Good Morning Baltimore!

Lyric taken from one of my favourite movies- Hairspray. Set in Baltimore but filmed in Toronto of course! But seriously, this city was filled with so many things to do- sports, harbour, shopping, aquarium.... we couldn't do it all in a day, and I must say, I want to go back and stay there and absorb it all in. It really is charming.

Look at those tourists posing in front of Camden Yards. Just set the tone for the day!

In America, food trucks are the 'it' thing! You can see by the tv food shows specializing in showing what these mobile gourmet kitchens can do. Here is one we walked by... so American, right?

Beautiful water sculptures and water features at the 'Inner Harbour'.

Here are the tourists 'pre-shirted' approaching the 'Inner Harbour'.

Some great stores to look around at. This one called 'It's Sugar'. OMG, so many sugary treats. I bought this little mint tin for Melanie. 'Flirty'!

Another food tv reference, this time. Charm City cakes, that's where the Ace of Cakes is filmed with Duff Goldman. Since I can't buy everything, I decided to take pictures of some cool souvenirs like these ones.

And these lovely Charm City Cupcakes.

Melanie wanted to go on these Dragon boats, I told her... sorry, too expensive and we don't have the time... so let me just take a picture of you in front of them... It worked!

Here's the cool aquarium across the bay.... we didn't have time to go and visit... but maybe next time!

Brent had heard of this restaurant chain and so we had to go and partake in some shrimps! Thanks Forrest Gump.

Look at these funny shirts... all sayings from the movie.

At the table with the signage... if everything is cool you just leave it on 'Run Forrest Run'.

...but if you need to summon the waiter, you flip it to 'Stop Forrest Stop'. We did and it worked!

Brent went a little nuts with his shrimp 3 ways, just like in the movie... fried shrimp and garlic shrimp and coconut shrimp....

I played it cool and ordered my favourite... again... coconut shrimp! Delish!

Now, onto the next portion of our trip... the sports portion. Brought to you by the Baltimore Orioles. Big old historical building holding the Sports Legends Museum... and gift shop of course!

The Number 1 baseball fan standing in front of #42- Jackie Robinson. So cool!

So much team spirit, even the garbage can was getting in on it!

and all the pennants everywhere.

this litte Oriole was seen everywhere... like, between the bathrooms.

... on the condiment cart...

 

oh.... and this guy, took us some time to figure out who he was... he is the local beer mascot. Melanie posing with her little wienie Oriole guy and the beer man, nice eh!

and the fans in the stands... P.S. we had matching orange shirts... we didn't want to stand out and blend with the crowd. Everyone wore orange!!!!

 

...and here you have it, the historical Camden Yards as seen from our seats. Quite an epic moment for my baseball loving husband. Hon, just knock another one off the list!

A day in the life of a Washington, D.C. tourist

This amazing summertime adventure continues... this time in the Nation's Capital. Washington, D.C. It's my pleasure to share these beautiful summer photos with you knowing that we had such a great time and that life is a dance! What you say? Life is a dance! You see, not everything always goes the way you want it to go. Like having Brent in a hospital for almost 3 weeks and having Melanie and I racing to see him everyday and then take care of his foot at home and try and maintain the house and pool by ourselves. And so we danced... we tried to make it work... gone to the way side-routine, structure, we adapted and lived how we had to. We had to take care of our 'Daddy', so that meant we didn't always eat right or exercised properly, so we didn't meet our healthy living goals.... and guess what that's LIFE. The dance. You have to bend or you are going to break. SO that is my advice, bend, dance and know that not everyday will be perfect, know that in the back of your mind you are always learning and rolling with the dance. It's ok if this summer your weight loss goals weren't meant, that you stayed the 'same'. Because you were meant to pause, take care of your family, shift focus from yourself to them and now  Fall is just around the corner. A new month and a new vision for love and self -care!

So what does this have to do with D.C. ? Well, part of taking care of my family meant that we had to do a bus tour of the city, Brent couldn't walk alot... in fact, barely! So this is how we adapted. Look at what we saw and discovered...

... taken from the roof top of our double-decker bus- the Pentagon.

