vacation recap: may

In May I ventured to see my folks in Maryland with my 23 month old, the point being to go on one big last "hurrah" trip before he turned 2 and I had to pay for him to board an airplane. We flew standby, which is ridiculously stressful, but we made all the flights we wanted and got there and back in one piece. We spent a wonderful week with Grandma and Grandpa. Some highlights:

• Dad gave me an informative lecture on the difference between incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent, and LED light bulbs, and I even got to bring home a few party favors. One is in our bedroom right now!
  
  
• Mom and I watched the Twilight movies, and she is such a refreshing movie companion because she totally laughed at the cheesiness several times during the movies; oh mom, you keep it real! I love it! Those movies are SO cheesy!
  
  
• I really got excited about family history and have been doing a lot of work on familysearch.org, most notably combining duplicate submissions and correcting other people's mistakes (feels good!).
  
  
• We took Wesley on a walk around the block once and met some neighbors with real live strawberry plants in their front yard (so jealous).
  
  
• Mom made chimichangas! I don't think I've ever made chimichangas...
  
  
• We went to OCEAN CITY!!! and got M.R. Ducks shirts (not Mr., M.R.). And played in the sand. And Wesley still hates the waves. But looks really cute in his Hawaiian outfit. Our sand toys were kitchen utensils and random stuff we found in the attic. Awesome.

(This is actually my new desktop image at work ;-)

• We went to the Salisbury Zoo where we were basically assaulted by a goose. Just kidding. But we were impressed with how close he got. And I've officially decided my new favorite animal is a flamingo.
  
  

• We had a four-generation lunch with my mom's two sisters and her mom, my Grandma Caudell. It was awesome to see everyone! Aunt Wanda gave Wesley a really cute Dr. Seuss-themed birthday gift (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, plus a stuffed Fat Fish from the book, and a backpack! His first backpack!) and we had some good food. Outside the restaurant there were rocking chairs and checker boards and all sorts of stuff to keep us occupied and chasing after a toddler. It was a great time.
  
  
  
  

(with Aunt Janet)

• We played at a monstrous and totally awesome playground in Salisbury. Wow, it was just as cool as parks around here. It had swings and slides and suspension bridges and bells to ring and sand to play in, and the best part, lots of places to run run run. Wesley was in heaven.
  
  

• But mostly, we just relaxed and had fun and visited. The time zone whacked Wesley out, so he'd wake up at noon and go to bed at midnight, and not nap. I don't think he took a single nap while we were there.

It was a good time! There were plenty of things I didn't get to do that I'll look forward to doing next time, namely eat a Dunkin Donut. How did I manage to not eat a Dunkin Donut? Darn! Dad also says I'm invited anytime to come and help them clean out their attic. I found a couple toys that I brought home and wrapped up for Wesley's birthday!! Some serious classic toys are up there. He had a good time playing with Grandma and Grandpa's collection. Also, Mom and Dad, you guys gotta get me a Smith Island Cake sometime! I still haven't had one. Shane also has decided we should take Wesley to some more historical and natural landmarks, and he found this list which includes Assateague Island. I just love being from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It hasn't seen the end of me.

I'm so glad I got to visit. Mom and Dad, I love you guys! Thanks for hosting us!!