Ocean City, Maryland 2023

 Ocean City, Maryland Trip 2023!

We planned it a year ago and man, did that year fly by!  Grandma and Grandpa were heading to Uncle Jeff's a couple days before Siri and I so Carson got to tag along in their car for some extra Maryland time.  To his surprise, Grandma and Grandpa had a special stop planned for him....The Naval Academy!  My Dad got to show Carson all around.  They even ended up checking out the Crew facilities and getting a tour from one of the coaches there.  He went up into the church my parents were married in, got to see the Plebes, and had a sweet treat too.  What a special day for this kid!  

Carson also got quite an extra bit of boat time and baby Camden time before ALL the visitors arrived.  

And then the rest of us started our road trip...

To start off, we met Auntie, Uncle Adam, Maeve, Maren, and Peri in Baltimore for our first stop to stay the night and get to Uncle Jeff's early the next day.  Oh do we have stories from Baltimore.  Our car made it there in 10 hours with just about as perfect of a road trip as you can get.  We headed straight for the Inner Harbor downtown at 2pm to take the girls to the National Aquarium.  We pulled into the parking garage right across the street from the aquarium and thought we were all set....as we searched for a spot we heard a strange noise.  Then heard it again...well, turns out our roof carrier was taller than the beams in the garage and we were officially STUCK as we parked.  Long story (so long) short, Patrick and I had to take the golf clubs and luggage out of the carrier and put it in a handicap spot.  We had to pull the 8 foot carrier off the top of the car while it was parked tightly between 2 cars, and proceed to carry the carrier across the parking garage (with the girls following along), stuff it into an elevator ( so hard), and take it out on the street right in downtown Baltimore.  Some nice ladies volunteered to watch it while I ran back up to get our car and Patrick got the girls some ice cream from a food truck nearby as a sympathy gift.  After some crazy driving close calls, I pulled up on the side of a VERY busy street, put on my 4 way flashers, we threw the carrier on the top of the car and locked it in as fast as we could, and an hour later we were back on our way to our hotel, NO AQUARIUM.  Whew!  

Back at the hotel the kids swam and Siri and I enjoyed a crab cake from Timbuktu.  Not just any crab cake, THE BEST crab cake.  Timbuktu was a favorite place of my Grandma's and we loved getting to go there with her.  Seriously these things are so good, probably my favorite food ever.  I had a hard time going and picking it up, I definitely had fond memories of Grandma on my mind on this trip.  

We didn't let that parking garage get us down!  That night we took an UBER back to Baltimore to explore the aquarium and the Inner Harbor.  

IT'SUGAR!  Now that's a store with Laney's name on it.  

We had the aquarium almost to ourselves, and got to touch some jellyfish!

Off to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Roxie's beach house the next morning!  ALL my cousins, Amanda, Gunnar, Laura, and Austin came too, along with their families and fur babies.  It was a packed house, and it was a loud house, and it was the MOST FUN.  

Baby Camden was a highlight for ALL of us...all the kids wanted to do was pass this cutie around!  

A crab feast?!  Does life get any better???!  

Learning how to hold the crab and NOT get pinched.  

That was day 1 y'all...day 1!  Gosh I have missed my Maryland family! 

Day 2 we hit the Jolly Roger water park and had a BLAST!  That night we were off to the horse races!

Day 3 we did some tubing with Uncle Jeff, Amanda, and Austin.  We went all the way down to the Ocean City Boardwalk to ride the Jolly Roger rides, get some Thrasher Fries, and explore the beach a bit.  We didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked because of this massive thunderstorm rolling in...but I got the fries and I got some fried oreos and I'd say it was a pretty awesome day. 

Day 3!  We went to the Jolly Roger Racing Park and raced until our heads were spinning!  We played putt putt, did some shopping, had a fantastic dinner out (thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Roxie) full of orange crushes, and finished off the evening with a boat ride.  

It really was the BEST trip.  I haven't been back to Maryland since my Grandma passed away and I needed it.  I loved spending so much time with my cousins.  It was long overdue, and I hope we are able to do this again in the near future.  This trip was a solid memory maker.