Cute Kid Pix July 2024

More photos that didn't make their own post...

Our church had their Vacation Bible Camp with a birthday theme. I was there as a volunteer leading a different group than my son's. I only got pictures of him on the final day, with the carnival and dance performances.

Knocking down a pyramid of cans

Action shot

Ring toss

My daughter volunteers

Coin toss

Coin in the air

Crafts and things from VBC

We went to Baltimore's Book Thing, a free book exchange in the city. People donate books they don't want anymore and people come browse through the books and take ones they want. It is very popular and only happens one weekend each month. I grabbed some theology and mythology/folklore. I tried to check out the sci fi section but someone was squatting there. It was a lot of fun, except for parking!

The line into the Book Thing

I managed to sneak off to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery while everyone else was off on other adventures. I sampled some new brews--Smoked Woods (a smoked brown ale, 6.3% ABV), English Summer Ale (English Golden Ale, 4.5%ABV), and Hefeweizen (Weissbier, 5.1% ABV). The Hefe was a little too light for my taste and the summer ale seemed like a watered-down IPA, which is not my favorite style of beer. So I ordered a full Smoking Wood which has a nice, toasted flavor from smoking the malt. 

Smoking Woods, English Summer Ale, Hefeweizen

Lunch is a well-balanced meal

In Baltimore proper, we visited Graffiti Alley, a short street where graffiti is legal. So there is a lot of it!

Parking by the alley

More art outside the alley

Walking into the alley

Blue man group?

Covering a previous mural?

Candle holder?

Where is your head?

Around the corner from the alley is Mobtown Ballroom and Cafe. The building has a bar serving breakfast items. It also has a stage and a large, nice dance floor. Maybe we will come back some evening to enjoy the Ballroom part of the venue.

Mobtown Ballroom and Cafe

The stage

Tables that probably are on the sides at night

The bar

Our snack

We drove over to Enoch Pratt Free Library, which is an amazing and large library in the heart of Baltimore. We had fun exploring.

Library exterior

Inside the lobby

More of the lobby

A model of the bookmobile

The evening before we walked along the Patuxent River and enjoyed a playground.

Working together

While my youngest was at a bass camp in Towson, I went to World of Beer in nearby Owings Mills for lunch one of the days. This location was special to me because right next door is the local branch of the Baltimore County Library (which is a different system from the Enoch Pratt Library which is Baltimore City). I ordered a flight of beers and the BBQ chicken flatbread.

The meal

Beers

From left to right, the beers were Mean Old Tom Nitro from Maine Brewing Company (6.5% ABV), a classic stout not as smoky as a Guinness Stout but still quite delightful; Guilford Hall Belgian Golden Ale (8.5% ABV)which was smooth but not as flavorful as brews from Belgium; Lexington Bourbon Barrel Ale (8.2% ABV), which looks like a red but has a strong, strong bourbon flavor (which I liked a lot); Kona Big Wave (4.4% ABV), an American blonde from Hawaii that had a mild grapefruit flavor, not the overpowering (and unlikeable) flavor of an IPA, but actually refreshing. My favorite was the stout, though the bourbon ale was a close second.

Cute Kid Pix July 2022

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

We went to see fireworks by the Columbia waterfront. They were fun and we were able to park about a ten-minute walk away, which was far enough to avoid traffic going home.

A burst

Red burst

This was the traffic beforehand; some people just parked on the highway!

July was the month for our church's Vacation Bible Camp (because who wants to do school during the summer?). The theme was Hike of My Life (so also more camp and school). My youngest attended as a participant. I made the older kids volunteer along with me. The week was a lot of fun.

A happy camper

Playing at the carnival on the last day

Adult recognition (we got gift cards to Chick-fil-A too!)

Our dance studio held their annual White Party. My wife and I dressed up and had a great time.

Us in white

We had a loaf of bread come out with a face on top. No, it was not the face of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. It looks like some creepy mouthless mutant.

The nose pointing left, two oblong eyes?

We went to Terrapin Adventures to celebrate a birthday. The kids loved the high ropes course. My wife and I barely made it through alive!

Ready to cross a rope

Zip-lining!

My youngest participated in his Cub Scout pack's raingutter regatta. A good time was had by all!

Scouts have a lot of hot air!

2020 At-Home Vacation Bible School

We did two at-home bible schools this summer. The one with our parish was called a "Vacation Bible Camp," and had the Mystery of the Mass as its theme. We enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot about the Eucharist and our church (it's always cool to see inside the sacristy!). For pictures, mostly we took photos of snack time. The snacks often included a crafting element. The first one we took pictures of was making a fruit-kabob. I am not sure what the connection was to the theme.

Ready to skewer

Adding items carefully

A happy success

A dangerous success

Even more dangerous (or maybe he's just conducting)

Another happy customer

The next day, we made french fries into people. I didn't know you could buy french fries that had happy faces and did not shop appropriately. We were creative and substituted cookies. My youngest used a marshmallow for the head and a Nutter Butter for the body. We broke a second Nutter Butter in four pieces to make arms and legs.

A fun creation

The kids made a mobile, the sort that hangs above an infant's crib. This one was (naturally) Jesus-themed. We decided to hang the mobiles from the ceiling fan to see what happened.



Another craft had my children cutting, coloring, and gluing together some Eucharistic pictures.

Working together

Eucharistic awesomeness!

Very artfully done

The other Vacation Bible School was hosted by a nearby parish and touted as a "Stay-cation Bible School." We picked up some supplies from the church and did another round of daily videos and activities at home.

This VBS had a train theme, so the food had a transportation theme.

Traffic light rice crispy treat

Railroad crossing sign

Making a railroad track

Making a train 

The games included one where the child had to reach down and move the cardboard they used as stepping stones. Crossing the room (getting to the cross) was fun enough to do several times.

Almost there

A tossing game didn't fit the theme so well but was a lot of fun.

Dad tossing

Son tossing

A happy competitor

The VBS had a lot more activities and videos, including music videos with choreography. I did the choreography too, so there's no pictures or videos of us.

Both VBSs were fun, though not as fun as being at the church with a bunch of other people. Hopefully next year?