Baltimore days

Between our trip to Hershey and our day trips to D.C., we spent time with the Gludts, exploring their new home town. They were wonderful hosts who not only fed and sheltered us, but did so during Passover, which was not an easy feat. 

We also got to spend time with Kelley's niece Morgan, and her nephew, Steven. Our kids really took to them, and loved playing board games with them. It was pretty funny to watch them all play, especially during Scrabble, when this little exchange when down:

Mark: "Okay, I went. Here's my word."

Morgan: "You spelled 'no'? Again?"

Turns out, it was the third time Mark played that word--but at least he spelled it right.

We also played Taboo, whee you get your team to guess a word without saying any of the other common descriptive words on the card. I was stoked to get one card, because it was perfectly timed.

Me: "What holiday is today?"

Steven and Morgan: "Passover!"

Me: "No, Catholic kids--what holiday is it?"

Mark and Nathalie: "Oh...Easter!"

And then the whole room dissolved into laughter.

On Monday, Kelley sent us off to lunch at a local eatery, then met up with us afterward.

 

She took us to her new shul, which was huge and gorgeous. 

  

It was even more gorgeous on the inside.

 

My family walked in, gasped, and started pointing out all the beautiful things in quiet, reverential voices. It was an awe-inspiring kind of place.

Kelley just laughed at us and yelled, "Hey, Catholics! You don't have to whisper in here! It's okay to talk!" Which made us laugh out loud. 

We also laughed at Kelley, who sighed when we asked her to step up on the bima and act rabbinical. She reminded us this was not her congregation, that she was the religious school director, but I just shushed her and told her to act like she was giving a sermon. Instead, she started acting goofy and making silly faces.

This was one of my favorite sights just outside the temple:

That's right, cherry blossoms. Due to unusually warm weather, the D.C. cherry blossoms had already come and gone, but we got to see loads of them in Baltimore.

In fact, the spring colors were beautiful all over the city. Kelley and Rob had a wonderful tree in their yard with the best colors ever.

Kelley also drove us to a wonderful little park that was just FILLED with tulips, every color you could imagine. It was full of families, with kids running around, and dogs chasing them. Everywhere you looked there were tulips, each color more rich and beautiful than the patch before. We couldn't get over all the beauty.

Here's my mom with my favorite flowers:

I tried convincing Romi to sit still with the flowers so I could take his picture, but it was no go. Until Mark sat down...and then Romi couldn't get enough pictures with his best buddy!

Our last outing of the day was a trip to Camden Yards, to watch the Orioles play the New York Yankees. We were in Baltimore, but you couldn't tell by the audience, which seemed comprised of mostly Yankees fans. The Os put up a good fight, but the Yanks still beat them.

Wednesday was Romi's fourth birthday, and we were excited to help him celebrate. Everyone sang happy birthday to him, but apparently, it wasn't enough. He pulled up a chair, his guitar, and his music, and serenaded himself for a good 45 minutes, much to our delight.

Kelley sent us off to another local favorite for breakfast, although it was actually lunch by the time we got there. No matter, the food was still good, and the cinnamon rolls, which were bigger than our heads, were fantastic.

We met Rob and Romi at the aquarium afterwards. My favorite animals were the sea dragons!

I was just bummed that it was cold and my knee was all busted up, because I really wanted to go out in those boats. Oh, well, something to do on our next visit!

The aquarium, as always, was spectacular, and we got some great pictures of the kids.

We returned to the Gludts for Romi's big birthday celebration. Kelley tried making ice cream, but something was up with either the new ice cream maker, or the modified-for-Passover recipe, and we ended up with ice cream soup instead. It was still awesome, but Kelley supplemented dessert with a batch of matzah roca just in case.

It's a bummer to have a birthday during Passover (no birthday cake!), but Romi didn't mind. He got to blow out a (Shabbat) candle anyway.

You can really tell he's a rabbi's kid, because this was his favorite birthday gift--his own havdalah set.

He was so dang cute using it Friday night, mimicking Kelley and Rob's every move as we poured the grape juice, smelled the spices, and lit the candle. (He used his thumb as a pretend lighter.)

By Friday, my family was tired, and staged a revolt (all the battlegrounds and lessons of independence inspired them). The kids refused to get up until 11 a.m., and my mom sided with them. So we just kinda relaxed that day.

I did manage to get them out of the house for lunch.The restaurant was inside the  Lexington Market, which was full of small food stands. It was busy, crowded, and loud. I could've sat there people-watching all day long.

I was a little nervous about the food, since crab wasn't the only thing this place served.

But I needn't have worried. Turns out they have the BEST crab cakes in the city. A. MAZ. ING. Seriously.

It was also one of my favorite afternoons because our families refused to do anything, so Kelley and I went out exploring on our own.

She drove me through the countryside, and pointed out her favorite little house. 

She drove me to see Romi's school, which was on my favorite-named street in Baltimore (or anywhere, for that matter!).

We also had amazing pie that day, and even brought one home for Rob's birthday dinner the next night. He was a happy camper about that!

So Hershey was fun, the sights all along the trip were wonderful, but the highlight (and main reason) for our visit was to see our friends. And we were not disappointed! We really had a blast with them.