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On Saturday, Leah had a birthday party to go to. When one of the girls has a fun activity, I like to take the other for some fun one-on-one time with their dad. So, Molly and I decided to check out the bowling alley nearby for the first time since moving to our new house.

Molly’s the fastest bowler I’ve ever seen. From barely waiting until the guard rises up, to using two balls so she doesn’t have to wait for the first to return, she wastes no time. Once it is her turn, she sprints down the lane, giving her ball a little extra speed.

The second game we bowled, Molly started using the finger holes in the ball for the first time (instead of cradling the ball in both hands). She did really well.

Nice form! Molly looks like a professional bowler here. Impressive since she only started using the finger holes a few frames ago.

Her new technique seems to be working. Nice spare, Molly. (Apologies for the blur. She was moving quickly in her excitement.)

Very recently, Molly has decided she really likes Coke. So, after bowling she asked if we could get a Coke from the vending machine at the bowling alley. I told her we could do even better. So, we went to historic Ellicott City and wandered around looking for somewhere to get a Coke float. We ended up finding we could get one at Southwest Connection & Silver Arrow Fudge, where they also sell fresh fudge and authentic Native American items. We then headed to a picnic table to enjoy our treat.

The Coke float was big enough to share. Molly loved the Coke float, and wants to start making them at home.

Molly went to Art from Nature camp last week. She created a bunch of pieces inspired by things from nature using copper, cardboard, pastels, and more. Here are a few pictures of her with some of her creations. Jen and Leah got to attend the art show at the end of the week to see everything.

This may be hard to believe, but Jen and I have now been married for twelve years.

We were married July 27^th, 2002. It’s crazy that we both still look exactly the same ;) (OK, I don’t, but Jen pretty much does).

To celebrate a dozen years of wedded bliss, we’re going on a cruise in October. But on the actual day we went out to dinner at Tersiguel’s, a very fancy French restaurant in old Ellicott City. We were excited about our soup and entree, but thought our dessert (ice cream and sorbet) would be less exciting. We were wrong. Jen’s butternut squash ice cream and my coconut sorbet arrived in bowls made entirely of ice. The presentation was very cool, and the desserts were delicious.

After a few days in Tennessee, it was time to head back to Maryland. As we were packing up to head to the airport, Leah and Emmie decided to have some fun with the makeshift bed Leah and Molly had been sleeping on. It’s a nice cushion for cartwheels.

And for somersaults.

Or to just have fun with your sister/cousin.

As we did last year, and the year before, we went to the Children’s Museum of Memphis. The kids do love some toy fishing.

Leah found the Lego room and didn’t want to ever leave. Which was fine by me.

While Leah was building with Legos, Molly and Emmie were having some green screen fun. Not sure what they see behind themselves, but they’re enjoying it.

Leah and I are still building. JJ even joined us for a short while.

JJ liked the Legos, though he had a little trouble snapping them together.

After a half hour at the Legos, we were finally done. Not because Leah wanted to stop, but because Mommy texted us saying it was time to leave to head to lunch.

After the museum, we headed straight to lunch. We couldn’t go on a trip to Memphis without some barbeque. Lunch at Corky’s was definitely worth suspending healthy eating habits. Yum.

After a busy day, it was nice to relax at home for the evening. We had pizza for dinner, but not just any pizza. This was Papa Murphy's pizza, which we bake ourselves and, in the case of the kids, constructed from the supplied kit.

As they have done before, the girls had a disco dance party where they dance in the dark to music and a disco ball. This must be the belty part of the song.

This was our last night there, and the girls wanted G'Mom and Grampa to read to them. The new stegosaurus from the museum helped.

We went to the Pink Palace, a museum that, despite its name, is not pink. Inside it, we found this large animatronic T-rex. Jen is standing with the girls because they were all too scared to stand close to it for a picture without her.

Less than a second later, Leah was running away.

JJ was way too scared of T-rex to get close to him. This dinosaur didn't move or roar though, so it wasn't quite as scary.

This Mastodon skeleton was big.

In addition to dinosaurs, the museum had a big bug exhibit. This included large animatronic insects that the girls were not fans of, but also this little scientific station which was much less scary.

This was a giant animatronic mosquito head. When you pushed the button, it would stick its needle-like mouth into the giant skin below it to suck out the blood.

It was a fun museum, if a bit scary at times. Maybe next time we'll get to check out the planetarium there as well.

After dinner, Uncle J taught me a few ukulele chords, which of course led to a ukulele dance party before bed.

Nice dancing, Leah.

The next morning, the girls decided to begin our first full day in Memphis by giving a presentation on dinosaurs. Or at least on this dinosaur.

This was the first time that the cousins were together since Jen made them all mermaid dresses. They were excited to wear them to G'Mom and Grampa's church together.

