A Weekend in Baltimore

Last weekend we took a little trip down to Baltimore to meet Charles, Elena, and Ava (the girls' dad, his wife, and their half sister) so they could go spend a couple of weeks in North Carolina with them.  Rather than just make the trip in one day, we decided to make a weekend out of it.

Still smiling after 4 hours on the road

Still not smiling after 4 hours on the road

We were sad for the family standing on the side of the road with their suitcases watching their car be on fire. What a not fun way to be on vacation!

The girls did not think it was cool to see our car under water on the GPS as we went through the Ft McHenry Tunnel.

For some this may look gross, but for us it is pure heaven.  We LOVE Fuddruckers' tricked out nachos!  We were on our way to grab dinner Friday night when the girls spotted Fuddruckers.  We used to love going there until they closed the one in Albany.

Lekkis proving that at 5'3" she's still our baby girl

Lulee proving that at 15 you're never too old to jump on the bed.

Dad and his girls

We spent Saturday morning shopping at a huge mall until it was time for the girls to meet up with their dad and head to North Carolina.  Rick and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and then treated ourselves to crabcakes and seafood for dinner.  It was so yummy!  I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures of the crab cakes.  They were huge and so amazing!

 We went up in the Observation Tower to check out the view.  It was so pretty!

They also had a nice memorial there for the 69 people from Maryland who died in 9/11, most of them working at the Pentagon.

 We decided to be adventurous and go on the Seadog, a speed boat ride. We will definitely be going again sometime!

Part of the harbor as seen from the Seadog.You can see the aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, a submarine, and what they call "The Plant" in the background.

Heading out to the open waters.  You can see the Domino Sugar plant here. It was interesting to find out that the dot on the "i" in Domino is 6 feet tall.

 We passed Ft McHenry on our boat ride.  There is lots of celebrating going on in Baltimore right now since it is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, thus the writing of the Star Spangled Banner penned in these very waters.

Finally out in the open water and going FAST!  This is our tour guide. I tried to get a picture of his clothes blowing in the wind to give you an idea of how fast we were going.  Yes, he is having to hold on tight here.

 Heading back into the harbor.  Such a beautiful day even if it was hot.

And the best part of the trip (not really but almost?):

 

 One of the things I miss the most living in NY is Baskin Robbins ice cream.  The closest one is 2-3 hours away and we never go that direction.  So I was a little excited to have many to choose from on our way home.  And yes, it was everything I remembered it to be.

My amazing kid!

This is something that Julee wrote for school.  I would have never seen it except she emailed me and asked me to proofread it for her.  It's not long but by the time I got to the end, all I could think is "Wow....." 

Isn't she amazing?

Power of Thought

 by

Julee Dykes

I believe in the influence of family.

I was born with a cleft palate. Being born with this deformity meant several surgeries throughout my life to correct this. Whether my family taught me this because of the cleft or because they are good people I don’t know but they always taught me to believe in myself. They always said to love myself because I was beautiful. They showed me that I didn’t need others approval or even their attention. With these thoughts subconsciously engrained in my brain I was headstrong and unafraid.

Needing multiple surgeries, I had my third one by the time I was five. At that time I was acting badly to the meds that knocked me out and was kicking and screaming. My mother and grandfather had to hold me down to make sure I didn’t hurt myself or someone else. I am thankful they loved me so much.

I automatically wanted to go out after my surgery. It didn’t matter to me that I had tons of bandages, or the fact I was bloody and puffy. My mom told me that people would think I was weird. I didn’t mind. I am thankful that my family taught me that the only person that could really affect me was me.

Four years later when I moved to New York I was made fun of. People called me names I had never heard of and it really hurt my feelings. Thanks to what my family taught me, I was able to get through the hard times. Now I always believe in myself. 

Nerd Mickey

Rick will surely be mad when he discovers this blog post but I can't resist (and besides, he doesn't know the password to delete it).  Julee and I bought him this shirt when we saw it in the Disney Outlet Store last weekend.  The front of the shirt has a pocket protector (I can't post a picture of that because then Rick would know that said pictures exist) on it with Mickey's name and mouse ear pencils and pens.  The back has one of the cutest pictures of Mickey Mouse we've ever seen. 

And for those of you who don't know, this great guy moonlights as a dishwasher.  Thank you honey for always doing the dishes....and for the little disco dancing/karaoke (notice the headphones) show you don't think we see while you are doing them.  You and Mickey can really bust a move!

Love you honey!

P.S.  And for those of you who are judging wondering, that's a sparkling grape juice bottle on the back counter. 

Just in time for Spring!

Look what arrived today - just in time for Spring!!

 

Enough said.

Pillow Fight

Rick and I have an ongoing pillow fight.  It is not the kind where you take pillows and hit each other until someone cries "Mercy".  It is the kind where we have a continuous "discussion" about pillow ownership.  Having said that, this is what happens when Rick makes the bed...

 

Can you guess which side of the bed is mine?

'Tis the Season

We kicked off the Christmas season with a visit from Flat Stanley all the way from Arizona!  (Thank you Zoey for sending him to visit!)  We were so glad that he got to come and hang out with us for a little while.  While he was here, Flat Stanley went with us to our Ward Christmas Brunch.  It was a fun morning of pancakes, quiche, and sweet breads.  Then we had a little program based on the Polar Express theme "Believe".  After the program, the bishopric came in to deliver gifts to the kids dressed as the Three Wise Men.  After the brunch, we went to do some Christmas shopping as a family.  It was a fun afternoon  and a great way to kick off December!

Flat Stanley helped decorate our Christmas tree

 

Flat Stanley made a bunch of new friends while he was here!

 

The Polar Express

 

The Three Wise Guys (Men)

Stay tuned for more Dunklee holiday fun!!!

Volleyball

Time passes so quickly these days that I can hardly keep up. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Julee started volleyball camp and tryouts right?  I guess that was August and now here we are at the end of October and the season has just ended.  Julee made the JV team this year and had a great season.  Poor girl had practice or games every single day for 2 months including a lot of Saturdays (add seminary, honors classes, homework, and yes, chores, to that and she was one busy girl).  She worked hard and really took the training seriously. She learned a lot and gained a lot of muscle and some great body toning - lucky girl.  Here she is in action:

 

 Don't you just love the knee hi socks and knee pad look?