pink flamingos

Since we're posting pictures of grazing fauna, here's another addition. My office is about a block from city hall - when I was passing, I caught these critters on the lawn. Only in baltimore, Hon.

Deer Season

Here is why it is so difficult for us to garden. This is at 8:30 in the morning. They are so bold! Luca even knocked on the window and they barely looked up. Finally I went out and chased them away from my next door neighbor's mums. I didn't think deer even liked mums. I do know one thing though, James really liked all the "horses" on our front lawn!

The B & O is seriously cool!

We went to the B & O railroad museum as part of Luca's "pre-school" today. I have this really romantic notion of train travel, and I loved standing beside the huge locomotives. It was so neat!

This picture is inside the roundhouse. While we were there they were moving a new engine into its place in the exhibit. The floor spins without a motor or any electricity! In the left side of this photo is a man down in a hole. He is walking down there and pushing the whole platform in a circle! It is amazing that one man can move an enormous locomotive, as long as the engine is perfectly balanced on the platform.

Flowers and Civil War battlefields

This is one of our dahlia plants. The blossoms are as big as James' head.

The boys and I drove to Gettysburg yesterday to meet up with Mom-mom for a bit of shopping, some battlefield-sight-seeing and a picnic. Here are some pictures from "Devil's Den". The boys loved climbing on the rocks. The park is such a neat place. The boys love it, mostly because of all the open space to run and stuff to climb on. Each time I go, I try to learn at least one new fact. Devil's Den was a union held position, by troops from Orange County New York. It was heavily contested on the second day of fighting and did change hands as the Union troops were driven back. I have this very youthful idea that bad and scarry things happen at night in the dark, but that's obviously not true. It's just hard to imagine something so scarry in a beautiful place on a sunny summer day. I'm grateful to be able to visit and to enjoy the outdoors, my mom, my boys, and a little bit of history too! Thanks Mom-mom!

joanie's favorite pizza

Couldn't wait for the guys to remove the wheelbarrow from the group study room to show these before and after pictures. Once they put down the carpet, you'll never know this used to be a scary basement. I have some great stories from this job. Not quite on par with the cement truck submerged in 200 yards of concrete story, but still good. Of all my recent projects, this one had the shortest flight and the best pizza. ("Could I order a large pizza with three toppings. And could you make all three of the toppings onion")