There are several pics this week.

The Reeds came. They saw. They conquered. Now they’ve gone. But we had a good time while they were here.

Listening to the aquarium bubble tubes

We had an adventure every day. Monday, we went to the aquarium. Everybody went, so we needed two cars. It was a great time to visit. There were a few school groups, but not too many. They were on a schedule, so if we happened to be in an area the same time they were, they moved through pretty quickly and we had the place to ourselves again. We were able to have good access to every exhibit. And … because they accidently left a “closed” sign up and because Danita asked, we were the first people of the day in the Australia exhibit. We had to push through the shark tank exhibit because the wee folks were getting hungry and cranky. We had lunch in the cafeteria, which had good food and reasonable prices. Then we went to the other building to see the dolphins and jelly fish. Our dinner was a most excellent beef burgundy, served with Mom’s famous buttons.

Aquarium Cafeteria Magic Wall (it changes colors!)

Elizabeth, Pat, and Bryon at the shark teeth

Guess Not

Mark was going back Tuesday, so he and the Reeds exchanged gifts after dinner. Mark got balloons, stuffed with cash. Can Mark make the present even more fun by inhaling the helium and talking funny? Guess not. Mark gave the kids rubix cubes, and he taught Brian how to solve them. He tried to teach Elizabeth, but she was far too overwhelmed to focus.

Protecting Meat Eater Eggs

Tuesday, Pat took Mark home and the rest of us went to the Science Center. We spent most of the morning in the dinosaur exhibit. We all learned something. For example, did you know that vegetarian dino eggs are round, while carnivore eggs are oblong? The science center cafeteria was not nearly as nice as the aquarium’s, but it was a lot nicer than running out in the rain. At least it was quiet and not crowded. After lunch, we had time for a planetarium show. It provided me with my requisite nap, but other than that it was pretty bad. We certainly hope the other shows are better.  Our dinner was a holiday tradition – seafood newburg in pastry shells.

More Presents

Wednesday we split up. The Reeds went to DC had had a great time. They visited the Air and Space Museum in the morning, then went to the Natural History Museum. They enjoyed both, but the Natural History Museum was the favorite. UMBC was having graduation, and two of Danita’s grad students were being hooded, so she went to work. I spent most of the day adding features to our neighborhood’s database. After a most excellent spaghetti dinner, we exchanged presents with the Reeds.

Chocolate Souffe

Thursday was the last day of the visit. We had been having some excellent breakfasts, but this day we had Danita’s famous chocolate souffle. We went to an early showing of the movie “Heroes 6”. For our main meal, Danita offered a comfort food favorite. Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like Mom’s Chili. The Reeds left mid-afternoon with the goal of spending the evening chillin’ in Richmond; then completing their return drive on Friday. All in all, it was a most satisfying visit. Below are a few more pics from the visit.

Surprise Balloons

Dinosaur Footprints

At the Science Center

Marbulous