 for a quick run through the fish. Instead we spent $15 and Clay and Jack got to go on cool boats in the harbor. It was a beautiful day!

Buying the boat tickets

On the submarine




On the USS Constellation- a ship from the Civil War

While the boys were on the ship, Madeline and I snacked on cookies from Vaccaro's, a great Italian bakery. She loved hers!

Clay's childhood babysitter, Michelle, lives in Baltimore and we met her for a seafood lunch. She is the news director at the NBC affiliate so we enjoyed hearing great stories!

After lunch we wandered over to a fountain park. Jack was unsure at first but about 5 minutes later he was loving it!

Happy girl!

And why is this guy smiling?

B/c he has a crab hat and a Dora ice cream! What could be better? We stripped Jack down after the fountains but didn't have a change of clothes so he walked around the harbor like this, insisting on wearing the crab hat!

Clay let Madeline try some of his bomb pop and she loved it!

That night we stayed with Stamati, Cyndi and Eleni Arakas. Stamati and Clay met in high school at YMCA camp and have stayed friends. They are super nice and we enjoyed hanging out with them. We walked to a great pizza place for dinner and then took the kids to a great playground across the street. And yes, Jack wore the crab hat the whole night.

Westtown

We got in the car Wednesday and left Baltimore for NY. On our way we stopped outside of Philadelphia to visit Westtown School. It is the Quaker boarding school that Clay's grandfather went to for high school. Clay wanted to check out it so we made a little detour.

We found Da's class picture and the plaque with his name as Student Body President 1939-40.

In the Dining Room, there is a large painting by NC Wyeth called "The Giant." It has four children playing on the beach and a giant walking amongst the clouds. Many of the Councills have prints of "The Giant" in their homes. Clay wanted to see the original.

The Bronx Zoo

We arrived in NY on Wednesday afternoon and stayed with my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Peter in Yonkers for two days before heading out to Long Island for the wedding. That night Maureen watched Madeline so we could take Jack into the city to meet my friend and former co-worker, Steve for dinner. We took the train into the city which Jack LOVED. Besides rubbing his hands on every still object (handrails, windows, seats, etc), it was a nice trip in. We met Steve at Blue Smoke, a restaurant specializing in Southern food and jazz. A little ironic since that is what we eat all the time but nonetheless, it was a wonderful, yummy meal and we loved catching u with Steve. Thursday morning we were up bright and early for a trip to the Bronx Zoo. About an hour before we left, Madeline fell into the coffee table while sitting like a big girl and busted her eyebrow open. Blood was everywhere and if she had been my first child, I would have cried and freaked out but we decided not to add the ER in NY as one of our tourist destinations. My Aunt Maureen was great and went to CVS to get butterflies, neosporin, etc and Clay bandaged up our little one. We now call her "Vanilla Ice" with the little scar through her eyebrow. She was a trooper and off we went to the zoo.

The Bronx Zoo was the nicest zoo I have been too and the largest. We only made it through half in the 5 hours we were there! We met up with my high school friend, Erin Schmidt Leyton and her little girl Izzy. Jack and Izzy became fast friends and loved running from one animal to the next. Erin is 8 months pregnant and was a trooper for walking as much as we did!

Izzy and Jack

Jack and Aunt Maureen checking out the antelope/deer like creatures.

Jack and Madgirl looking at the seals

The kids could pop out of the ground like ground hogs. Jack loved this!

Feeding the sheep

Nice family shot to document Madeline's first injury!

The Steins!

Thursday night we went to the Bronx to have dinner with the Steins. Aaron and Clay worked together in Atlanta and we love getting together when we can. The top pic is from our trip to NY last summer. We have added two more since. Little Simmy Stein is only a month old and slept all through dinner while Jack and Ezra tore the place up.

A special meeting

On Friday we had a very special meeting. Madeline is named after my dad's mom. She passed away from breast cancer in her 40s so I never knew her. I am named after her too (Jennifer Madeline). Madeline's sister, Aunt Honey and her husband ,Uncle John, have been surrogate parents to my dad and grandparents to me. We love them so much and were so grateful to be able to bring Madeline to meet them!

The Wedding

The reason we made the roadtrip- my cousin Bridget's wedding to Pat Smith! It was a fabulous affair! They know how to throw a party up North!

The colors were yellow and blue- lots of sunflowers and hydrangea- so pretty!

Mr and Mrs Smith

The groom and groomsmen all wore yellow Brooks Brothers pants, Navy blazers and shamrock ties from Vineyard Vines.

"You may now kiss the bride!"

There was a break in between the wedding and the reception. We went back to the hotel to hang out with the kids. My aunt arranged for a friend of my cousin's to bbsit the kids so Clay and I could have the night out. It was so nice!

Madeline and Goose

Me and my brother, Ryan. We missed Julia, Shannon and Cory!

The Butt Family. Yes, my mom's maiden name is Butt. This pic is of her siblings, spouses, kids and their spouses.

Clay and I with the bride and groom

Mom and her siblings- Kevin, mom, Maureen, John, Eileen and Tricia

Cousins! I am the oldest (32) and the youngest is 18.

We arrived at the country club at 6 and there was a cocktail hour and half. The weather cooperated miraculously b/c Hurricane Dan was supposed to dump a lot of rain. This is the lobster and shrimp bar during the cocktail hour. There was also a sushi bar, pasta station and waiters walking around with leg of lamb, soft shell crab sandwhiches, hamburgers, chicken skewers, bacon wrapped scallops and other yummy things. We had to pace ourselves b/c we still had dinner to come!

The cake!

About 7:30 we were called into the ballroom for dinner. We had a caprice salad waiting at our seat and this menu. Each table had its own waiter for the night and we placed our order for the main entree- fish, chicken or beef.

The table

My cousins Mike, Chris and Patrick with Clay and Ryan

This was the dance floor BEFORE dinner was served!! After each course, the band played and we danced for 30 minutes. Then we ate again! It was awesome!

There was a photo booth for guests to take pics- here is my fave of us!

Clay and I loved celebrating with Bridget and Pat and all of our family. I am so thankful to have these wonderful people in my life and to be able to introduce them to Jack and Madeline. While it was an effort to roadtrip with two little ones, we are so glad we did it. We are blessed to have so many people to love and that love us!