Crabcakes, Snowballs, and Hampden....I must be in Baltimore!

Back in the Midwest, getting ready for my first ever Cubs game tomorrow in Chicago, and I am going to try to re-cap my trip home as quickly as humanly possible. As it was such a whirlwind trip, this is probably appropriate. And so, we begin, in an organized fashion.

Wednesday

Left as early as we could, heading out of work by noon and on the road by 2:00, we hightailed it through Chicago before rush-hour, and made it to Ohio before bedtime. The car-ride was smooth, uneventful, and didn't involve any driving for me, making it the easiest car-ride ever. I got to work on my knitting and we listened to This American Life.

Thursday

Up early(ish) and made it into Balimore around 2:30. Right away, we were put to work, helping my mom prepare the awesome crab cake dinner that she was preparing for our visit. For the rest of the afternoon, we cooked, unpacked, ate way too much, and hung out.

Friday

After a morning of shopping for birthday presents for Jerry, Arlo and I split up to go to our respective former employers. I was greeted by kids that were really excited to see me, some that couldn't remember my name, and the general craziness that happens when you haven't seen everyone for almost a year. It was great! And way too short. I repeated the same things about Milwaukee, Arlo, work, and coming back at least 15 times, and did not use my camera nearly enough. The rest of the day was spent shopping for baby gifts for Amanda and Bill and helping my mom work on Jerry's birthday dinner. That night, the dinner was yummy, and hanging out with the fam was fun. I was also exhausted and feeling a bit under the weather, so that was an early night to bed.

Saturday

I took my grandmother and mom to tea at Tea By Two as a belated Mother's Day present. It was lovely and I think they both really enjoyed it. While we were getting our tea buzz on and eating too much, Arlo was playing tennis with his tennis buddy, Kirk. That night, we had pizza and salad with Jess, Kevin, and Natty, and even got to see the Gutberlet's, who joined us after Kaitlyn's birthday party. Natty is thoroughly cute and entertaining, and it was so nice to see everyone and catch up.

Sunday

I met up with Wendy to see her new place and spend some quality crafting time together. Please note the awesome front porch she has, and the Wendy-rific porch accoutraments. She lives in a fantastic cul-de-sac in Hampden with her boyfriend, Jessie. There, they live happily with her two cats.

After Wendy's, Arlo and I headed to my grandparents' place to chillax with them for a bit. My grandfather shared a really long story about his old motorized bike, which was pretty cool, and I helped my grandmother download pictures, being ever the technology genius in my family.

That night, it was over to Bill and Amanda's for Bubba's subs and snowballs, thus completely the Baltimore experience. We got to see the baby's room, complete with furniture, feel Amanda's burgeoning belly, and watch Toby and Oscar have a collassal play-fight. I was very happy that they enjoyed the stuffed animals I made for the baby. It was a great night!

Monday

We packed up and joined my mom and Jerry for lunch at Green Leaf before heading out. It's funny, we left pretty much the same time that we left to come to Baltimore, around 2:00. This time, however, we drove straight through! That's right, Arlo is a crazy nut and, other than about 2 1/2 hours when I drove to give him a break, drove the entire day. We arrived home at 3:30 in the morning, having gained the hour by going west. It was impressive. Fortunately, the cats hadn't destroyed anything and the house was in one piece.

All in all, great trip! Quick and tiring, but really fun. The only bummer was that I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to see. Check out the animal love going down!