Cute Kid Pix September 2026

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

At Hershey Park, I broke the fifth metatarsal on my left foot. I didn't know that till we went to an urgent care facility and got an x-ray. I will be in a stabilizing boot for a couple of months, hopefully downgrading to a fixed-sole shoe until the bone is fully healed. 

Top view of my left foot

A closer look

The urgent care folks said I should wait a week before going to an orthopedist, but I wanted to get more advice quickly, like if I needed surgery or to keep the foot up constantly or put no weight on it at all. The doctor reaffirmed the urgent care assessment, recommending that I get more calcium and vitamin D in my diet. Later in the week, we went out for ice cream, just for medicinal purposes. We sat outside so I could get some natural vitamin D. 

Banana Creme Pie in ice cream form

I went for some mild geocaches to get some sunshine and exercise. Nothing was deep in the woods or hard to find. Falls Church Trondhjemite is an earthcache at the Tinner Hill Arch. The arch commemorates the first rural branch of the NAACP. The stones were originally quarried by African American stone masons who lived in the area.

Tinner Hill Arch

Wakefield Chapel in Wakefield, Virginia, has a virtual cache associated with it.

Going to the chapel

I finally went to a local farmers' market, something I've meant to do all summer. I bought some wine and garlic-cheese focaccia for dinner. They were great, I would go back again.

Savage Farmers' Market (Savage is a town, not an adjective)

The kids are back in school and with my foot, we didn't do much exploring. Maybe more next month?

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park, Maryland

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park was a historic farm in Montgomery County, Maryland. Doctor William Palmer built the house in the early 1800s and ran a farm here. The family also ran a boarding school for a while. Francis Scott Key, writer of the American National Anthem, visited several times since his daughter was enrolled there. The construction of the manor house follows the Federal style popular then. Tours are available on the weekends, but I visited on a weekday. 

Woodlawn Manor

A double side porch!

The back of the house

Lawn with gazebo but not much wood

Fairly soon after building the manor house, Dr. Palmer had the Stone Barn constructed. It is a large, multi-level structure that houses the on-site museum (which was also closed). It is one of the most impressive barns in the area.

Stone Barn

The back of the barn

Another view of the back

Several of the minor outer buildings are still extant. A smaller stone structure, thought to be a springhouse or meat house, is just behind the manor house. Possibly it served as the kitchen back in the days when a hot and hazardous kitchen was kept separate from the main house, to prevent summer overheating and the spread of a fire. 

Too small to be another barn

A board and batten tenant house and a log building may have served for the school and for the enslaved farm workers. The tenant house has a statue nearby. "The Inner Light" by Marcia Billig is a bronze sculpture installed in 1988. A Quaker woman holds a child up who has a bird landing on his upheld hand. 

Two nearby structures

"The Inner Light"

The carriage house has been turned into the visitor center for the property. Happily, the bathrooms were open to the public even if the center wasn't!

Carriage house

The property is part of the Rachel Carson Greenway. 

Rachel Carson Greenway sign

This particular part of the greenway is also the Underground Railroad Experience Trail, which we visited a while ago (see the blog post). The nearby town of Sandy Spring had large Quaker and African-American populations. Thanks to their religion, most Quakers freed their slaves, resulting in a large free Black community in the area. African Americans owned and worked on farms, ran schools and churches, even the local Odd Fellows Lodge. All of this made the area a natural path for escaped slaves to find assistance on their way North to freedom. 

Underground Railroad Experience Trail

The Montgomery Police department have a training facility here as well. There are no visiting hours there!

The forbidden zone

Hershey Park Summer 2026

Some friends gave us passes to go to Hershey Park. We went at the end of August, though our daughter was working so she did not come with us. It was the last big rush of summer (summer passes expired August 31), so it was fairly crowded.

The entrance

My son and I

All of us minus our daughter

Our first ride was the newly renamed Star-Spangled Laff Trakk. Normally it is called "Laff Trakk" but for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a lot of stuff in the park has been patriotized, if that is even a word.

An unassuming entrance

Where to get on the rie

The ride is an indoor coaster that whips back and forth. The car seats four, with two people facing forward and two backward. The car rotates at times on the track (or is it "trakk"?), switching who is in front. The ride has a bunch of fun house decorations and music (though there was some patriotic songs too).

Our next ride was Wild Mouse, a coaster that does a lot of whipping back and forth, much like Laff Trakk but outdoors. It looks milder than it actually is. Some of the turns are very tight and we felt like we might fall out. Of course, the restraints are good enough to prevent that, but still we experienced the thrill of danger. 

Entrance

A convoluted mouse trap

We walked over to the Comet but the line was over an hour long. We got some lunch at the Chik-fil-A in the park and decided to ride the Classic Cars, a favorite of my son. The line wasn't too bad and we parents rode in the back while he did the driving.

