Weekend Trip to Julia's

We went to Maryland this past weekend, to visit my friend Julia.  I hadn't seen Julia in... 7 years?!  She's has 3 kids since then, that I never met.  We've kept in touch through blogs and emails, but I was so excited to see her in person.  I'm pretty sure I was way more excited about the trip than she was.  She goes on adventures constantly.  Her family has an Air Stream camper, and her kids, (at 8, 6, and 4), have probably been more places in their short lives than I have in all my years.  Do I find that fact a bit depressing?  Yes, yes I do.  I discovered that if I lived near her, I would most likely be broke, because upon returning home, I felt the urgent need to DO STUFF.  Fun stuff.  Fun stuff usually costs money, unfortunately.  Monday we went to SeaBase (an indoor play area).  Yesterday, we went swimming when I got back from work.

One problem - I didn't make any plans for this week ahead of time.  I should have planned some play dates because after you spend the weekend in a house with 5 people (8 including us), just Dylan and I hanging out seems very quiet and lonely.

Here's what I want to remember about the trip...

*Abbie signing "I love you" to me after just a few hours.  If only we all shared love so easily and openly.

*Maggie drawing this picture of us when we first got there, and her smile when I said I loved it and wanted to take a picture of it.

*How excited Gertie was about the journals I bought the girls for their upcoming trip.

*Katie kissing the sheep at the farm.

*Dylan's face when he saw that the room he was going to be sleeping in had a playhouse, with a slide!

*How cute the kids looked, all sitting on a bench, eating their ice cream.

*Dylan saying "I wish we lived here", after a day at the farm and pool, eating pizza, ice cream and cookies!

*Dylan going under the fountain at the pool, and "swimming" with his vest on.

*Katie swimming under water for the first time.

*Dylan sleeping for 3 hours (of the 4) on the way home, because all that fun wore him out!

Thanks again, Julia, for having us and for all the work that went into it.