Memorial Day Weekend

Any transition seems to cause crazy sleep disruptions with my kids. Diego's move into Charlie's room has been less than smooth. The first night they both went ballistic; the second morning I found Charlie in Diego's crib; the third night Charlie climbed into Diego's crib to steal his pacifier causing Diego to wake up and cry hysterically. AHH!

We went to Chestertown for the long weekend which ended up being a perfect distance - far enough away to feel like a vacation but close enough to not be an insufferable car ride. We rented a little house that happened to be on the parade route. The tea party festival took over the town, providing endless entertainment for Charlie (the original tea party - not the political ones). The revolutionary war "marching men" paraded by the house and led us down to the town square which was full of all sorts of fun. Here they are watching the parade:

There was music, dancing, Ben Franklin dressed in a wool coat in 95 degree weather playing chess with kids, games from the 18th century to play, animals teathered to a booth (owl, hawk, turtle...), puppets (though Charlie was scared of the puppets), bagpipes. We saw the "toss the tory" competition as well as the pirate ship cruising the coast, but unfortunately we missed the reenactment of tea (and people) getting thrown overboard. Charlie also got up close and personal with a pregnant cow named Billie. He pet the cow who was being fed copious amount of silage leading up to being set loose in fenced area painted with gridlines. Festival goers could purchase a square for $10 and if Billie pooped in their square they got $2000. We were happy with the petting and didn't stick around for the pooing. The best part of the weekend for Charlie was all the attention he got from Abuela!

On the way home we tried a nearby crabhouse and over anticipated our skills. I got tired after 3 crabs and Carlos' mom thought the activity was too messy. That left Carlos to tackle the other dozen crabs on his own. He was determined not to let the crabs die in vain so he powered through those crabs much to our horror. Charlie loved watching the boats come up to the restaurant and Diego was kept happy with his own mallet (though I kept the crabs away).

Now that the weather is nicer we've taken the band outside. Here is Charlie rocking out on the porch with his boots on the wrong feet (as usual). Carlos is on the sax and Abuela is on the bongos.