Baltimore

Fort McHenry National Historic Site and Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland. Another Stamp! This is one of the most moving National Parks I have been - our family highly recommends it! The flag pole the kids are standing in front of is the location of the American flag in 1814 (end of the War of 1812) that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner". That flag had fifteen stars and fifteen strips.

The Barracks inside the fortress walls of Fort McHenry. The only battle this fort saw was in 1814, but it was used as as Army military instillation and even a military hospital in World War I and II. Very rich history here. The round roof brick building stored gun powder. It was over 80 degrees and beautiful that day in mid-October!

From standing on the Fortressed walls of Fort McHenry there are amazing views of Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay.

The "rockets" (red glare) and "bombs" (bursting in air) at Fort McHenry.

The Hamptons National Historic Place. A large "Georgian-style" plantation house protected and preserved to tell the story of the architecture and the under ground railroad and slavery in the United States.

The kids were fascinated by a street performer at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Tessa was selected to hand him the batons he lit on fire (after she handed them to him - thank goodness). She was very excited to be part of the act.

After Tessa handed him the "batons" he lit them on fire and juggled them while riding on his tall unicycle. He was wonderful and very funny.

Inner Harbor of the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore with the National Aquarium in the background. Yes it was 80 degree and they are wearing boots - we bought them the night before. Dagny just got the jacket to (I think I remember those from the 80's) she did not need the jacket....

The paddle boat is what the kids begged to do. This is Chessie the sea creature of the Chesapeake. The kids got in front to paddle. I got in the back, and then was told we could not change places - hooray for me to be paddled around the bay on a beautiful Fall Day by my kids...
Yes - they got the sunglasses the night before too.

As if we were not tourists enough by riding the sea monster paddle boat - the kids dragged me to the Hard Rock Cafe (they loved their first experience there). Tessa could not stop counting guitars in there - and there were a lot of them! They had to have their picture taken with the Cadillac behind the bar!

Below is the first Washington Monument built to honor George Washington. We all made it up the 280 stairs to the top for great views of Baltimore.

Dagny is all rested and ready to start the trip back down the stairs inside the Washington Monument. Plus we got their 15 minutes before it closed and we did not want the colorful "artist" welcoming visitors to lock up inside for the night.

Tessa at the National Aquarium. The kids took over a hundred pictures at the aquarium. I think this is the only picture they took with a mammal (Tessa) in it - they did take pictures of the Dolphin show (also a mammal). I love digital - they can take all the pictures they want - just make sure to have the charger on every trip...

The big temporary exhibit was about Jellyfish. It was very fascinating to learn about and see so many different types of Jellies. The Jelly population is booming as the oceans are warming and different species are transported to different water masses from cargo vessels and such were they do not have natural predators. Below is a picture of the girls in the gift shop with stuffed animal Jellies - not something you see everyday.

We actually went to Baltimore so Joel could attend a Board Game retailers convention. With the down economy they combined the convention with comic books (not really something we are interested in), but the great thing was, one of Tessa's favorite authors Jeff Smith who writes the Graphic Novel "Bone" series was there. He was so sweet to her and visited with her and gave her an autograph and this picture - she is thrilled!

The convention center is across from Orioles stadium - very nice set up they have there.

The Sports Legends Hall of Fame across from Orioles stadium. We went to the Entertainment museum on the second floor of it. It had the most amazing collection of Toys from the late 1700 (Brownies - kind of creepy toys) through today and an impressive collections of Comic books. Also something worth seeing.

Below is the B&O Railroad Museum. This was the first railroad in America. Amazing history here too. Joel loves trains and really enjoys all the history and exhibits too. We were one of the few tourists here that weren't over 80 or in our twenties with little boys. It was a school day though... Behind the family is the beautiful brick roundhouse. Five years ago the roof fell in and damaged some of the trains - they are still working on restoring some of them.

This is the "First Stone" that started the American Railroad.

The girls and I inside the Roundhouse with lots of amazing historic trains.

I do not ever recall seeing a stage coach designed to go on railroad tracks - very fascinating! They do not look like a comfortable way to travel - bring on the Pullman cars - oh yeah - airplane are even better.

