Cannons, Cakes, and Cousins

I just arrived home this afternoon from a trip to the D.C./Baltimore area, and boy do I have a lot to catch you all up on! I left the husband there so I would have time to clean the house, catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and of course blogging.

Okay, that was a lie. I'm sorry.

Truth is...the husband sent me home early and he stayed for three more days (the nerve)!!!! He is in Baltimore until Sunday morning and is busy attending The National Cystic Fibrosis Conference (and speaking at it I might add, I know you're impressed). Usually I stay throughout these types of conferences and just keep myself busy being a tourist and shopping. Not this time, oh no, I was not allowed/invited to stay. D.B. told me that he "really needs to get things done and actually focus on the conference" and that I am a "distraction". You read that right ladies and gents, I was called a "distraction" by my one true love, my soul mate, my lobster! Ugh. In my lobster's defense, he did say it in the nicest way possible.

Oh well, I'm pretty sure I'll still be having more fun than he is. I'm serious, you should have seen those meeting rooms...BORING!!!

I shouldn't complain at all really, we did have a great five days together visiting Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

Here is a look at the first couple of days:

We stayed the first night with my Aunt Robin and Uncle John. Shortly after we arrived at their place, we packed up and headed to the Gettysburg Battlefield. It's amazing to be able to stand on the same hill that Union soldiers stood on back in 1863.

From a watch tower built on the Confederate side of the battlefield, we could turn to the west and get an amazing view of President Eisenhower's farm.

After our visit to Gettysburg, we headed back to the house for a great home cooked dinner that included a birthday cake baked from scratch by my Aunt Robin. It was delicious!! But no, it wasn't my actual birthday, not yet at least, that's not for a few more days still. Fun fact: exactly 25 years ago I celebrated my 4th birthday at Gettysburg!

(Ellen, D.B., Patrick, Rick, and Kevin)

Sunday morning we took off from Maryland and headed down into Virginia to visit with a bunch of D.B.'s cousins (+families), and let me tell you, there are a lot of them! My biggest regret of the trip is that this is the only picture I took during this visit! We had such a great time, and I loved meeting and getting to hang out with so many of D.B.'s cousins! They were all so welcoming and so much fun!! And... this was also the afternoon that D.B. and I met a 3 foot tall Darth Vader wearing red cowboy boots, no joke!