NC to VA to MD to DC to PA and back again!

Paul's family had a family reunion up in Pennsylvania. Since Parker usually is not so great in the car, I headed up Monday to Maryland by myself with the boys. This was the longest I have ever driven by myself (I don't really like to drive...) We planned a pit stop in Richmond Virginia, where we went to the Richmond museum of Science, and then finished our drive to Paul's parent's place in Maryland. It actually went OK! We made 3 total stops, including our 2 1/2 hour museum outing, took 8 hours total travel time, and had no crying children!!! I also discovered a little trick-we went to Redbox and got a movie the kids hadn't seen, and then returned it at a Redbox in MD!! It doe say you can return it to ANY Redbox, so we did-and it worked!!! So there's my little traveling wisdom for ya'll :)

On Tuesday, we headed over to DC. Having lived up there for several years, we just took our time. Camden's main agenda was to see where President Obama lived-so we actually got off at a different metro stop so we could walk to the front of the white house (instead of the side we always see from the mall) Not only did we see the White House, but we saw Obama's helicopter taking off for Andrew's Air force base on his way to the All Star game in St. Louis!!! Camden was stoked not only to wave to the President, but to know he was going to his birthplace. (Camden LOVES St. Louis) We had a picnic lunch, checked out some of the Museum of Natural History and headed back. The metro ride is always fun as well, although the doors opening on the metro surprised Parker EVERY time!!! I finally started warning him, and then the opposite doors would always open, causing him to jump again. It was pretty funny...



Tuesday night, we went to Katie's house, had a great dinner, and again had fun playing with the little scooter things in the basement (I'm not sure what these are called, but Camden wants one...)



Wednesday we took it easy, and then Thursday was the big day! we picked Paul up at the airport and headed straight for PA. My MIL rented a house near the Seven Springs ski resort-it was really cool. The immediate family all arrived on Thursday and we all picked out our rooms. We found one with a closet big enough for Parker (terrible, huh??) and let the fun begin :) We stayed up too late watching old family movies, but they were so entertaining! Made me wish I had brought my video camera :(

On Friday, we got day passes to Seven Springs. We rode the Alpine slide like 5 times, went bowling and mini golfing, jumped on the euro-bungee trampoline and climbed the rock wall, did some paddle boats and some even got to play 9 holes of disc golf (Golfing with frisbees) Even though we had some rain and it was quite cool, we had a great time. Parker and Camden LOVED the Alpine slide-and Parker was practically throwing himself off of the chair lift to try to get to it! Let's just say that Paul and I got quite the work out wrangling that little guy! That night, we had a family pizza party with all of the close extended family (Aunts, Uncles, cousins and grandparents) It was SOOO fun to see everyone again! We hadn't seen a lot of them since we had visited for Thanksgiving in 2002. I have to say that Paul's family is one of the nicest I have ever met-everyone was just so friendly and nice to the kids...it was a good time!





On Saturday, we had the BIG family reunion. This included Paul's grandparents siblings and their descendants as well. It was quite the crowd! But a good time was had by all! Camden had a great time all weekend playing with his cousins, 2nd cousin and 1st cousin once removed...well, all the boys that were there! Not a little girl around ;)
The iphone-bringing families together!
Parker with Grandma and Grandpap
Go Penguins ;)
And then...it was time to head back! We were planning to split the drive into 2 days, but Parker was doing so well, we just kept driving! The GPS took us on a lot of highways, we were only on the freeway for like an hour of the drive, and that made it so very pleasant! We took a little detour to check out Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, VA, where Paul went to high school, which was a fun diversion from our long drive.
With a pose like that, Camden may be headed here after all... hee hee

We then made it to home sweet home!!!

Whew!