Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Aunt Sherri Goes to Washington (...and Baltimore, too) with her cousins (and their parents)!!


So the last two sight seeing days my two cousins were along for the fun on Sunday and their off-day on Monday!!

Sunday we went to Bawlmer (I was becoming a local by this point) with my uncle and two cousins!
We went to the top of this building (I think it was the World Trade Center for Baltimore) that had a 9/11 exhibit on its observatory floor. It had names of those who died from Maryland on 9/11/01. It was really powerful and kind of strange as my youngest cousin was born less than a month after that day.

Some sights from the top...







Writing on the glass is the names of those from Maryland that died on 9/11/01






We of course did some goofing off in the park by the harbor



And walked to Little Italy for some cannoli... 

Monday, my cousins were out of school... so we went to DC!! 

Carla, Aunt D, and I went to the International Spy Museum and played spies for the afternoon!
At the time, I was (binge) watching Alias on Netflix so this was pretty fun for me... Our group got a 3 out of 5 and it was so fun. Unfortunately, this was the only picture we got (Can't take photos of a top secret mission. Duh!) 



Myla (who had already been to the ISM before) went to the National Archives to do some research for a paper (and all I had was the Encyclopedia at the library when I did school projects) 

After all the spying, we hit some sights around the Mall... 
Keep up the good work Booth... oh and the "real" FBI.  
No caption needed
Aren't we cute!  
My aunt thought this was funny... ok so do I :)

We took a break to hang out by the Washington Monument... 
  


 We had more fun on the Mall...


Up a tree

Running to the WWII Monument



And finally to my favorite Mall monument... The Lincoln Monument


I have a dream...
So true story, as we walked up the steps I started quoting the "I have a dream" speech. And when I had Myla take this picture of me, she had no idea that this is where MLK, Jr gave this speech. We were in the lobby/restroom area when she came yelling, "Sherri! Sherri! Did you know this is where Dr. King gave that speech????" Me: "Um, yea. That's why I was quoting it." Hahaha.




Ok, this was really funny... When I walked up to this scene, I though "Awe, how sweet!" 


Only to discover that they were plotting... 

to see who would jump down the next section... 

and they both chickened out... "Um, that's really far down, Sherri" 
After a long day of sight-seeing, we enjoyed our Metro ride back the car! 
 

Aunt Sherri goes to Washington (...and Baltimore, too) with her Aunt D!!

Last November, I took a much needed vacation to visit my two youngest cousins and their parents in Laurel, MD. I had such a good time. I arrived on Halloween night and got to raid their candy stash I mean watch them joyfully eat their candy (they were 14 & 10 at the time). Since I went up during the school year, I got the pleasure of seeing some sights just my aunt and I.

My first day took us to Baltimore or Bawlmer, Hun as the locals would say... I had a few things in mind that I wanted to see. Being a huge Ace of Cakes fan, I had to at least get this shot!
 

I was pretty excited :)

Next we visited the Young Visionary Museum which was really cool... though I was only able to take pictures outside... 








You know me, always making strange friends wherever I go!  
Our duck face pic!
Then we CLIMBED up Battery Hill to get a view of the harbor... (seriously hated my shoe choice for the day at that point... oh well, I looked CUTE!) 
My only other trip to Baltimore was when Aunt D and Uncle P were married (I was 5) and I have memories of climbing this hill with my brothers!



Day 2 of sight-seeing with my aunt took us to DC... (Washington DC that is)
I wowed my aunt with my urban transit skills on the Metro and enjoyed a FREEZING day in our nations capitol.
Our first stop was Arlington Cemetery which I had not been to since I was 5 years old!


 






 


Since both my roommates at the time of this trip were in the Army, I had to check out this exhibit
 

A quick Metro ride over to the Mall... 

 

It was really cold day (and for 2nd time in my life I lost a glove on the Mall), so we spent some time warmly checking out the National Art Gallery...
I snuck in some pics to keep us laughing (which helps keep you warm)...

 


I really enjoyed my two days sight-seeing and talking with my Aunt. I want to be like her when Blueberry and Tator Tot (and the others to come) are grown up. She's such an encouragement to me how she loves her family and our family (she married into our group of crazies!!). I really look forward to spending more quality time with her in the future :)