Eastern Seaboard

I have to first apologize to all of my Facebook friends who have already seen these pictures, I'm sure :) Unfortunately, since most of the vacation was spent with the kids and I doing things on our own, I took ALL of my pictures with my phone. I brought the camera everywhere but just found that with having to carry Annalise and a diaper bag, and keep tabs on the other two, it was just easier to whip out my phone than dig out my camera.

Our vacation started with a flight from Milwaukee to Baltimore. The kids liked the airplane, especially Benny. He talked the whole way through the flight asking Dad all kinds of questions about the wings, wheels, drinks, bathrooms, etc. Madeline got a little queasy but held it all in :) Annie, as expected, was a great flier (we pay for that when we drive though).

Dad sat by Ben in the row behind us. Madeline liked that the boys were sitting together and the girls were sitting together :)

Benny was absolutely enthralled with the luggage carousel. I don't know why it amazed him so much but he sat and watched it for the longest time :)

On Friday night we met Aaron in Philadelphia and stayed overnight with him there. On Saturday morning we were able to see some of Philly's sights ... the most exciting part being the Franklin Institute and Science Museum.

They have a real steam engine train there that actually travels on tracks inside the museum ... it only goes four feet back and forth but it's open for people to ride on and learn about ... Benny LOVED this part!

He was so excited even while we were waiting in line! He just stared at the train :)

The lady helping out on the train told Benny he could be the engineer. I think in his sweet little heart he believed he was driving :) It was so cool and he had so much fun!

The also have an old airplane that the kids could climb in and pretend they were flying! You can barely see him but Benny was a co-pilot :)

Madeline sat in the pulley chair where you pulled on the rope to pull yourself up in the chair. She thought it was pretty neat that she could lift herself up :)

The kids hanging out in Daddy's hotel room. It was pretty fun ... all five of us in one king size bed :)

On Saturday in Philadelphia we also got to go to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell visitor center ... it was pretty cool!

The kids posing in signers hall.

On Thursday night Aaron set us up in a swank hotel in Ocean City ... the kids (but mostly I) were really excited to see the ocean and collect some seashells.

The ocean was beautiful and we collected a whole bag of seashells :) Benny, not pictured, cried the whole time we were down by the water because the waves and the wind were too loud.

The hotel had a swimming pool, too. Annie took her first dip in a pool! It was adorable to see her in a little swim diaper :) It was also quite a sight to see me with three kids and no lifevests :) After the swimming pool the kids were cold so we went back up to our room and took a jacuzzi (and yes Mom, Amy, Melissa, Vicki - I cleaned it out first!). Annie especially liked this part :)

And once again there were four of us in one king sized bed :)

On Wednesday the kids and I went into the city to check out the Museum of Natural History (or the Dinosaur museum as the kids call it). The kids were especially impressed by this shark jaw :)

On Wednesday we also went to an awesome park called Cabin John Regional Park ... the kids had so much fun playing at something different than the parks they're used to :)

On Tuesday we met Aaron in Alexandria for a trip to Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria. He took us to a candy store that he often takes his groups to and the lady was so happy to finally meet his family that she gave the kids some specific candies they were eyeballing :)

Benny got a three foot long piece of bubble gum :)

Madeline got a giant lolipop :)

This is all of us on the back porch at Mount Vernon ... it was beautiful!

Washington family statues :)

The kids outside Barack Obama's house :) I think Maddy was hoping for a sighting of Sasha and Malia :)

On Sunday Aaron took us into the city to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe :) It was a lot of fun, especially for Madeline who got her first taste of music videos - she was especially enthralled by Pink's video "I'm Still A Rockstar" ...

We got to ride the train into the cities several times ... this, of course, was one of Benny's favorite parts of the trip. He loved having and using a train ticket!

Madeline wanted to act like a true city-kid and stand the whole time on the train. Even though there were plenty of seats she stood and acted naturally when the train started and stopped and lurched her around!

Aaron doesn't like to take a lot of family pictures when we're out and about because he acts like it's kind of a tourist thing to do ... since the train was mostly empty I did convince him to take one picture of us as a group :)

On the way home, as promised, we stopped in Madison to get Madeline her new Birthday Bike from the Trek Store.

The bike she chose is purple and white with flowers :) She rode it around the parking lot and is very anxious for the weather to change here so she can ride it around Ashland!

Annalise is getting to be such a big girl ... I love this picture :)

Aaron called this moment the triple crown of traveling ... all three kids asleep at once!