Baltimore Adventure

Janell and I and our children took a day trip to Baltimore to visit my cousin, Hannah and her husband, Micah, who are visiting from Colorado Springs. I dare say this was my biggest adventure alone with Aliza and Josiah. We went to Baltimore without a plan. It was rainy and we didn't know what we were going to do after we picked up Hannah and Micah. We arrived at noon so the logical thing to do was have lunch. Upon learning that Hannah and Micah love Cheesecake Factory we decided that was our destination. With minimal directions and a vague memory of the Inner Harbor from living in Baltimore during YES training we set out. One call to Jeremy and his quick use of Google Maps saved us. Thankfully the downtown area was empty. We parked in a parking garage and started walking. Quickly we realized we were incredibly ill prepared.

Josiah jumped out of the van, grabbed Hannah's hand and didn't let go. It was raining. We had no umbrellas.
We went to the city and didn't bring a stroller or carrier for Renee. Seriously, what were we thinking???
Once in Cheesecake Factory I realized it was 1:30. My children were beyond hungry and their behavior showed it. Micah did his best to entertain them. First got them to hold them hands over their head and told them lower their hands S-L-O-W-L-Y. That turned into drumming on the table. Then he showed them silverware tricks. That lasted a few minutes and turned into silverware drumming on the table. Finally he taught Aliza foot games under the table. Somehow that deteriorated into both Aliza and Josiah crawling under the table.
After eating the rain stopped so we figured our best bet was to walk around the harbor for a few minutes. Josiah put up his hood and headed for the puddles.
I could understand that after sitting all day in the car and then in the restaurant they would want to run. Notice several things---my hands are full, my belly is big and there is NO RAILING at all on the harbor. The rule was that if they stayed on the red brick they could run, but if they went on the white cement they needed to hold a hand. It actually worked fairly well.
But then Aliza dipped her hand in. At the moment I was calm, but this week I've had some ''what if" thoughts of them falling in.
We tried to get a group picture. Isn't Renee such a good girl? I hope she is an ornery as my children some day. It would make me feel a lot better! We took Hannah and Micah to where they were staying and drove the 2.5 hours home. We started driving and I asked Janell, "Was that fun?" She said, "It was the right thing to do." My sentiments exactly.

The end of the story is that Hannah and Micah had 2 free days after the wedding they were in and before they headed home so my Grandparents rented a car for them to come to my parents house to visit. So we saw them again tonight. Which was great, but..... Oh well, we had an adventure!