June 6th

The 21st of May we went to Baltimore as a family to enjoy an Oriole's game.  

On the 24th Gavin and Athan had their last lacrosse games.

It was a good experience for both of the boys.  Gavin took a lot of hard hits during the season, but kept coming back for more.  Athan for sure wants to continue the sport back in Iowa.  

Gavin was being extra teenagery his last night, so I didn't get the photos I wanted.  Athan's hair that poked out of his helmet kept Phil and I laughing.  If you've know Athan for a while, he often has hair horns.  The club the boys played in offered an equipment rental program for everything but the stick and mouthguard.  It really was great to be able to explore the sport.

That weekend we had some large cardboard boxes, so Gavin decided they were perfect for air soft practice.  Gavin was the only one with safety glasses (prescription), so Athan and Obi improvised.

At least they're using the playground for something.

Saturday we did some more crabbing.  We started in Crisfield this time, and had a new experience with the DNR.  

It was really very loud and crowded with some disrespectful kids, so we went on to our other location.

We got 23 keepers!  We cleaned them up and saved them for our dinner guests coming Sunday night.

Sunday night my sister and her family arrived.  The kids were excited to be out of the car.  The adults were excited to be out of the car.

Monday we all headed to Chincoteague.

We climbed the light house, enjoyed the view, then headed to the beach, with a stop for ice cream at Island Creamery on the way home.

 Milena had a tumble and got wet.  I considered it my auntly duty to capture the moment.

It was just fun to watch Karver experience the ocean for the first time.

Milena even spent some time with Uncle Phil.  Based on her Skype reactions to him, we weren't too sure how she's react to him in person.  As you can see, they got along well.

The day started off a bit chilly, but then the sun finally appeared.

Tuesday we all drove into DC.  Our first stop was a tour of the Capitol.

 

It was neat to see what we did see.  However, it was a lot more time spent preparing for the tour than the actual tour.  But, now we can say we've done it.

Our goal for the remainder of the day was to hit as many of the monuments and memorials as possible.

I think/hope we did a fair job.  

The most fun for my kids was getting Karver to see the image on his penny.

Our last stop for the day was a nice view of the White House.

We stopped at our usual Applebee's in Easton on the way home.  I chose to add some extra length to the trip by locking my keys in the van.  😒

Thank goodness for AAA, but it was still a long wait.

Wednesday Phil returned to work.  The rest of us slept in a bit, took the morning slower, then we were off for a day of crabbing.

We started at our favorite spot.

When we got there, I had a quick panic if we could even crab on Wednesday.  (There's strange rules)  

After a call to the DNR, we were good to go.

We then drove down to Crisfield.  Some were crabbing on the dock, and the rest were enjoying the warmer, still waters of the bay.

Although we only ended up with 4 keepers, everyone still enjoyed the day.  

Thursday morning the kids went back to school.  I offered to watch Karver and Milena, so Chad and Stacey went to Ocean City to enjoy the morning by themselves.  I picked up the boys early from school, and we all met at Assateague about 2.  Phil even skipped out of work a bit early to enjoy the beach.

Friday morning the Olson's began their journey back to Iowa.

Saturday, the 3rd Cora had to be at the school for graduation duties in the afternoon.  That evening Phil, Obi, and Athan did a 5k at a local brewery benefiting Coastal Hospice.

Running is Obi's thing.  However, he hasn't been able to get much running in.  Phil had a good race. 

Athan actually finished 2nd place in the 13 and under group.  Obi finished 3rd in the 14-19 age group.

The brewery had made some rootbeer special for this event for the minors.

We have decided to stay and experience July 4th in DC. 

As Cora said, "Life's pretty neat when you can normalize trips into DC." 

I'm sure this will be a holiday we will not forget.

We are planning to leave for Iowa on the 7th.  Not sure yet if we'll do it in one night or two.

That puts us at just one more month here in Maryland.

The kids finish up school at Salisbury Christian this week.

This brings up a large mix of emotions.

Please pray for peace and unity as a family as we navigate through this transition.

  

Thanks for reading!

-Jessica