Front sign of the Museum. Go to Baltimore - there is tons to see and do. We completely loved our five days there!

4-H Fair, Delaware River Gap & Mr. Marriott

The end of July is the Orange County Fair (Yes- we live in Orange Counrty, New York - by OCC - Orange County Choppers). Both girls were active in two 4-H clubs. One was a traditional club and the other is a KNEX building club. Tessa submitted six fair projects as a Cloverbud (she was younger than 8) and receive the white and green "participation" ribbons that you see below. Dagny is a 4-Her and did eight projects and received Blue ribbons on all of her projects (they receive $5/ribbon for blue ribbons). Luckily Grandma Becky was staying with us and helped a lot getting the 4-H projects ready for the fair and even rode with Joel and the girls to the Fair Grounds to enter their projects in the fair. Big Thank You to Grandma for getting the projects submitted - we could not have done it without her - especially since we went to Boise the day after we submitted to the fair for a week. We did not get to go to the fair to see our projects displayed. Hopefully next year. Big Hooray for the girls for completing the projects and doing so great at the Fair. We are super proud of them.

Above is Tessa with her Butterfly cycle poster. We raised cacoons to butterflies.

Below is Dagny with her rocket. Both girls made rockets and launched them. Dagny's was the most advanced (she was the oldest) and the lightest and of course went the highest! Very impressive to watch!

Below is Tessa with her 4-H scrapbook. Both girls put together books of their year at 4-H with pictures and journaling. They did an incredible job with their books. They have had a lot of experience with scrapbooking and card making. It is what mommy and the girls enjoy doing in the colder months when we are not traveling and exploring every weekend.

With Dagny being the oldest in the 4-H group, she showed the girls how to fold origami birds. Below is a poster of how to make one of the Origami birds and pictures of her showing the other kids in the club. She misses the Origami Club at Just For Kids that she led. She was very excited to be able to share her talent with the other kids and they thought it was very amazing to learn how to do.

We finally had a beautiful (rain free) Saturday in September and forgot all about the chores and errands we had planned for that day and through a picnic together and headed to the Delaware Water Gap National Park (Hooray - another stamp)! It was a perfect sunny day that was not too hot or cold for hiking. The Park is just a little over an hour from our house too. It is on the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The park is one of the top ten most visited parks in the US. Some of that could be how close it is to a large population base. There are tons of waterfalls, a variety of vegitation we had not seen before, a working village from the late 1700's with a mill, weaver, glass blower, black smith, wagon wheel maker, etc and great hikes for the family. It was one of our best family days that we will all remember with fondness with years to come. We cannot wait for Spring to go back and explore some more!

Delaware Water Gap on one of our hikes along a mini gorge.

The family with Dingman Falls. This is one of the most famous falls at DWG. We even got to hike to the top of the falls. It was not Multnoma Falls by Portland, but still the amazing beauty of Nature! The path to this falls was even paved - what luxury!

The visitor center for the NPS at the base of Dingmans Falls. This is where the kids earned their Junior Ranger Badge five minutes prior to them closing. Big thank you to the very kind rangers that verified the program with them and gave them their badges. Joel wants to put all their Junior Ranger badges on a vest or sash to be impressive as we travel the other parks. It may be challenging to find all the badges - their rooms are disasters! Maybe we can do that for next summer. We love the National Park Junior Ranger program - we have learned so much as a family participating in these programs at the parks we visit. Check them out is you have kids under 12 years of age...

What terrible Idaho Parents we are. We discovered at DWG that our kids had never skipped rocks. We obviously do not camp enough... We taught the girls - they learned it quickly and were hooked. It was amazing how many times they got their stones to skip and the great skipping rocks they found. Just naturally gifts...

After working with Marriott hotels for fourteen years - I finally had Mr. Marriott visit one of my hotels. What an incredible experience! I have met him a few times but a visit is more exhillerating. He also came with Arne Sorenson, President & COO of Marriott, Mike Stengle, Area GM for Marriott Marquis, and my owner - Mr. Harry Gross. Below is Mr. Gross and Mr. Marriott in my hotel lobby - you can see me grinning in the right corner of the picture.

Me visiting with Mr. Marriott - what a treat!