What a ride home!

We had a great time in Kentucky...we got in about 4:00am this morning...yeah-we are tired.

(1) Congratulations to Mark! He graduated from his family medicine residency program on friday! It was a great day/night:) They even sang happy birthday to me! I had a great birthday, it was great to see lots of family and friends!

(2) We had a great time @ beach bend with Ella's friends...we miss them so much already.

(2a) We stayed the last couple nights @ Barren River State Park...it was such a relaxing atmosphere...and Nana and Papa got to play with the girls:)

(3) ok now to the ride home-we left Glasgow about 2:15 (a little later than planned)...which was 3:15 EST...we figured the trip would take about 12 hours with stops so we knew we would have a long night ahead of us... Luci has been teething so she is a bit more grumpy-but that comes in later. They both actually fell asleep pretty quickly for their afternoon nap. They both slept about 2 hours. We were hoping to make it to Huntington WV before they woke up, but no such luck... So the hour till we got there was a bit loud! Then we stopped and got our food (Fazolis)-Ella loved the spaghetti! Everything seemed to be going fine. When we were leaving a storm was moving in...I said we can out drive the storm...well lets just say that God humbled me. We actually saw some clouds that were started to rotate, they weren't near the ground...but nevertheless, I started to drive rather quickly. Then Ella got hungry again, we had some apple slices that we gave her. She was quiet, watching the DVD...then all of a sudden started sneezing A LOT....yup you can probably guess what happen from previous posts...she put four pieces of apple in her nose....Why, why, why?????!!!!!!!!!! Luckily we had tweezers and an nose aspirator with us (thank goodness)...Mark tried to get the pieces out while we were driving. He did get three pieces out, then we had to stop @ McDonald's somewhere in WV to remove the last piece (it was rather high up there...)...so boredom, I understand, but putting things up your nose I don't. We have had a talk with her so hopefully this will be the last post of this nature. To add to the trip to McDonald's when we got out of the car it started a torrential down pour, so we got wet too...what was God trying to teach us??? But the rest of the trip was uneventful (oh except for Luci crying for 45 min before she fell asleep for the last time...darn ol' teeth problems!)...I drove the late shift....I usually can stay awake pretty well, as long as I sing to the radio.

(4) So now we are in Baltimore getting things settled, Mark starts tomorrow!!!! Can't wait too see what else God has in store. I just hope it doesn't involve anything up any ones nose!

(5) Mark updated his blog...so check it out! HERE

All of us @ Beach Bend!

Ella and Luci..having a blast!


Papa Humphrey swimming with Ella


Nana with the girls


Ella @ graduation!


Luci @ graduation


My Mom and Dad @ graduation

Mark sharing his diploma with me:) So sweet of him!

Queens for a day!

First off I want to apologize for my previous post and not mentioning that Mark came with us to the city pool...here is a cute picture of Mark and Luci! It was great to have him there with us, it was a great family day :0)

We have been staying @ the Mahlow's place (Robin is a/was a resident with Mark). We are so thankful for their hospitality! The girls have enjoyed playing with their daughter's (Eleanor) toys...one being a Tiara. Here is us...showing you our best princess look:)

Swimming!

I officially feel that our girls could live in the water...luckily we have another day planned this week @ Beach Bend Waterpark. We were @ the city pool today and they LOVED it! Of course I caught some highlights on camera-enjoy!

Ella swimming...


Luci braving the water!

Having fun with Mommy in the pool!

One Last Visit!

We will be heading back to Kentucky in the morning! Mark graduates on friday (it's my 29th birthday, also). But, while my parents were here last week we bought Mark a graduation gift. When Mark came in the door last night, he saw the present and said, oh cool...Ella's response to Mark---"Yay, it's a sweatshirt!" Apparently she can't be trusted with secrets:) It was so funny...and so frustrating @ the same time:)

It is great to have Mark here...the park near by has opened up the pool, so we went swimming in the kiddie pool today...it will be lots of fun this whole summer, the hardest part was making Ella leave. Well, I will try to update this next week, but if I don't, know that we are having fun in Kentucky!

Victory Part 2

With a little help from my brother Ryan, I am writing this blog entry on my OWN wireless internet! We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore today...even rode the light rail downtown...I will post more pictures later!

Thanks Ryan and Jill...Mom and Dad for the stingray membership @ the aquarium!
Because of the lay out of the aquarium strollers are not allowed...so carriers were the way to go! It worked well:)

Sepia ahhh...I took this artsy photo of Ella's refection in one of the turtle tanks



Luci loved the bubbles in the water tubes



Ella and I near a cute frog that was hanging out on the glass...



Posing with Puffin the Penguin

We went to Honfest this past weekend here is a link...I didn't take any pictures, my dad did, but he didn't bring his camera connector-so I will post them @ a later time!

Victory!

So, today @ 8:35pm the comcast technician left our place...and yes we have cable!!!!!!!! Ella just sat and stared @ the screen for what seemed like forever. Needless to say, it made her day. I am still working on the wireless myself...it seems if you use your own wireless router, then you have to figure it out yourself...or pay them to come out again...yeah, come out again...

