Clothes Out

Our now-seasoned travelling boys were excited and ready for this weekend's trip to Maryland for my cousin M's wedding. As Z pointed out frequently in the weeks beforehand, it was also an opportunity to go "get on another airplane" and a "space shuttle bus" to go see "Aunt I, Uncle S, Uncle B, Aunt J, Bubbie, Cousin M, Cousin M, Grandma, and J" (recited in various permuations, of course with names spelled out). He was also talking about getting to see Nanny and Poppy there, so I'm not entirely sure if he was just demonstrating his family tree knowledge. Anyway, there was a difficulty multiplier on the flight this time around: it was during the daytime (so we had to be ready for both boys to be wide awake), and there was also a snuggish connection. The boys actually did a great job all around, loving the flights as well as the stopover in Detroit. O traversed this particular course about 10 times: And no, running around the moving walkways and towing his own suitcase apparently did nothing to burn off energy, as he was chatting and asking for entertainment the entire second leg as well. It was still pretty darn cute (if perhaps not fully FAA compliant) to see him stand up on his seat, turn around, and smile or talk to Zachary or daddy during the flight.

We landed without incident in Charm City, and after collecting our luggage, got to experience their convenient light rail system straight into the city. Z was thrilled to get on the tall train, though he quickly lost energy as the train departed and likely would've fallen asleep if O hadn't kept tackle/snuggling his brother. One more form of transportation for the first night: from the train (which dropped us right outside of a very hopping Camden Yards with the Yankees in town to play the Orioles), we got to hop a "red taxi van!" to our hotel.

The hotel (and the whole area of Fell's Point) is among the oldest in the city, with cobblestone streets and buildings that seem nearly as they must've been several hundred years ago. The area also has more than a hundred pubs, and clearly no less than ninety of those were situated right outside of our not-entirely-soundproofed hotel room. We settled in, had bathtime, and Z discovered his favorite perspective: climbing into the wide windowsills and looking down onto the passing people and vehicles (occasionally announcing those that seemed the most interesting to him). O of course had to imitate his big brother.

Meh and I did a quick unpack, and discovered my epic fail: as we'd been getting ready to head out of the house that morning, I'd realized that the suitcase's retractable handle was broken. Quickly, I'd grabbed another suitcase and transferred all of the contents over. Except somehow I'd managed to fail to transfer the bag full of all of Zachary's clothes. Thankfully he had his spare set for the flight, but our task for the next day became apparent: get Z something to wear. And, oh yeah, his super cute and Owen-coordinated Janie and Jack wedding outfit had been in that pile as well. Crap.

The next morning, after a quick browse of the local street market and a good diner breakfast (hooray: they served Z's breakfast staples of Cheerios and bananas), we met up with grandma and J (along with my high school friend J, who drove up from the DC area for a brief visit), and were off to seek out clothes for Z. The inner harbor has a number of shopping facilities, so, killing two birds with one stone, we took the water taxi to get there. The boys were in love with the whole experience (plus they couldn't get over the fact that there was a taxi that went in the water), though O kept wanting to stand up and peek off the boat, particularly at the fun passing pirate ship.

The inner harbor was packed (primarily with visiting New Yorkers?), but we headed to the mall where luck smiled upon us and we were able to secure both casual wear and a new wedding outfit that ensured Z would look as dapper as his brother the next day. There was also sushi in the food court, and O charmed grandma into getting him a cupcake before we headed back. We had a small family dinner near the hotel, where O was wolfing down french fries when suddenly he said "my tongue hurts, that one is too spicy!" Meh confirmed that some of his fries had heavy seasoning, and she proceeded to hand-inspect the remainder to ensure a tongue-friendly meal. In the evening was the wedding party's pre-event, a trip to the O's-Yankees game. We'd hoped to all go or at least take one of the boys, but everybody was pretty wiped, so I headed over solo and had a nice evening watching a couple of former Mariners play for the Yankees, while the Orioles prevailed. I returned to the room to the two boys asleep, curled up around Meh in the double bed - both adorable and pretty logistically impressive.

Sunday was the wedding day, but as it wasn't until the afternoon, we had to figure out an activity for the boys; while we'd hoped to hang a bit with family, things were slow to develop and the boys needed a park ASAP; I discovered this one "not far" away (within a mile, but over rugged urban sidewalks that a stroller full of boys wasn't easy to navigate - yes, O has somehow figured out how to sit behind Z in the single stroller, which likely isn't quite to code, but is pretty darn cute), and we wheeled our way over there in the growing heat/humidity.It actually turned out to be great fun for the boys, with both standardish playground equipment and a very cool giant sunken gymnasium with scaled down architectural features of Baltimore in it. We played for a bit, then having burned through our snacks and juice bottles, stopped here on the way back for tasty sorbet for Meh and a big milkshake for O.

Then it was hypothetically time for a quiet nap back at the hotel. Of course the boys had other ideas, discovering that one of the chairs was spinnable.
Five minutes later (to answer the reference in the video's title), O got really green from all of the spinning, and I rushed him into the bathroom just in time for him to barf in the potty. He spent much of the rest of the trip talking about Z spinning him on the chair, his tummy hurting, that he barfed in the potty, and then the many other fabulous uses of our friend the toilet. Anyway, that was enough distraction for the day, and it was time to prepare for the wedding.

The ceremony was held on a beautiful wharf a short distance from the hotel, which was lovely for boat watching (the pirate ship and water taxis were announced on each passing by Z and/or O), but mildly nerve-wracking for us as the boys kept wanting to run right up to the edge of the pier and peer into (and talk about swimming in) the Baltimore Harbor. We strategically sat in the back row, which placed us close to the string duet (every song they played was sung along to by the boys, generally with the lyrics of "Old MacDonald" or "Mary had a little lamb"), and also gave us a good view of the procession, at least until the boys decided to try to take off halfway through the ceremony. Ah well, it was still fun and a beautiful wedding!

The reception was back on the top floor of our hotel. Z was a clear hit of the party, with many in attendance complimenting his hat and giving him five as he walked by. O was also receiving many kudos on his bow-tie-featuring outfit and his dancing stylings. Our table happened to be right next to the wedding cake, which O was excitedly talking about for much of the meal, but then declined to try when a piece was actually served to him. Eventually we retreated to the hotel room with the boys and I wrapped up our family's representation at the reception/dinner; I did manage to sneak a plate of wedding cake back to Meh for her to eat once the boys were more or less down for the night. It was a wonderful evening; even bubbie was up and dancing to the incongruous Ice Ice Baby.

The final morning was a brunch in the cute basement/ground floor of the hotel, in what has apparently been a bar for hundreds of years - a fun brick room with flowering plants in recessed window frames that let in light from up at street level. Zachary was pleased to pack away more Cheerios boxes, while O had a nice deep conversation with bubbie. And before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to everyone and ride one more taxi back to the airport (Z: "and go through security!"), before starting our long journey home. While I thought I'd cleverly timed the itinerary to allow for an O nap or two, he refused and exhausted Meh on the first leg, and when we switched sons for the second leg, he only conked out for me a few hours into the flight. Though we loved being able to spend time with our usually geographically scattered family for a very happy occasion, it's very very good to be home from our second family trip in three weeks!