6 Months Old + A Very Dirty Dash = Loving Life!

6 MONTHS OLD

Logan turned 6 months old this month and, like everyone says, I can't believe it's been 6 months already! He has been such a smiley boy and I LOVE it! He is also babbling and so far we've gotten:

"Mmmmmmuh"
"Dah"
"Hadt"
(not sure what that means, but he keeps saying it over and over)

He had his 6 month appointment last week and here are his measurements:

Weight: 13 lb 8 oz (2%)
Height: 25.5 in (25%)
Head circ.: 16.2 in (5%)

So, he went down 3% in weight, but he went from 4% to 25% in height and from 3% to 5% in head circumference. The PA we saw thought he looked just fine and he did pretty good with his shots (well, as good as shots can go).

Here are a few 6 month old pics:

For those of you on the Baum side, Logan is sporting the Baum Grin in this picture (cheeks and chin included)--this one's for you Grandpa!


MARATHON

This last Saturday (Sept. 25) I ran a marathon. This wasn't just any marathon though, it was...

THE DIRTY DASH!

"What is the Dirty Dash?"

I'm glad you asked!

It is a 10K (6.2 mi) marathon set near Heber, Ut that allows you to get as dirty as you want!

This is what we got to do:

bolt up a muddy hill
run up and down switchbacks
sprint through a hurricane
hurtle large hay bales
crawl through pipes
climb over walls
jump through tires
cross streams
wade through a mud bog
slide down the world's largest slip 'n' slide
and swim through a pool of mud to the finish line as a team!

This was my first marathon and I would have to say that I picked the funnest one in the world! Now I'm addicted. We all wore pink tape for a cancer survivor and I was thinking of Grandma Baum as I ran.

Before:


After:
Left to right: Grant, Shelley, me, Mikol, Stephanie, and Nathan

Shelley and me

If anyone is interested in participating in the funnest marathon EVER, there is going to be another Dirty Dash on May 21. This one will only be a 5K (3.1 mi) marathon. I would suggest signing up early (like, before November or December) because it will get sold out quick! Go to http://www.thedirtydash.com

Maryland Days 13, 14, 15, and 16

Wednesday, September 1

SEAFOOD

We were told we needed to eat seafood while back east, so we reserved a night and made a date of it. We went up to Bel Air and ate at the Bonefish Grill. It was delicious and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
Here is a pictorial guide of our dinner that night:
Appetizer--Shrimp
Entree--Sea Bass with pieces of crab on top
Entree--Lobster tails
Dessert--Jamaican coconut pie
Dessert--Creme Brulee

Thursday, September 2 GETTYSBURG (again)

This was Kenny's last day of training and he got done early. He wanted me and Logan to come out to the Army base he was training at and take a tour of what he does. I didn't take any pictures because I don't think they would have liked that very much. It was very interesting to see what Kenny does for work, however, don't ask me to explain it to you.

We took advantage of Kenny's half day and went back up to Gettysburg to finish our driving tour that we started the week before. This was a tower that we climbed and I was about dead by the time we reached the top!
But the view was gorgeous, so well worth it!

Pennsylvania Memorial
You can climb up a spiral staircase on the left leg of the monument to get a view of the land, so we did.
Here we are at Cemetery Hill and it was getting dark, so this picture didn't turn out very well.
Me and Logan, Cemetery Hill (those are graves behind us)

Friday, September 3 ARLINGTON and MORE D.C.

We didn't get to see as much of D.C. as we wanted the previous Saturday, so we went back. Kenny wanted to drive into the city rather than take the Metro and now we know why you don't want to drive in D.C.! We started at Arlington Cemetery.

Pres. JFK, wife, and child are buried here with an "Eternal Flame"




We were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was very cool to watch!


The Capitol




The National Archives
(you're not allowed to take pictures inside so this is all you get)
This building houses the original documents of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc.
We didn't get to see all that we wanted to at the Museum of Natural History so we went back. The best time to go is between 6pm and 7:30pm because there aren't very many people.

I got a better picture of the Hope Diamond
And I'm proud of how well my pics of these minerals turned out so I posted them for your delight (humor me and tell me I'm awesome). ;)




After the museum closed we drove over to the White House and walked up there to snap some pictures.
(No, I didn't see any of the snipers on the roof--we were too far away.)




Saturday, September 4
MOUNT VERNON

Our last day back east we decided to go down to Mount Vernon and take a tour of the house and it was well worth it! It was originally just the middle section and only one floor. G.W. kept building on to it and it sure it quite a house! Before we went through we ate at the Mount Vernon Inn. The waiters were dressed period style and the food they served was grown right there at Mount Vernon. It was delicious!

Model of the inside of the house since you're not allowed to take pictures inside:

The "Necessary"

(talk about "public restroom"...)
It was highly recommended by a friend to take the "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets" tour while we were there, so we did. This tour took us to places that you normally wouldn't be able to see. We got to go down into the basement of the house (which is secured, so the guards have to turn off the alarm when the guide takes a tour down there). This basement was too crowded and hazardous for a camera crew and actors to get down in, so they actually replicated it for the movie. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but if you want to know what it looks like, watch the part of the movie where Ben Gates takes the President down into the basement. And, by the way, there isn't an escape tunnel that takes you to a road a mile away. They got the idea from a hole that, back in G.W.'s day, they took chunks of ice from the river in the wintertime and stored it in order to make ice cream and keep things cold. Below are pictures of the vault where they took the ice:

The bottom part of the "ice vault"
Here is where they kept the fertilizer (a.k.a. manure). Behind it is the "invisible fence." Can you see it? From the house (to the left) you can't see it. G.W. didn't want the cows coming up and ruining the house, but he didn't want a fence blocking his view of the river. So he built an invisible fence--about a 3-4 foot drop held by bricks. Pretty neat idea, I'd say.
The old vault
The new vault
The rest of the tour was good. She told us that when they were filming the movie there at Mt. Vernon, it was so cold you could see your breath. The women in their dresses were freezing! And, the lights that were strung from the house for the party weren't actually allowed to be attached to the house, so they used a substance that they could sculpt to look part of the pillars on the front and attach the lights to that.

We heard that Mrs. Washington loved babies, so we had to get a picture with her.


Sunday, September 5
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

We got up at 4am in order to return our rental car and make our flight at 7am. Everything went pretty smoothly and our flight was so empty that they allowed us to take Logan's car seat on the plane with us (very nice for when he was napping). Logan did really well and the flight was much better on the way back (it seemed quicker and there was less turbulence).