Anyway it took 3 guys to climb the ladder and run the wire to our house (by the way that is how our landlord was involved he cut our old wire)....hmmmm! I'm not going to complain, though. I am thankful (we did get installation for free). Now if I get my internet running...

Keep on, keeping on...

We are making it here in Baltimore...with temperatures in the high 90's the past week or so it has been sort of unbearable. We do have air so I shouldn't complain, I just can't set it as low as I would like so we can conserve on $$$:) But, we have gotten outside regardless, we went to the zoo again and we have gone on walks and to the park. I went to trader joe's on Monday (and I officially know where four different targets are located). I am enjoying some of trader joe's speciality items, I love their hummus...I need to make my homemade pita bread...but with it being so hot, I am unmotivated. Side note, I realized a couple weeks ago that you are supposed to refrigerate Bisquick mix once you open it to keep it the most fresh...hmmm, I guess it makes sense it is just weird seeing it in the refrigerator.

Mommy's group on Wednesday was great, I feel blessed that there are so many mom's @ this church in the same situation as I...I look forward to getting to know them better. Girls' are both napping right now and I need a shower, but I wanted to update and let yo know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Enjoy the pics I leave you with...

Oh yeah...still waiting on comcast; come to find out it isn't all their fault, our landlord it to blame too---but I think we are getting closer???

Ella @ the zoo (2nd trip) posing with the monkey statue

Girls riding in the stroller...

Luci looks kinda sad here...but I think she was just HOT!

Mark was here!

Daddy came home this weekend to spend it with his girls...his flight ended up getting in about 2.5 hours later than it was supposed to (so it was about midnight on friday night), but I wasn't too frustrated---I would have been wicked mad if they would have canceled his flight. Ella and I ended up staying up late, popping popcorn and watching Little Einsteins to pass the time until we went to pick him up @ BWI. It was sweet to spend that time with her:)

We celebrated Father's Day this weekend since we won't be able to be together next weekend. Mark is a great Dad! And his little girls LOVE him to pieces. So, Honey-we love you and hope you felt loved by us! We made him breakfast on Saturday morning (chocolate chip pancakes...yum). Then we went out for dinner that night @ TGI Friday's (we had a gift certificate there). Then went shopping for a dehumidifier for our basement....can you believe they cost almost $200.00, what a rip off...but I guess that is better than a moist and muggy basement.

This morning we visited our first church since moving to Baltimore. Here is the link, we really liked it and they have a mommy's group on Wednesday, so I think I am going to check it out! We feel that God is really showing us the way he has for us....s l o w l y to us...but in his perfect timing. I find it amazing that we would choose the first church we went too, but we will have to wait and see. A friend from Glasgow recommended this church (He is from Baltimore and still has family that goes to this church). This morning we took the kids to the nursery and the woman working there asked us how we heard about the church...we told her and she said "that's my cousin"-she made us feel very welcome and the girls felt so comfortable in the nursery. The service was diverse and refreshing....anyway, Mark and I really appreciated our first impression. It is only about a 8 minute drive from our place, when you don't get lost @ least:) It is very close the the JH Homewood Campus.

So we have lots to be thankful for, I miss Mark terribly already, but luckily my parents will be here @ the end of the week....Oh and an update on the cable/internet from Comcast...still not completed.....I have another apt tomorrow morning, but as you can see from past experience, I AM NOT HOLDING MY BREATH that anything will actually get accomplished. Mark hooked up some bunny ears...so I get FOX and nbc...better than nothing (although I was hopping for PBS). If we don't get is tomorrow, we might start looking for other options.

Here are some pictures of Mark and the girls...by the way, the new kitchen table in the pictures (we got from IKEA...no surprise there), but I put it together myself!!! I followed the 12 steps--even used a power drill/screwdriver (I know strange, I actually read the directions). Mark was very proud of me and so was I!

Daddy with the girls right before he opened his card and gift!

Yummy breakfast with the table that I put together...the reason you should be impressed is this table has leaves that you pull out and put in...so I didn't just add four legs to a top!

I wish fifth time was a charm...

So, yeah it has taken Comcast...five times (so far) to unsuccessfully set up my cable and Internet. Long story short...Each time a cable guy comes to my house they tell me...I can't do this right now, you will have to make another appointment. Apparently they have to rewire the outside poll to our house, anyway. Mark heard they were rated lowest in costumer service out of all Internet providers, I see why...

So luckily I have borrowed bootleg wireless Internet to check email and such and have been watching DVD after DVD...I will let you know when I actually do get both....if it ever happens! Not really a positive spokesperson for Comcast right now...we have managed to get $20 off of installation, but I think that is all we are going to get!

So to have a bit of fun the girls and I went to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore (not the Baltimore Zoo anymore). Mark's parents said they would like to get us a zoo membership, so I went to explore and retrieve the pass...thanks Nana and Papa--it was lots of fun! Here are some pictures of the girls and I enjoying the fun...the one picture were Ella is actually looking at the camera, I yelled 'there are boogers coming out of my nose'--we have been having a bit of a nose fetish lately, luckily it actually worked in my favor to get her to look @ the camera!!!

Self timer portrait...turned out pretty good



Ella thought the Lion looks like Aslan...so she gave him a kiss



and 'rode' him...this is the booger picture I was talking about



By the giraffes



Luci doing what she does best!!