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 October 2017

Pictures from last month that didn't make their own post...

We have a couple of board game apps on our iPad, one of which is Star Realms. The toddler loves to play it even though he hardly ever wins. We also have the physical game, which is a big deck of cards and a set of instructions. He's taken to laying the game out and playing with me. Mostly he asks me what to do when we play. The game play is interesting.

Drawing five cards for his hand

Asking advice of a Green Lantern is probably a good thing

A small deer was caught in our back yard. As we drove up we saw the deer run through an open gate. We went through the house to the back porch to see if he was still there.

Deer in the back yard!

Close up of deer

 He ran to the back corner of the yard and tried to jump the fence. Crack! His head hit the top of the fence. He wandered back and forth along the fence trying to find his way out. He did not try jumping a second time.

Returning to the scene of the incident

"I could swear there was an exit here!"

He finally managed to get out of the yard back through the gate. The kids were excited to have a pet, ever so briefly.

My older son's first season of baseball finished. The games have been fun, though the 9-10 year-old level is not the highest skill level. He did score several runs over the season and had a great time.

Baseball team

The Cub Scout pack meeting had some fun Halloween games, including Halloween bingo and "avoid the lava" hopscotch.

All I need is a disembodied eyeball!

Watch out for the brown lava!

My daughter is still enjoying fencing, especially with her pink protective gear!

Fencing in action!

We went to World of Beer in Bethesda after visiting Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens. The cool thing at this location is a giant Jenga set which kept the kids occupied until food came.

Playing with blocks!

Naturally, the month ended with Halloween. Costumes were fun and decided earlier than last year, so no last minute rush drove everyone crazy.

A pretty kitty

Luigi

Firefighter

Fun group shot