The Deathly Hallows

Work the next day or not, we went and saw the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie.

We were all very excited!

Mandy and her friend wore shirts befitting the occasion....

And I broke out the radish earrings.

Snacks were included, Harry Potter themed, of course. Horcrux Pops and Lemon Drops.

Lately + Amanda - Part 2

Some of Mandy's, uhhh ..... Talents

Lately + Amanda - Part 1

Inheriting a teenager is hard work. We've been pretty busy since Amanda came to live with us. 

Want to see a few of our Exciting adventures? YOU DO! 

Well then, let's start with our visit to good ol' PA. My dad's parents live there so we went up for a day excursion.

Of Course we had to take our picture by Monn Road. Does this road bare your maiden name as a tribute to your family you ask? Why yes, yes it does. 


I presume your next question might be something like - Do your grandparents live on Monn Road. Oddly enough, the answer is a big fat NO. I don't know that anyone from my family has ever lived on this road. Curious...

But the fun doesn't stop there, oh no! There was more to be had on the 4th of July. But instead of the gayeties stemming from cool road sign, they came from Baltimore's fireworks on the harbor.

After a tiring day of chasing kids around a crowded Science Center, Mandy and I met James and waited around for the celebration of our independence. There wasn't all that much to do. Some of our company found some very interesting ways to entertain themselves.

Our non-profit employers may not be able to shell out the cash but they always try to sweeten the deal with a few employee benefits. One of those gravy perks is an open roof that looks out over the harbor during the firework show.

The river has been a frequent hang out spot lately.

We go running on trails or climb on the river rocks. Mandy only fell like once... 

Or Maybe Twice... 

Or Three times...

It's hard to recall the exact number. But she always came up smiling.

Somehow, after all this madness, we were able to fit in a little Friday night putt-putt date. We were pretty excited about the whole thing.

We took turns practicing our golf modeling ....

... and generally just had a good time.

You know the date is good when it ends like this - 

Putt-Putt, Santa Pants, Chicken McNuggets and a movie night = AWESOME!

Lately, but still pre-Amanda

It's been a while. Since the our last blog post I've started summer camps at work, we visited Michigan, we've celebrated three birthdays, we've started packing for our move, I've applied for jobs, Amanda came to live with us and a bunch of other random things. 

The next two posts are for catching up. 

First, the pre-Amanda post! A few highlights... 

I taught James how to make homemade ice cream using an old coffee can and a cannery can. 

Delicious!

James added a new computer to his growing family of Macs. Happy Birthday and Graduation! 

He's so Happy!

And we finally rode on the Fearless, Baltimore's full on working pirate ship! Unfortunately, we needed to use a coupon by a certain date and the only available ride was on a family ride. This basically meant it was in the middle of the day and it was strictly for moms and kids. We still had a good time. It was a really cute and fun thing for the kids to do. the adult ride was basically a night booze cruise anyway. 

It was a bunch of fun. How could a pirate ship not be?

More to come on our recent adventures. Look for the "+ Amanda version" soon.