a few random pictures

Crosby trying out his new (hand me down) seat.

Snack time.

A cute little boy in a cute little hat.

Some sleeping children.

the maryland zoo

We spent the second day of our trip at the Maryland Zoo. From the parking lot, it didn't look like it was going to be a very exciting zoo. It turns out, though, that it was really nice. They had a very cool children's zoo with all kinds of things for kids to do and lots of really neat exhibits. The children's zoo was entirely local Maryland animals.

Piper taking a turtle ride. (And yes, for those of you wondering, this is indeed a bog turtle.)

Birds! Here is Gage in an oriole nest.

And everyone pretending to be baby herons.

This was a really cool part of the children's zoo. It was in a large enclosed area full of birds. It was a kind of bridge made of 4 or 5 giant lily pads. The kids spent a very long time going back and forth on them.

Crosby slept in the wrap while everyone else got to play on lily pads. (He seems to miss most everything we do while sleeping in the wrap.)

Otter watching. After the otters, you go through a tunnel under their water into a dark room lit by black light. There is a big tank inside with hellbenders in it.

Taking a break.

The zoo has a big (fake) cave with all kinds of cave dwelling creatures in it. It was really cool. The kids were rather scared though. It was dark and they had some giant bat statues. There was also a mammoth skeleton to climb through, but no one was brave enough to get far enough away from Adam and I to try it. 

This tree had all kinds of snakes and things inside of it and a spiral staircase leading  up to a big and very fast slide. The three older kids all went down at least ten times each.

Being turtles.

Taking a break for a snack - I'm not sure any of Gage's ice cream actually went into his mouth.

Bird watching. This was another enclosed bird exhibit. It was really nice - there were all kinds of birds flying around inside.

Napping on the way home.

a very exciting hotel

I'm pretty sure that the entire reason that the kids went to Baltimore was because they got to stay in a hotel. They find them terribly exciting for some reason and are thrilled that they get to swim inside. They also find it really cool that we can eat breakfast there in the morning. We ended up not getting to our hotel until eight and they still had winter pool hours of 5-9. Since that messed up our plan to swim in the morning, we all had to run to the room, change and run down to the pool for an hour. They still had fun though. 

This is as far into a pool as Piper is willing to go. She had great fun sitting on the stairs.

Here is a not so great picture of Gage and Rory.

And here is Mr. Crosby in his little swimsuit.

And Mr. Crosby looking rather shocked that someone would actually put him in a pool.

After swimming, everyone got to eat cookies and watch TV in bed. They all thought this was great but, they were a little too tired to actually stay awake or to remember to chew.

And poor Crosby had to watch TV with no cookies.

aquarium

We took a trip down to Baltimore while Adam was on vacation a couple of weeks ago. We spent the first day at the National Aquarium.

It was raining on our walk from the parking garage to the aquarium. Crosby didn't seem to notice. He arrived at the aquarium soaking wet and fast asleep.

Watching fish.

Here are Rory and Gage exploring an exhibit about Australia.

And Piper watching a turtle in the Australia exhibit. We also got to see archer fish spit water at crickets and knock them off of sticks to eat them while we were there.

This is Rory's  favorite shark. She searches for one at every aquarium and zoo we ever go to. It turns out, however, that it is a ray and not actually a shark. It is called a sawfish - if you can see its nose, it has teeth that stick out to the sides and look like a saw. Here are some better pictures.

Jellyfish! They have a whole room full of different kinds of jellies that is really cool. The kids really liked the upside down jellyfish.

Here's one more of Crosby - dry and asleep this time.

birthday party

We didn't end up with a whole lot of party pictures, but here are a few.

Birthday lunch.

Birthday cake.

And birthday presents.

gage's birthday

Since the kids had one big party this year, they are each getting their present from Adam and I on their actual birthday - as well as their choice of food. Gage had a birthday breakfast and picked chocolate muffins. 

Here he is with his muffin.

And here he is opening his gift. He got three new Rescuebots.

look - he's cute