Saturday and Sunflowers

Last week Sterling discovered fields of sunflowers that Maryland plants every year.  There is a small amount of time when they are blooming, so he was going to surprise us and take us to see them Saturday morning.  We were recently called as ward missionaries in our new ward and we had a meeting Saturday morning.  We decided we'd head out after that....if only we knew what awaited.

- Went to the meeting. I won't get into it...it was rough

- Started on our journey (it was supposed to be about an hour's drive); we went the wrong direction.

- Got back on track and almost there.  We just needed to get across the river...but wait, we COULDN'T.  The map took us an hour the WRONG way.  

- After having spent so much time driving we were determined to see the sunflowers.  So back we went.  An hour back the way we came, and another hour to our destination.  

- Finally, we made it.  Out to see the sunflowers.  It must be near the end of the blooming period; they're all facing the ground.  It's okay.  We set up the tripod and camera (it was the perfect setting for some family pictures) and...it starts dumping rain.  We get everything and run back to the car.  

- We hang out in the car and take some family pictures.  It finally stops raining.

- We go back out and get set up again.  Snap a few pictures and the camera dies.  Beautiful.  iPhone pictures it is;  I can photoshop.  

- Head back home.  It is a nice drive.  It's pouring rain again.  

- We almost slam into the back of a truck and narrowly escape. Whew.

- Cohen falls asleep.  Someone slams into the back of us.  We scream; Cohen screams.  

- We are all okay and the car is minimally damaged.

- We arrived home 6 hours after we thought we would, but we made it...

 ....and we actually got some decent pictures.

This is our favorite! 

Without someone to play peekaboo from behind the camera Cohen wouldn't smile.  I should photoshop that. =)

Explorations

Once we got to Baltimore, Cohen boycotted naps entirely....luckily we ended up dropping one nap and he is now napping twice a day.  Since we've got larger amounts of time, we have done some exploring.  

We found this "secret garden" on campus.  Okay, so it's not really secret, but we stumbled upon it walking around and it sounds more exciting that way.  That's a horse statue in the background.

The Cylburn Arboretum 

Story time ON the pirate ship Fearless.  Cohen was glued to it!...for a few minutes anyway.

Check out the chick in the background....pretty sure she's the real deal.

Artscape 2013 - America's largest free arts festival

They had a sound garden for the kids

We found a glass blowing studio

Then went to see some of the giant ships in the harbor, though I need to find a better view.

Druid Hill Conservatory

This flower was bigger than Cohen's head!

This Agave cactus bloomed (apparently it blooms once and then dies) and it grew so tall they had to remove the glass tile in the ceiling.

If you look closely you can see where it's coming up through the roof.

Druid Hill Park

Random pictures I like:

trying to grab his toes while swinging 

making faces at himself, haha

Baltimore

It's been a while....so long that I don't really feel like updating (or even remember) everything that has happened.  I'll do some bullet points to keep it short and sweet.

-We packed up our house in New York
-New York lease was up before Baltimore lease began...
-Put stuff in storage in Baltimore



-We missed our flights to Florida
-We drove to Florida....took way too long with a 7 month old
-Enjoyed time with family in Florida for a couple weeks

-Drove back to Baltimore
-Loaded our stuff from storage back onto a moving truck
-We each fell out of the moving truck (separate occasions)
-Sterling payed a homeless man to help unload some of our stuff
-Sterling started school and is really excited about what he's learning here
-I am learning how to parallel park....yeah...I'm rockin' it too...just FYI
-We are getting settled in

I think that pretty much sums it up.  This was the most difficult move we've had thus far, but I am enjoying being in a big city.  It seems like there's always something going on.  The ward here is HUGE!  We have around 350 people weekly and the relief society is great.  There are a lot of young families, which is really nice.  We are learning the different parks, pools, and fun things to do.  Sterling's birthday was yesterday, so a friend watched Cohen and we went to a concert with Guster, Ben Folds Five, and Barenaked Ladies.  It was so nice to get out and do something like that!

Exploring - Baltimore Zoo - the pony was quite interested in Cohen 

Just a picture I like.