Boats and Trains

There are a lot of fun things to do here in Baltimore.  We have been staying with Eric's cousin Mike and his wife Beca in one of the eastern suburbs for the past week.  The day after we arrived, we headed downtown to the Inner Harbor.  There was an event called "Sailabration" featuring tall ships from all over the world to celebrate the War of 1812 (I am embarrassed to admit that the only thing I know about the War of 1812 is what year it happened in....).  The harbor was fun, but PACKED full of people, it also being Father's Day.  We wandered around for awhile, people watching and enjoying the views of all the boats.  Featured below is a unique lighthouse that is no longer functioning, but now a little museum of sorts.

Below: Maggie next to the lighthouse

 Some of the boats were available for boarding, but unfortunately we came too late in the day to get on and explore any of them.  So we just enjoyed from the outside.  It would have been really fun to see them with all their sails unfurled!

Then the question of, what to do with the kids while Eric is in class?  I had flashbacks to my two months in Gallup NM, stuck in a tiny apartment with a 5 month old, knowing no one, nothing to do...but Baltimore has proved different.  I mean, it's obviously much bigger, the kids are older and more interactive, and there are people we know in the area!  There is a playground just down the street, but temps have been in the upper 90s so we've tried to find indoor stuff.  One of the coolest places I discovered was a little indoor "town" called Storyville, a free feature of the Baltimore Public Library (for kids 0-5).  Maggie and Ben loved playing in the kitchen, the "garden", a construction site, a theater, a grocery store, a post office, etc.  One day we also went to the B&O Railroad Museum.  Every other Wednesday they feature a Toddler Time with crafts, songs, and a free ride on Choo Choo Blue.  Why not?

Here are Maggie and Ben at the museum, located in an old historic roundhouse (where they can turn trains around).

Inside the roundhouse...a beautiful building!  There were probably 30 historic trains inside, although we didn't take the time to look at most of them.

Maggie and Ben riding Choo Choo Blue!  It was a little 4 car train that ran around a small set of tracks that had a miniature village around it.  They went around three times and were ecstatic the whole time!

This train will take you up the tracks for a mile or so and then come back.  We didn't go, but enjoyed saying bye bye as it pulled out of the station.

One of the other highlights was the Kid Zone area.  There were three train tables featuring lots of Thomas trains!  I had to drag Maggie away.  What a fun morning at the B&O.