Our Weekend in the City
The weekend of June 6th – 8th Wes had a conference for work in Baltimore. As a part of the conference he had a hotel room at The Tremont Plaza Hotel. All the rooms are suites, and he was given a Chairman’s Suite! SWEET! Thursday night he stayed at the hotel alone, Ashleigh and I spent the night with friends who offered to keep Laci for the weekend. Friday we joined him. I dropped Ashleigh off at the hotel and then went home to repack and shower. Ashleigh called me to tell me about the wonderful hotel room. She had her OWN bedroom with her OWN TV and her own Phone! Oh, and it even had lamps! She was SO excited. The hotel was a 2 Bedroom 2 Bathroom with a living room, dining room, and kitchenette. I think the kitchenette was about the size of the kitchen in my first apartment, minus the stove and dishwasher. The hotel room was larger than any apartment I’ve ever lived in. In our pre-kid days, we could have happily lived in the hotel room! Friday night there was a dinner at the Walter’s Art Museum as a part of the conference. We went and had a great meal. They even packed up left overs for us, since Wes had been their point of contact to plan the event. We went home with a huge container of crab dip, about 2 pounds of cooked beef, and a container of the chicken on a skewer appetizers. It was great! Saturday Ashleigh and I slept in, Wes came to wake us up with breakfast in bed. He brought some pasteries and fruit that were left from the morning break that was a part of the conference. It was a wonderful way to start the weekend. I looked out the window and there was something going on at Mercy Medical Center across the street. The morning started with some bag pipers outside of the hospital, it appeared they were setting up for a carnival of some sort. While Ashleigh and I were enjoying our breakfast we heard a marching band. We stood in the window and watched. She was VERY excited. She kept telling me over and over how she had never seen a marching band before, which isn’t QUITE true, but I didn’t go into further detail with her. While she has never seen a Marching Band, she has been to at least two Drum Corps Competitions.
We got up for the day, met Wes for lunch, and headed out to see the city. I wanted to see parts of the city that we don’t go to. The hotel was in Mt. Vernon, which is not an area that I have ever spent any time in. I had forgotten to pack sunscreen, so we went to the new SuperFresh and paid too much money for a sunscreen with too many chemicals in it, but such is life. Ashleigh and I headed up Charles Street in search of something fun. She requested that we go somewhere that sells kid stuff. The only store in the area that I had seen that had nay children’s items was The Women’s Industrial Exchange. We walked up to the next block and entered the store. We were greeted by a very plesant woman who welcomed us and asked us what we were looking for. I told her how we were walking around the city and Ashleigh and asked to see a store with kid things, so here we were. She thought Ashleigh was very adorable, but again, who doesn’t? 
We spoke with the woman for a while, and she started telling Ashleigh about the sock monkeys she makes. She even showed us what she was doing to make them. She was so impressed with Ashleigh that she gave her a monkey. I couldn’t believe it. She told us about what the Exchange does and who they help. I bought Ashleigh a headband, which I LOVE and I hope to get back and get her some more. They sell a variety of handmade items, all appeared to be great quality. Check out their photos for more of their inventory.
Ashleigh and I tried to go to the carnival that we saw, but apparently it was just the morning. When we walked by around noon it was gone. We tried to find something else kid friendly in Mt. Vernon, but unfortunately there was nothing geared for kids. We went to the hotel and changed to go to the pool. The water was FREEZING! I went in first, and while I tried to get used to the ice cold water Ashleigh was not so patiently waiting for me. I finally sucked it up, got my whole body wet and let her jump in. I warned her that it was very cold, but apparently she thought I was lying. She jumped in and proceeded to climb as far up my body as she could to stay out of the water. She decided she was done, and we went back to the hotel room. We got cleaned up and relaxed in the room for a bit. I got some cute photos of Ashleigh enjoying her own bedroom at the hotel. We went to see Wes for snack time, with her packed bag, and then headed downstairs to meet Nana. Ashleigh then left with Nana for the night and Wes and I had the evening to ourselves. After we got all of his conference stuff packed up we headed to the Harbor. We walked around to find a restaurant to eat at. We decided on J.Paul’s where we had a wonderful dinner. We sat outside, and as we finished the wind started blowing and the sky got dark. We paid our check and headed across the stree to The Gallery for some shopping and shelter. I was hoping to find some cute clothes at Gap Maternity, unfortunately the Gap there doesn’t carry maternity. Neither does the Ann Taylor Loft. I had a store credit certificate for the Gap, so Wes got a new t-shirt, and then the mall closed. We headed back to the hotel, praying the rain would hold out. It turns out it never rained, just looked like it was going to! We snacked on some crab dip and chicken from Friday night’s dinner and watched some tv before falling asleep. Sunday we were able to sleep in, which was wonderful. We packed up the car and headed to BayView to drop off all of Wes’s work related items. We stopped and home and dropped off our suitcases, then headed to Columbia to check out the Gap Maternity before church. It was nice to have some real time for ourselves. We were able to do as we pleased with no real planning. After church we picked up Laci and then picked up Ashleigh. We were glad to have them home. While we enjoyed our carefree time, we sure did miss the two of them!
Enjoy the photos of Ashleigh–
