Independence Weekend in Maryland

Our summer started out with a bang this year!  My parents flew into Maryland from Utah in late June.  Jade didn’t get out of school until June 25th, but the fun started quickly after.  We headed down to my sister, Kristen’s house in Maryland for the 4th of July weekend, where she had lots of fun plans in store! 

After playing tennis and replenishing the calories with donuts and slurpees, we headed to Dares Beach on Chesapeake Bay, just a few blocks from Kristen’s house. 

Separation anxiety hit Tanner hard right before this trip, so he took awhile warming up to everyone.  He did, however, become attached to my dad real quick!  I figured he would, because the way I interact with my kids is very similar to how my dad is with them:  silly and playfully physical.  Tanner loved him right off.

 

After the hot walk to the beach, we were all happy to cool off in the water! 

 

I even caught my parents flirting in the water.  Still in love after all these years!  So cute. 

The girls (Jade (7), Lucy (7), and Hannah (10)) loved swimming in the water.

  

The boys (Ridge (3 1/2), Tanner (1 1/2), and Perry (5)), loved playing in the sand. 

  

That night we went to a concert in the park at St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland.  We had a picnic, played games, and ate treats on the lawn before the concert started. 

There were lots of people at the concert.  Lucky for us Kristen snagged us a spot to the side up front, so we had a better view than this! 

All the cute cousins with their fun grandparents!

Sisters with the parents.  You can definitely tell we are related!

The boys loved being with their grandparents. 

 

Just under three months apart in age, Lucy and Jade are great pals.  They even tried to coordinate their glow sticks to be the exact same. 

 

On Independence Day we went to the Maryland Blue Crabs baseball game.  On our drive to the game, a major rain storm hit.  It was so bad we could barely see and we started hydroplaning at one point.  The storm was so quick though, by the time we reached the stadium, the clouds were already clearing.  The rest of the evening was great weather!  It was so bizarre! 

We had seats on the lawn to allow the kids room to run around and play. 

 

Being all together is so fun (and rare), we had to take lots and lots of pictures!!

 

 

  

Towards the end of the game, we moved to the regular seats as they set up for fireworks.  Tanner was getting tired and started to snuggle with his blanket.  Ridge was so sweet and started to cuddle and kiss him too. 

 

Our last full day at Kristen’s was Sunday.  Their church is really late, so the kids had plenty of time to hang out beforehand.  I thought it was really cute when I found them all reading in the living room. 

Of course, we had to take the opportunity being all dressed up to get more pictures! 

This picture with my parents and all the grandkids is my absolute favorite!!

We had such a fun time being all together with the Staley family!!  Then Monday morning we loaded my parents in our car to take them home with us to get a taste of New Jersey!