Cute Kid Pix April 2024

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

My kids went to the local playground for some screen-free fun. At least I thought they were having fun...

Is anyone having fun in this picture?

My youngest is in the fourth grade orchestra. The school had a field trip to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for an educational concert. I was chosen as a chaperone. I am glad to report that the children were well-behaved and the concert was fun. Each section (percussion, brass, woodwinds, and strings) came out and performed a short piece by themselves. Then the whole orchestra played a longer piece, Philharmonia Fantastique, that was accompanied by an animated film where a sprite visits the various instrument of the orchestra. The whole thing was very entertaining.

View from the upper tier

More playground stuff, this time at the Blandair Ninja Warrior course and the Lake Kittamaqundi playground.

Race #1

Ready for Race #2

What a close finish!

We bought a new (used) bike for our youngest and tried it out on a flat, easy trail not too far from home. The trail is an old rail line that was converted. The view down into one of the driveways let us see an amazing sign.

Taking a rest

A long driveway

How to deal with the long driveway

We stopped at Shipley Do-Nuts on the way home.

Yum!

Our daughter finished her robotics club season with a banquet, including a thematically-decorated cake.

The team

The cake with team logo

We had all of our events cancelled one Thursday so we went to pub trivia at Pherm Brewery. We stayed for half the contest since the kids were not having a good time, even with dogs to pet.

Food was a motivator, but not enough of one

Visiting a strange dog

We went to Silver Spring to try out a Burmese restaurant and stopped at a playground nearby. 

Hillside playground

Not sure that's how the equipment is supposed to be used

Silver Spring is a border town--we crossed the border

Cute Kid Pix February 2024

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

The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby was postponed due to snow and finally happened early in February. My youngest's den has only two members, so he had a good chance of coming in first. Their two cars were evenly matched with very close finish times. My son's car won three out of four heats, but both boys' cars advanced to the finals (three cars per den go ahead). They finished in the middle of the pack in the finals. 

Getting ready for the first round

I should have been standing on the other side!

One of the final heats

At a den meeting, they met with the new mayor of Laurel, Maryland, Keith Sydnor. They had a good discussion about civics.

Posing with the AOLs and the mayor

While Mom and the youngest were out of town, the rest of us went on a bike ride on the Matthew Henson Trail in Montgomery County, Maryland. It was fun but I have fallen out of bicycling shape. I need to bike more!

Trail's namesake

Waking from nap/taking a break

Challenge at a playground

Harder than riding a bike

Easier than riding a bike

Typically we get a treat during or after a bike ride but no bakery was nearby. We went home and made brownies.

Harder than buying at a shop

The next day I went geocaching in Odenton and was near Shipley's Do-nuts, so I brought some home. The bottom middle one is a Skittles-covered donut!

Yum!

In other dessert news, the Anne Arundel County Public Library had a fundraiser where the librarians crafted an ice-cream flavor with a local creamery. All purchases of Dragons Love Toffee supported the library. Naturally I had to try some.

No competition there

Yum!

The month ended with the Blue and Gold Dinner, a celebration of the Scouting movement at which the oldest scouts in our pack move on to the troop level. My youngest will be moving up next year! The event included a cake auction for which we donated a campfire cake.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever...until it's eaten!

Cute Kid Pix January 2023

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

My church had another volunteer opportunity at the Baltimore Ravens stadium. For the January 1 game, we handed out programs, along with flags and special wristbands that lit up in sync with music at the stadium. The flags and programs ran out quickly but they must have bought lots of extra wristbands. It was a fun night but the game was sold out so no free tickets. Also, the Ravens lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 13-16.

The stadium before the game started

Italian Sausage dinner with the program

My church has an early Saturday morning men's group that I go to most of the time. I got their a little early on the first Saturday and took a picture of the big manger scene outside.

St. Mary of the Mills Manger scene (outdoor edition)

We went to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore because my eldest won tickets in our local library's summer reading program. It's a bit after summer, so we weren't the fastest getting there. We've been to the museum several times, so not much new to report, other than our children being brave enough to lay down on a bed of nails!

The first child to try it was our last child!

She's pretty light, it won't hurt, right?

Users had to push the button themselves!

One of the side rooms has experiments for small groups. We tried testing acidity of various liquids. It was fun and easy since we followed a step-by-step process.

Doing science!

Another experiment had us seeing how temperature alters chemical reactions. The alteration we were looking at was speed--how fast a liquid changes color when certain mixtures are added. Hot liquid changed a lot faster--17 seconds vs. 69 seconds!

A new donut shop opened nearby, Shipley Do-Nuts. I went one day at 11 a.m. and they had closed half an hour earlier due to running out of donuts! The guys said they are tweaking their workflow. I went the next day at 9 a.m. and stood in line for half an hour to get a dozen donuts. They were yummy but not outstanding.

Outside the shop

Typical counter

The yumminess that came home!

I went to the Dutch Country Market in hopes of finding Turkish Delight. My youngest just finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and was curious about it. The lady at the market's candy counter did not know what I was talking about. Strolling through the candy aisle, I was shocked to see this product for sale...

What the Amish?