A happy visit to Maryland!

We just got back from a 10-day visit with Michael's parents and siblings in Maryland!

This is the Temple in Washington DC.

We spent the first part of our visit with Michael's parents, sister Lynn and brothers Tim and Matthew at Solomons Island - a peninsula on the Patunxet River and the Chesapeake Bay. It was a beautiful place to stay with a beach on the river.
We stayed in two little bungalows.
The weather was great. Not even super humid.

Also a visit to a cool Maritime museum on a soggy afternoon complete with fossils, boats and otters.

And a lighthouse.

But the most exotic adventure of the getaway was crabbing off the pier!
Poppy Dave brought traps, nets and bait. The kids loved it.

Unfortunately our harvest was not great. (The consensus is that the rain made the river less salty and therefore undesirable for crabs.) We did catch this guy though. More specifically Emma pulled him up. And we thoroughly enjoyed him for dinner, but supplemented our meal with hot dogs. We also caught a jelly fish or two, but didn't keep those suckers.

Michael and his brother, Tim.

Then it was back to the Smart house in Frederick for the rest of our stay. Our kids had so much fun with their grandparents and uncles. They thought just doing the everyday things were so exciting. Grandma even made chores seem like the fun thing to do. (I think that's a special gift that only Grandma's possess.)

They loved picking fresh vegetables and herbs from grandma's garden.

(And I really liked consuming them.)

Lots of swimming at the good old Frederick pool. Unfortunately, Poppy Dave had to leave on Sunday afternoon to attend a conference in Florida, but not until after giving a brilliant talk in Church. We felt so lucky to be there to hear it in person.
Also unfortunately, I did not get a really good picture of the kids with their grandpa. Pathetic.

The day before we left the kids had a party day with Grandma.
Complete with twisty straws, a cake with lego sculptures on top, and green jello. The kids were so excited.

The party also included a water fight

and a concert.

AND a trip to swim at a lake with a stop at a special candy store on the way.

Pretty hard to top!

And during the party day, Grandma Rosie gave Michael and I the chance to go back and visit the Washington DC temple together (where we got engaged 12 years ago this summer) and to lunch where we got more crab. :)
Thanks again to Poppy Dave, Grandma Rosie and Tim and Matthew for letting us come and visit! We had such a great time. We can't wait to come visit again!