Farewell!

Dear Baltimore,

Thanks for a summer full of adventures and wonderful memories! I became a full-time mom during our stay with you and loved spending my extra time exploring you with my little man. Fells Point, where Eli worked, was my favorite place in the city - so quaint with its cobblestone roads and cute shops. I loved walking around there. Eli was lucky to work right next to the water and the Pirate ship with little kids yelling "Argh" as they embarked on their pirate adventure around the harbor. And the yummy French pastry shop next door to his work that smelled so good! It was fun watching fireworks over the Harbor while sitting on the wooden dock in Fells Point - they were AMAZING!!!

I also loved walking around the Inner Harbor while pushing Tan in the stroller. It was fun to see the different ships in the harbor (submarine, Civil War ship, Coast Guard ship, speed boats, sailboats, and yachts) and people paddling in the Chinese dragon paddle boats. Rita's custard and shaved ice was always a hit as we walked around in the heat (It was much better after I discovered that twist ice cream didn't go well with tangerine shaved ice! Dumb Sara!). Tanner loved swinging for the first time on top of Federal Hill overlooking the Inner Harbor. And I liked stopping by the Fudgery to listen to the employees sing as they made fudge in front of the tourists. Tanner wasn't too fond of the singing for some reason! I'll never forget getting caught in a downpour with Kristie and Paige. We waited under a restaurant umbrella for it to end, but had to leave before it was over to catch our "Ride the Ducks" tour through the city. I had to run through it with the empty stroller to put more money in the parking meter before taking the tour . Needless to say, we were DRENCHED! Tanner didn't seem to mind, although he didn't like the sound that the duckbill-shaped kazoo's made on our tour. Other fun Inner Harbor activities were eating at Uno Chicago Grill and Five Guys Burgers and Fries (both super yummers), visiting the National Aquarium (I loved it but wasn't too impressed with the dolphin show), walking around with TONS of people on the 4th of July and stopping at the park next to the water to listen to a Doo Wop concert, visiting Fort McHenry where the original Star-Spangled Banner flew during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814, and eating at a yummy Italian restaurant in Little Italy where all the waitresses kept walking by to watch Tanner.

I'll miss singing "Good Morning Baltimore" in the morning while dancing around the house with Tan. And I was happy to see that the "houses" in the city looked just like the ones in the movie Hairspray. They're cute! I'll miss the diversity you have with so many different cultures. But I won't miss the fear for my life in scary parts of downtown (Baltimore, did you know that you have one of the highest murder rates in the country? Yikes.)

Around the city we lived in (Lutherville-Timonium), I'll remember walks around the neighborhood and to Spring Lake, walks to the library where Tan would crawl laps around the big rug and climb on other kids, going to the swimming pool and standing at the edge while Tanner sat in his dish tub since he wasn't allowed in the pool, watching the fireflies at dusk, feeding the geese at Loch Raven reservoir, visiting the Pennsylvania Dutch Market and eating their yummy baked goods, dropping off and picking up Eli everyday at the Lightrail station, spending time at the ginormous Townson Town Center Mall, watching a hurricane type of rainstorm from inside our apartment (trees and signs were knocked down - it was that strong!), smelling something weird every morning (it reminded me of the smell in China where I lived so we called it the "China smell"), shopping at Super Wal-Mart with Tanner in the Bjorn because everywhere else was too expensive, and discovering Wegman's, the most beautiful grocery store with an i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e candy section.

You gave me my first taste of East Coast life and I loved it. I was amazed at how green and lush it is everywhere! We took some fun walks through forests in the county. I loved how the forests are untamed with leaves on the trunk and wild raspberry bushes growing in them. And the rural areas around Maryland and Pennsylvania are BEAUTIFUL!!!! The Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish and Menninite people) sure picked a good part of the country to live. I saw lots and lots and lots of corn fields.

I'll never forget my first encounter with eating crabs (with all the banging with a mallet, tearing, and

searching for meat among the other "inards") from the Chesapeake Bay. We are now big fans of Old Bay seasoning on blue crabs - it has a nice little zing! I'll also never forget running into a LIVE blue crab (yes, it was really blue!) on the beach in Ocean City. I'm not sure how soon I'll be eating another whole crab after that!

I loved your proximity to other popular areas in the Northeast. We visited Washington DC several times and still have lots to see there in the future (DC is hard to do with a baby!). I also liked going to the DC temple and visiting Eli's Grandpa Gabe (who Eli is named after, well, who his FIRST name is named after) in Arlington, VA. We went to Philadelphia and visited many sites important to American history such as Independence hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. I also ate a Philly cheese steak and wasn't very impressed. Maybe we picked a bad restaurant. We went to Hershey, PA and drove around Lancaster county on a covered bridge and Amish city tour. We went to the ever-popular Ocean City, Maryland where we played on the beach and walked on the boardwalk with the other thousands of tourists. We were able to meet up with Christian and Ari at his cottage on Silver Lake, New York.

Our three months with you passed quickly, but we'll remember with fondness the fun times we had during our stay, the way Tanner's personality blossomed as he became a wild and energetic (and mobile) little guy, and the way the three of us came closer as a family since we had no family around for the first time in our married lives.

With love,

Sara