JJ may not have had a mermaid dress, but he wanted to be in the picture as well.

After church and lunch, G’Mom and Grampa took the girls to a playground for some fun.

We went to G’Mom and Grampa’s pool as well (thanks to Coach for admitting us in spite of the rules!). Despite the intense splash pad calling to the kids, Leah wanted to jump straight into the big pool.

The splash pad had a water slide, and Emmie was quick to try it out.

Molly was quick to use the slide as well. If you’re wondering about the mask, Emmie had just given Molly and Leah a snorkel set which Molly had to use immediately.

JJ got his dad to go down the splash pad slide with him.

On the way home from the pool, we stopped by the side of the road to feed a couple of horses some recently mowed grass.

Aunt ‘Chelle put curlers in the girls’ hair to sleep in for the first time. Molly’s ready for bed with four of them. Unfortunately, most of them fell out during the night.

I asked Leah if I could take her picture with the curlers as well. She immediately gave me the over-the-shoulder pose. My little model in training.

Then, after a very busy day, the girls went to bed. The adults stayed up long enough to play a game of Texas Rummy, which Susan dominated more thoroughly than I've ever seen.

Shortly after arriving in Tennessee, we headed to G’Mom and Grampa’s friends’ house to check out their outdoor model trains.

Emmie showed off how much stronger she’s gotten since the last time we saw her.

JJ loves his pockets, though he had a little trouble with these ones. He asked me to help him put his hands in his pockets, and I of course was happy to help.

I had to use an ultra wide-angle lens to get the entire train track in, including the left and right loops and the bridge in between.

Here’s the main loop of the track.

JJ loved to run alongside the train.

JJ stopped running after the train to consult with me on the next photo. He’s got a good eye.

I see the train! It’s coming!

There it is! It’s the train!

Nice work, Mr. Train Engineer. I see you in there.

Here's one of the trains, on the move, after crossing the bridge behind it.

A shared train moment with a father and son.

The girls enjoyed the train, but not as much as JJ. So, after a while, they retired to the swing.

Thanks so much to Mark and Sheryl for all the hard work in creating and maintaining the trains, and for sharing them with us.

Last week we traveled to Memphis to visit G’Mom and Grampa. I’ve got lots to show you from the fun of the trip, but before I do I wanted to tell you about the fun of getting there and back. Hopefully you find our difficulties entertaining.

We try to always fly out of BWI airport, as it is much closer to our house than Dulles or Reagan, and is usually much easier to deal with than the two larger airports. So, when my mom dropped us off at the airport Saturday morning an hour and twenty minutes before our flight, we thought we were in good shape. Once we walked into the terminal, we knew we were wrong.

The place was packed. The line to check in at Southwest wound through the entire maze and continued on for just as long beyond it. We had to check out bags, so we got in line. We were panicked that we’d miss our flight, and as we slowly made our way through the line, we were more and more sure of it. We ended up spending 50 minutes waiting to check in. When we finally did, we were informed our bags were late and might not make it on our flight. We then had 25 minutes to get through security and to our gate. The agent checking us in was kind, and suggested we go down to Terminal C since the security line there was shorter.

We ran to Terminal C security, which was indeed short. We made it through security in 10 minutes, leaving us 15 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off. Unsure of when they’d close the doors, Jen and Molly started running back to Terminal B while I put my shoes on. I then picked up Leah and ran after them, catching them half way down Terminal B. We made it to the gate 7 minutes before take off time, wondering if we’d be able to get on the flight and get seats together. Fortunately, the flight was delayed, and was just about to start boarding. So, we made it on, not knowing if our bags would make it as well.

When we arrived in Memphis, we went to baggage claim and were happy to find the girls’ booster seats had arrived. Sadly, our suitcases had not. They ended up arriving later that afternoon (after spending a bit of time in Chicago’s Midway airport).

On our return flight, we knew Memphis airport would be less crowded, but we still arrived almost 2 hours ahead to make sure we had time. Of course, the airport was almost empty, and we were through checkin and security in 15 minutes. But we didn’t want to risk any problems since our flight was scheduled to get into BWI at 9:15pm, and we wanted to get our girls home and in bed as quickly as possible. We actually had even more time to wait, as our flight ended up departing 45 minutes late.

We ended up arriving at 9:50 with some tired girls. We headed to baggage claim and picked up our suitcases. Our girls’ seats, however, were not there. It seems none of the special baggage on our flight made it. So, we yet again had to file a report for missing luggage. The girls were not fans of riding home in Grams’s car without their booster seats, but they were so tired at 11:00 that they didn’t complain much. Southwest delivered the booster seats to our house the following afternoon, completing our adventure.

It makes me exhausted just to write this.