Maryland, Fort McHenry

On Tuesday, we visited Fort McHenry.  The battle between England and the United States in the War of 1812 (I had to have a refresher about the war--basically a war between England and United States to establish United States as a country independent of England. Yep, we had to fight for independence twice.)  Anyway, Fort McHenry was attacked.  Had it fallen, it's likely that other defenses also would have fallen, and quite possible that America would have proved its inability to defend itself.  This battle inspired our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."  It was a beautiful place!

 Silly faces!

 Isn't he cute?

 Camden's camera smile. :)

 Love to see my little boys with Grandpa!

 Maybe should have positioned this one better!  

 See Grandpa, Mckay, and Camden on top of the hill?

Maryland, National Geographic Museum

On Monday, we visited the National Geographic Museum.  Now, it just so happens that Camden's favorite dinosaur is Spinosaurus. (Check 2012 Halloween)  Yep, he really loves Spino.  And, it just so happened that a brand new, nearly complete Spino skeleton was discovered, and is the only one in the world.  There used to be another one in a Munich museum, but it was destroyed in WWII when Munich was bombed.  In 2008, a paleontologist bought a bone on the street market in Morocco.  He didn't know what it was, exactly.  In 2013, he returned to Morocco in hopes of finding the dig site where the bone came from because he knew it was from a Spinosaurus.  After days of searching the desert, he sat in a cafe and just happened to see the same salesguy.  He had the guy take him to where that first bone came from and found a complete skeleton!  And the exhibit at the National Geographic opened just a month before we arrived. Coincidence?  Maybe, but it was pretty awesome timing for us!  We even learned a few new things, too!

 Nate with his dino shirt on, making a silly face. :) Love that!

 

I LOVE Nate's silly picture faces!  

Wearing funny glasses for a 3D movie about pterosaurs (flying "dinos")

 Mckay, not so fond of holding still for a camera, with a Carcharodontosaurus skull in the back. 

 Mckay might have been too small for Spino to prey upon.  Whew!

Christmas ornaments

Every year we get a new Christmas ornament for each boy.  I try to look for something representative of who they are or what they like.  The hunt for the right ornament takes awhile--to think, to look, and to find something that's a reasonable price. 

 

So far, Camden has a new baby ornament(1st Christmas), a motorcycle(1 yr), Lightning McQueen (2 yrs), a Spinosaurus (3 yrs), a Captain America (4 yrs), and he choose Toothless this year, though he considered getting a new carnivore dinosaur each year until he had all the ones he wanted.  Eesh.  We found a small toy Toothless and will add a hook to it, though, so he decided on Toothless this year. 

 

 

     

Nate has the new baby (1st Christmas), a puppy with a toolbox (1 yr), a Crayola bear coloring with sidewalk chalk (2 yrs), and a steam shovel (3 yrs) to represent Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel.

 

 

     

 

Mckay is tricky for me.  When I think of him, I just think "soft, squishy, happy".  Kinda hard to find an ornament  that represents that!  Last year, I found a plush elephant ornament that was so cute.  And now he LOVES elephants!  Funny how that worked out.  But, he also loves his blanket, so I'm planning on getting a small scrap of the minky fabric to make a little blanket ornament for him. 

 

 

This is such a fun tradition for me!  And when boys get married, they get to take the ornaments with them. :)  Glad that's a LONG way off.