Another big week with lots of pictures

Well the Browns came and they went. We had such a great time and it was definitely crazy but we loved every minute of it and miss them already (especially Abbey). A lot has happened since we last posted... including a little man who turned ONE! We cannot believe a year has past since he entered our lives. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves...

Before they arrived, daddy and I drove out to Annapolis (Napolis as I like to call it). We met up with Mary Aleese for lunch and then daddy and I took a trip on a pirate boat. This is the same boat I went on last year but, being an entire year older, I enjoyed it a lot more. It was fun shooting pirates, looking at treasure maps, picking out treasure and drinking grog (which put us all into a deep sleep).

On the day that the Browns were coming, we received some terrible news. On the first leg of the trip, the plane failed to show up. That led to a VERY long trip for them that included some vomiting, a bus ride, a close call on the first leg, some crabby toddlers and a LONG wait for luggage. To pass the time (they arrived 6 hours later than scheduled), mommy had the crazy idea to try to get last minute reservations at the American Girl Bistro. Lucky for us, there was a cancellation and we were in! We met my new friend Ruthie. Here she is getting her hair braided.
Then we had lunch together. It was awesome.
We both ate really well!
Reagan had one request on her visit: to see the Lincoln Memorial. Harrison's request was to ride the "bullet train." Since we don't have a bullet train, we took him on the Metro. Unfortunately, the metro comes no where close to the Lincoln so they did that another day. Here I am with Reagan walking to the Metro.
Here are the "bigs" with Pops. By the way, this was his first trip on the Metro too!
Reagan and I on the train.
Pops, Bobby and Harrison on the BULLET train (Harrison was sad to learn the Metro goes fast but not as fast as the real bullet train).
Here we are outside the Bethesda Metro Station at the fountain.
Saturday was Casey's birthday. We just had a few friends over since we knew we would celebrate his birthday at the beach with the Shaw clan. Karen decorated his cake for mommy (she is not too good at that). We had Lego candy to put on the cake and cupcakes. Karen did a great job!
He seemed to enjoy his cupcake!
And the plate that it came on!
All that sugar but he was still ready for bed!
On Sunday, we drove to the beach. It was an relatively easy trip for all. We essentially took 3 cars. Daddy took Corey, Harrison and Bobby in his car. Karen drove mommy's car with Reagan, me, Madison and Kennedy. Mommy drove in one of Pops' cars with just Casey (he hates car trips and she wanted to spare everyone). We all did pretty well, even Casey.

The first night there, mommy, daddy and Corey took us big kids to the boardwalk. We rode rides, played games and then I took all the kids on the Haunted Mansion! Mommy got a great shot of the boys going in but her camera died before she took a picture of daddy, Reagan and I. We have a great picture from inside the ride that we will scan and post later.

The next morning, we headed to the beach. Reagan and I LOVED playing in the water. The boys were a little more hesitant but had fun in the sand! Kennedy LOVED the water but Madison was not too pleased with the ocean or the beach. And Casey just wanted to be sleeping.

Later we played on the deck. Both Reagan and I carried Casey around. I am not sure how much he LOVED it!
We had fun with our squirt guns!
The next day, Corey and daddy took us big kids on a pirate ship! We look like a scary crew, don't you think?
Casey sure had fun playing around in the house!
And outside!
He loved drinking the water from the kiddie pools! YUCK!
Just a beautiful shot of the ocean!
Tuesday night, we had a babysitter and all went out to dinner. It was a great night out. Thank you Pops and Gams!!!
On Wednesday evening, we headed back down to the beach one last time.
Here is Casey one night before bed.
One more shot of Casey playing around in the house!
And showing off on how he knows how to talk on the phone.
We had such a great time. We are now just gearing up for back to school. We promise to post more pictures soon as well as a link to all of our pictures from the Brown visit and a video of Casey walking (which he does like a pro now).

Casey has his one year check up on Thursday. We will post the results later this week!!!