Bubbles + cousins + Baltimore Harbor = winning

This weekend, my sister Tahira and her husband had to go to a wedding, so we watched Russy and Matty.

We'd already planned to take our kids to the Science Center for Bubble Days, because Clair's absolute favorite thing (besides screeching at people and being irascible) is bubbles. So we just took all the kids with us. All five of 'em.

We ended up spending the entire day at the Science Center and the Inner Harbor (for lunch, ice cream, pirate-boat-watching and dancing). They got thoroughly soaked, playing in bubble solution for hours, and then we dragged the kids to Artscape for a little bit, where the boys made some spin art and mostly ran through a huge mist-er getting even more soaked, and Clair fell asleep in her stroller.

We were all BEAT at the end of the day, but it was  super fun and the kids loved hanging with their cousins (as usual).

See for yourselves:

What could be more fun than playing in a huge pool of sudsy bubbles?

"It's on my feet! It's on my hands! I need a towel!"

Hey Cary, check out your cool bubble pirate hat! Never mind that. Boohoohoo. Matty got suds on my glasses! (Sheesh. I can't with this kid.)

Russy tried to show Dean how to do this, but Dean knows EVERYTHING (in case you didn't know) so there was lots of tugging and minimal bubbling.

Mommy, Russy's bubble was THIS big!

As you can tell, they had so much fun with bubbles outside, they barely wanted to go inside the building!

Eating their ice cream on a sculpture at the Inner Harbor. And check out the dancing that ensued (below):

 

Poor Matty was so tired, he missed the ice cream. We bought him a cone, though, just in case he woke up while we were all eating ours. But he slept like a hibernating bear. So Lester ate Matty's. And his.

By the time we got to Artscape, we were all super tired and wished we could get pushed around in a stroller while we slept, like Matty and Clair did.

But at least the next morning, the kids slept until after 8:30 a.m. - and took nice looooong afternoon naps.

Bubbles + cousins = WINNING.

Artscape weekend!

Baltimore has a fabulous free art festival every year called Artscape. Since having children, I have yet to get to go.

So this year, I was determined we were going as a family! And maybe we could even buy some art!

You know what they say about the best laid plans??

It rained on Friday and poured like nobody's business on Saturday. So we skipped the festival and decided we'd go on Sunday (the last day) instead. And apparently everyone in all of Maryland had the same idea, because it was packed!!!

Trying to push a single stroller and a double stroller through the wall of people was slow-going to say the least. And once it stopped raining, it was muggy and moist, which made Lester not a very happy camper.
There was no way to see any of the art, because of the crowds, nor could we really stop and listen to any musical acts.

So...all we did was eat. We stopped and got the boys (and me) hot dogs and French fries. That held them till we got to the end of the festival, where they had a kids' tent. Once there, we got them soft serve -- with sprinkles!

When one ice cream scoop costs $4.50 (!!!!) and the sprinkles cost $1(!!!), you buy one bowl and split it between the two boys. This is why I always carry two snack bowls and two sporks.

They loved playing on easels, and in a fountain of water, but they refused to play at the giant Lego table or at any of the crafts tables. The face-painting station was closing by the time we got to it; same for the balloon-making station. Cary found a crayon lying on the grass and inexplicably turned to a woman sitting on a low bench and WROTE ON HER WHITE DRESS!!!! (Yeah, I don't even know what to say about that...)

Markers!!! Sweeeeeeet!

We tried to find our friends Antwyne and Mari (Antony's parents) who were somewhere in the crowd, but no luck. A man was taking artistic, black-n-white Polaroids of festival-goers and I wanted a family shot, but Lester (cranky and tired by this point) vetoed the idea.

Like I said, best laid plans.

Actually, I'm making it sound worse than it was. It was a beautiful day, and good just to be out of the house, among the people, eating junk, people-watching and living life. The boys weren't at all cranky and Clair was as content as could be in her stroller. She even fell asleep (which is new for me. Cary and Dean would NEVER do that)! We had rock star parking, and when I got home, I didn't have to fix dinner or clean up dinner dishes. YES!


And, even though I didn't get to buy any of the beautiful art, I ended up winning the mother-of-the-day award by stopping and buying $1 light-up rings from two homeless guys selling junk out of a stolen shopping cart on the street. Cary and Dean LOVE their rings so much, Dean cried crocodile tears when we told him he couldn't bathe with it or sleep with it, and when he woke up this morning, the first thing out of his mouth was, "I want my ring!!!"

So, all's well that ends well, eh?

And...I took my own damn black-n-white photo of the kids. So there.

It only took 5 months to get 1 successful iPhone photo of all 3 Davis children! Now, to get one of them all smiling at the same time!!