Maryland Day 1

 

 We arrived in Maryland last night about 10:00.  Lana and the 3 littles were there to meet us.  It was so exciting to see them.  The littles all remembered us and I think they were excited too.  I got some pretty big hugs from them.  It was surprising to see how much they've grown.  Of course I expected it, but it was still very surprising.  They have all been wonderful.  Our plane ride from S.L.C. to Denver was very, very turbulent. In fact the plane took quite a dip at one point.  All of the crew had to be seat belted for most of the trip.  Toward the end, they were rushing to give everyone a drink of water and a cookie.  We were late landing and had only 15 minutes to disembark and run to the next gate.  To add to the rush, we had the wrong gate number on our boarding pass.  Luckily another lady was also rushing and she told me that she was going to Washington D. C. too, but had a different gate number.  That helped me a lot because as soon as we saw that we had the wrong gate, I knew which one to run to.  We were the last passengers on that plane and they were actually waiting for us.  The ride was much better, but there was a little boy sitting behind me who kicked my seat and pushed on it every few minutes for the entire flight.  It was a little annoying.  However  toward the end of the flight his Mom apologized and told me he was autistic. Poor kid.  She really had his hands full with him and his sister.

I felt much worse for Dani.   She and Kenz and baby Tate were flying home from Lana's at the same time we were flying there.  They landed in Denver and then had a long, long delay because of rain storms.  When I talked to her they were delayed by 3 1/2 hours, but I know it ended up to be a lot longer than that because they didn't arrive home to S.L.C. till 3:00 a.m.  I don't know the details yet because I didn't want to bother Dani today.  I'm sure she was exhausted.

 The next day we had a little tour of Leonardtown.  We went to the wharf.  It was so pretty there.  My first impressions of Leonardtown is that it is very green and very, very pretty.  There are lots of forests and trees everywhere.  It has a real nice feel too.  From what we have seen so far, the houses have a colonial influence.  It is also very hot and humid here.  I am not one who sweats easily, but I was sweating.  It's just sooo hot.  I thought Texas was hot, but it's a different kind of heat here.

 This is the entrance to their neighborhood.

 Here is Lana and Rob's house.  It is very large and very, very pretty.  I loved it inside and out.  They have it fixed up so nicely too.

In the morning little G woke up and soon said that it was exactly her 1/2 birthday today.  She wanted to make cupcakes and have candles and celebrate. Soon she changed here mind and said she wanted a cake instead so that she could fit all of the candles onto the cake.  After all she will be 7. :)  She would put on 6 candles and cut one in half and put it on too.  Her Mommy said we could have a 1/2 birthday party.  We went shopping at Wal Mart and picked up cake fixings while we were there.

                                            S was the cake froster and candle lighter.

                                                    G was one happy, little girl.

                                               She placed her candles exactly where she wanted them.

                 We all sang happy unbirthday to her and she happily blew out all of the candles.

  I had brought some surprises for everyone and it turned out perfectly because she had some fun presents to open.  The presents were wrapped in unbirthday paper. (Plastic bags.)

             We ate cake.  Rob, Papa, H and E had gone to church for scouts and activity days.  After they got back, they ate cake too and then we played Phase 10, one of Ethan's surprises.  We read scriptures, had prayer,  and so ended our first day.  It is so nice to be here with everyone again.  I am loving it.  I wish they lived right next to me.  I wish all of my children lived nearby instead of being scattered all over the nation.  Too bad it's not like in the olden days when all of the family members lived near each other.  I would have loved that.  Oh well, I will enjoy them when I can.