Entrance

On the highway

A happy driver

Unfortunately, I twisted my foot coming out of the ride. I hobbled over to the Kissing Tower, which is a 250-foot tower with an enclosed cabin. The narration provides a little history of the park. After we got off, I decided the foot was not good enough to keep going so we went to the first aid station in the park. They elevated my foot and did an examination. They didn't think anything was broken, maybe I hyperextended something. They gave me some ice, an aspirin, and a ride back to our car. The day ended early. Luckily my son wasn't upset. We headed home where the urgent care took an x-ray and saw a broken fifth metatarsal in my left foot. They gave me a walking boot and a referral for an orthopedist. Since it was Saturday, I waited till Monday to make an appointment to have it checked. I am still in the boot and slowly recovering.

Cute Kid Pix August 2026

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

Our son played in his first chess tournament. He was nervous but excited. He wound up with three wins and one loss, so that was encouraging. Since it was his first tournament, he was in the "unranked" group for his age. He is interested in going to another one.

Contemplating his first move

At home, we introduced our godson and his brother to Gizmos, a fun tableau-building game where players are making a Rube Goldberg device to win a science fair. 

Contemplating my next move

We went out to lunch with some visiting friends but forgot to take a picture with them at the restaurant. We exchanged photos via cell phone.

Our half of the photo exchange

Our daughter went to visit her grandparents in Minnesota. They had her working on a deck out in the woods. With enough work, it will be a tree house, though that will require a few more trips.

Working in the projects

Our dance studio, That's Dancing, had a 1980s dance, so we dressed up a bit.

Not too dressed up

Our son had a birthday outing at Urban Air, an indoor trampoline and adventure park. One of their favorite things was the battle pit, with a narrow beam on which competitors fight it out. 

Ready to challenge the champ

Blocking

The climbing area was also very popular.

So many choices

He makes it to the top

A close up so you can see him

Going down is easier

High ropes action

Spider-time

Jump and duck activity

Back home, we had some more celebrating. One of his presents was a Super Mario Chess Set, which was fun to play with. Fortunately the pieces are labeled with which chess piece they are, so you don't accidentally play Peach as a queen. For some reason, Mario is the king and Luigi is the queen, not Peach. Peach is a bishop, which is also weird. At least Yoshi is the knight!

Contemplating his next move

I was running errands and ran in to the BWI Airport to get a virtual geocache. I've been meaning to get it done every time we go to the airport, but we are always in a rush to get through security or to get home. The blue crab is a Maryland mascot and the sculpture has been there for a long time.

Glass sculpture and me

Carrollton Hall, Maryland

To commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776, Carrollton Hall in Ellicott City, Maryland, had an open house and cookout. The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress but signatures did not go on until August. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was one of the four signers from Maryland. He was also the only Catholic to sign and he lived the longest of any of the signers, dying in 1832.

Carrollton Hall was constructed from 1831 to 1833, so he did not live to see it completed. He did not even plan to live in the house. The area was called Folly Farm, owned by Charles Carroll, who gave it to his granddaughter Emily Caton McTavish in 1831 when she married. Grandpa financed the building of the hall, an extra gift to the young couple. The hall and farm remained in the family until it was sold during the American Civil War to Charles Dougherty. The land went through a number of owners, eventually being sold to the Franciscan Friars Conventual who built the Shrine of Saint Anthony, a friary right next to the hall, in 1928. Only recently has the house been restored enough to be rented out for business meetings or retreats. And for public tours, which we took advantage of.

The day we visited was rainy which made the grilling even more smoky than it otherwise would be. The house looks a bit fog-covered but it's really smoke from the cooks in the back yard.

Carrollton Hall exterior

The house follows the Greek Revival style inside and out, with spacious rooms and amazing views off the "back porch."

Main hall

One of the many fireplaces

A map displays the plan of Folly Farm with the hall taking up only a very small part of the land. 

Plan for Carrollton Hall

The first floor has rooms on each side of the main hall. The pair of left-side rooms have a very wide doorway, allowing larger gatherings. 

Another fireplace

Looking from the front room into the back room

Fancy marble fireplace

View of the back lawn from inside

The back of the house

View from the back porch

The food was supposed to be served outdoors but the rain ruined that plan. We were lucky enough to get in the food line before it became very long. We enjoyed our burgers, fruit salad, and mac and cheese on the back porch. Some people took their food inside.

We saw the food line from the dryness of the porch

Back inside, we were able to go upstairs and see some more rooms. None of the original furnishings are there, resulting in some interesting items that surely were not owned by the McTavishes. 

The stairs

A bit of art

The top of the stairs has a small cupola to let light in.

Two light sources (and a wet camera)

The rest of the room

One room is set up for board meetings, including a monitor.

One of the upstairs rooms

The room's fireplace

A central room overlooking the back lawn is set up for a more causal meeting, decorated with a fancy chess set.

A more casual space

The kind of chess board you want to show off

Hard to get a good close up of the pieces

Yet another fireplace

Our visit was pretty short but enjoyable.