 

Brent and the Big Bus... cute, all B's.

It's really a good deal, you get to ride buses all day, hop on and off and see the sites. Good times!

Pretty gardens.

Pretty tourists.

Smithsonian Castle.

The Washington Monument, under repair because of the earthquake 2 summers ago.

Brent and the beautiful architecture.

Brent loves everything American, so walking down the National Mall, that he has seen so many times in movies was a great big deal for him.

In front of the Museum of Natural History. Fantastic place! This was my favourite place to see. I love gorgeous pictures and look what we stumbled upon....

An exhibition of the best nature photography in the world. All credit goes to them, these are fantastic!

La grenouille, look at those eyes.

Yup, we had to get a wheelchair for Brent... just part of the dance!

One of my fav's, this is a photographer taking a  picture of herself in the reflection of the colourful bubbles.

Colours in nature are awesome!

Monkey love, this one's for you Julie!

Cool exhibit about the population of the world, the numbers actually kept on creeping up as we stood there. The map of the world was illuminated with the population density.

The Hope Diamond, the largest diamond in the world... So my hope for all of you is that you will take the time to 'dance' with life and not get hung up on the end goal, life is a journey, a living breathing journey, along the way you will find diamonds... cherish those moments and try know that even better times are ahead for you!

Virginia is for Lovers

Well that's what they say... Lovers of Sam and Max that is! Our lovely Reston, Virginia hostess and mini host. Welcome to part 2 of our amazing East Coast Trip.

First thing we loved... being so close to Washington, D.C. and being able to catch a Washington Nationals game. There were a few challenges (traffic, traffic, traffic, parking, rain ), but we still had fun!

Sam got us super close tickets... amazing for baseball fan Brent! And junior baseball fan, Max loving 'uncle' Brent and all his baseball knowledge, and Brent loving imparting that wisdom upon his young mind.

There's Sam! Awesome tickets, thanks for your special connections!

There's the cool American Ballpark! You know, the Nationals were once the Montreal Expos.

Here are their mascots. Giant, old President heads. There's 4 of them- can't quite remember who, but get it... Washington, D.C., old Presidents.

Ok, next came an evening out with Sam and Max, a 'thank you' dinner. Here were Max's picks... Cafe Rio for authentic Mexican and Sweet Frogs for desert. Good job Max!

Check Cafe Rio's disclaimers in their windows.

...and this one...

Oh, but this was the best, this fresh 'beverage bar'. Sam's favourite was this Horchiata which is a sweet milk, cinnamon drink, my favourite, sugar-free strawberry lemonade- fantastic.

OMG, here's my crazy dinner. Sweet Pulled Pork quesadilla with mounds of pico de gallo, cilantro and by the way.... that's a fresh home made tortilla!

Oh yeah, we had fun!

... at the Mexican Grill.

Now off to the other side of the parking lot for some Sweet Frog. This resembles Yogurty's in Canada. Max and Sam's favourite spot - they love candy... you'll see why!

So, here's how it works. You choose your cup.

Choose, your yogurt flavour. I chose raspberry.

You can top your fro yo with fresh fruits... or candies/cakes/gummies/sprinkles...

So here we have Melanie's 'everything but the kitchen sink', Sam and Maxes orange delight and mine, raspberry on the bottom and chocolate and berries on top.

Ok, it was Brent's first time... he got a little carried away. $9 and an aching belly later, he learned to tone it down next time eh!

  Ok, so it's all about balance... so when Sam invited me to her Sunday morning aquafit class I was game! A girl can't eat all that Sweet Frog and sit on the couch! This was the best class ever! The instructor was dishing out so many tips and meanings behind the purpose of each move! I wish I lived with you Sam, I would go to this class every day!

Our little kids also enjoyed some late night swimming. Melanie is a fish who just loves the water and Max was a little dare devil who went onto the big slide at least 8 times... falling into my arms, because his mom thought 82 degrees was too cold to come into the pool. Oh, Sam, you have been away from Canada far too long. Just this week, Melanie and I swam in 69 degree water! You guys were the best hostess/mini host and we are so grateful for your kindness and hospitality, thank you!