St. Clement Island

Today we went to St. Clement Island. On March 25, 1634, the first English settlers under the Baltimore proprietorship sailed to St. Clement's Island on the Ark and the Dove. The 40 acre park contains a memorial cross dedicated to the memory of the first Marylanders.



The kids had mixed reactions to spending a day on the island.



They loved the boat ride to the Island!



They did not like the walk from the dock to the lighthouse.




St. Clement Island Lighthouse!



View from the lighthouse of the giant cross!


School's back in Session! The family sitting in the Old Red Schoolhouse.

Recreation Reptiles

Last night we went to get Rita's Water-ice. In the parking lot they had a Reptile activity going on. The kids had a great time and forgot all about their desserts. The kids loved playing with/ feeding the turtles. The boys were even brave enough to handle the snakes. Jamie stayed back and just took pictures. Jamie ended up being the "bad guy" by pulling the kids away from the event.




Aedan with Two Snakes!




Harrison has found a new friend.




All the kids feeding the turtles.

Leonard's Grant Fun Run

 Saturday of Memorial Weekend was a fun weekend in the neighborhood.  A couple gals organized a fun run for the kids to run around "the green" in the middle of the neighborhood.  The kids could choose to run once or twice around.  They all got a medal for finishing :)

 Harrison in action! Totally concentrating! :)  He can't even look at the camera :)

 Aedan enjoying his leisurely run around the green.  He took time to smile at the camera :) The Mayor of Leonardtown even came to start the kids off!  (below).  We also had a 5k run through the neighborhood after the kids fun run.  Below is a picture of a few friends from church that came out that day to run the race.  It was such a fun time!  The 5k costed $15 and the money went to our local fire department.  They came out to the neighborhood with their truck and let kids come in.  They raised their ladder too.  I had no idea how big that ladder gets!  I got dizzy looking at how high it went!  Keean loved it!  

 And, of course, the day would not be complete without our first swim of the season!  Bring on the summer fun!

preschool graduation

 Our Little Graduate!  (and Liz's little graduate in the background! :)

 Part of the graduation program was showing us all of their signs they learned.  This sign in the picture is "spider".  They always were doing songs and other poems with signs  This was one of Irelalnd's favorite parts of preschool.

The "little seedlings" grew over the school year into beautiful flowers!.  What a cute cake!

water day at little seedlings preschool

 The teachers got the kids involved in washing all the toys they use in the classroom!  They didn't even know they were doing chores.  They had so much fun washing and rinsing the dishes!

Ireland in action at the slip-n-slide!

Field Trips

Well today was very busy because both Harrison and Keean had a field trip and they each wanted us to go with them.  Keean's class took the bus up to the National Zoo up in Washington D.C. The zoo is free, but it does cost money to park.  Me and a friend drove up with Ireland and her little boy and met the kids at the zoo.  Keean was sooo excited for this day to come.  He loved it, but didn't get to see one of his favorite animals...the otters :(  I guess we are going to have to go up as a family to see what we didn't get to see the first time.  Harrison's class has been learning about cultures so his class went to a Japanese steak house for lunch to taste what other cultures eat.  Jamie met Harrison there at the restaurant and was able to eat with him.  They gave the kids chopsticks to attempt to eat with them.  Harrison, again, loves food, so this was a great field trip for him!  Well, I think he loves everything...:)  except chores :)  i know he does not like chores! :)

Fathers and sons campout

All the boys (and the girls :)) look forward to this weekend all year.  The kids love getting together to play games and roast marshmallows.  As you can see from Harrison's plate Harrison also loves eating!  He had a huge stack of pancakes, sausage and, well, i don't know what else!  Jamie made him eat everything on his plate :)  Needless to say Harrison did not eat for quite some time after he came home from camping :)  Mom took Ireland and one of her friends to McDonald's for dinner and a late night play date.