Trip to Maryland

Alex had a conference in DC last week, so Nicole and I joined him on his last day and then we stayed a couple of extra days in Maryland. It was the first time we stayed in a hotel with Nicole, and she actually did really well. Most of our trip was spent doing things that she would enjoy, but when you have kids, isn't that just the way it is?

Our big outing was to the National Zoo. It's part of the Smithsonian Institute, and so it's well taken care of, and free (and who can pass up free?!). Nicole loved running around and looking at the animals. In fact, Alex and I loved it, too. Neither of us have been to a zoo since we were kids.



We got to enjoy a couple of different parks, one in Alexandria, VA and one in Rockville, MD. Nicole had fun picking up acorns and leaves and handing them to her dad. And she LOVED this swing. She didn't want to leave it. She would just slump down into it and get comfy.



As always, we were all about eating well. We hit Penang, a Malaysian Restaurant. La Madeleine, a French Bakery. Urban BBQ, well, a BBQ place. And on the way home, we stopped in Baltimore and went to Lexington Market. This market has been operating since 1782, and has world-famous crab cakes at Faidley's. They were yummy!