AND FUN WAS HAD BY ALL....

Hey - I'm almost caught up! Woo hooo!!!

Saturday & Sunday were "Baltimore Days". On Saturday we arrived at "Port Discovery" ( www.portdiscovery.com ) right as they opened at 10 am... and didn't leave until 4:30 pm! WOW!! That place was AMAZING!! It calls itself a "kid powered museum" and was really cool, along the same concepts as the Cincinnati Childrens' Museum. The guide books claim it is in the Top 5 US kids' museums and Top 12 Worldwide. We had such a hard time getting the kids out of there! I'd definitely recommend that anyone going to Baltimore with kids check it out! We also were able to save a few bucks with a coupon from the Entertainment Book... and the kids were worn out after climbing through the THREE STORY jungle gym and playing on the soccer field!

We did feel, though, that the Cincy kids' museum was better from the standpoint that you could also go through the other two museums to "change the scenery"... but Port Discovery was AWESOME! LOL!

Sunday we got to the Baltimore Aquarium about 9:45 am and started through. (Again, we really appreciated the Newport Aquarium because we felt it was better... but it's all a matter of personal preference!) www.aqua.org is the Aquarium's website and one of the dolphins just had a calf on June 27th, so we were able to see it on closed circuit television. They had a little hunt for the kids to find information from a little bath toy called "Seymour" so that helped make it fun for them. They really liked hanging out & watching the frogs in the displays at the end of the Rain Forest and they got to touch a horseshoe crab.

We went & ate at the ESPNZone -- it was the first one built in the US. Patrick was in HEAVEN with all the screens & he kept flipping the speaker channels at the table to listen to all the different sports shows that were on. He was sooo upset when we said we were leaving! LOL!

We then went into the Maritime Museums and toured through the sub that sank the last 2 ships of WWII, the last surviving ship of Pearl Harbor (a Coast Guard vessel) and then a light ship Chesapeake. The boys thought it was cool to go up & down the ladders...and Kevin was always interested in where the bathrooms were & what happened to the pee & poop.

Again - another great day to get to the hotel & swim, 'cause it was HUMID & HOT OUT! Blech!