Ahoy There....

Cindy and I have been friends longer than I care to remember (because remembering reminds me how old I am). She has known me pretty much since I was old enough to start having skeletons in my closet and probably knows almost all of them (some even Raif doesn't know). She and I have had millions of juvenile escapades together and she even introduced me to my future husband. And while we constantly e-mail, Facebook and call we actually haven't laid eyes on each other in about 5 years and what is worse we had never met each others kids. So when Raif earned 4 free airline tickets (the one benefit of his work travels) I knew that we had to venture north to Annapolis and visit Cindy and the fam.

Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about the trip. Cindy lives on a boat and our plan was to take it out for an overnight sail on the Chesapeake. The kids, especially Greyson, have never been boat fans. The couple times we have taken them out on Nini and Dede's boat in the Bahamas they have been less than enthusiastic. My fears were heightened even further when we arrived at the marina and pulled a screaming child onto the docks of the marina where we were going to be staying. I think the entire bay could hear Greyson screaming "I want to go back in the car!!!" But after a couple minutes on the boat, including him finding a cave (one of the sleeping berths) he warmed up quite nicely. Unfortuantely, the boat we were suppose to be staying on, generously donated by one of Raif's friends at the sailing school, had no working A/C and the boat was about 90 degrees so thankfully Cindy came to the rescue and we ended up staying on her boat the entire time we were there. By the end of the weekend, the kids earned their sea legs and I think had a pretty good time sailing. It worked out really well because at times when the kids were not interested in sailing they could come inside and play with all of Zach's (Cindy's 4 year old boy) toys. The trip highlights for the kids were Zach's guinea pig named Mooky and flushing the head (aka toilet for you landlubbers). To flush a boat toilet you have to pump a handle up and down for some reason I will never understand they loved it. Sometimes I think they just went potty to work the handle.
(Quinn working the grinder)
(Zach and Greyson on watch)
(The fam enjoying the day and Raif wonders why he is sunburned)

Sunday afternoon after our voyage, we had dinner with another one of my oldest friends - Robert and his wife and twin daughters.
(Cindy, Robert and I (and my little photo-hog))

Monday we decided we were too close to real culture to pass it up and hauled everyone into DC proper to take in the Natural Science Smithsonian. Then it was off to Baltimore to head back home. The whole family was exhausted.
(Zach was so sweet and held Quinn's hand all around DC)

The trip did end on a bit of a sour note. Literally as we walked in the house Monday night Quinn puked all over the floor. Thankfully, she saved it for home not the car or worse yet the plane. She stayed home from school Tuesday and pretty much slept all day.

All in all, a great trip and hopefully it won't be another 5 years until we do it again.

And grandparents don't worry - there are TONS more pictures - Raif just has to upload them to his account and as soon as he does we will let you know. Hopefully these will tide you over until then.