Braddah Kimo and Aunty Normal take MD/DC!

In the beginning of May, Mom and Dad were able to come up for a few days to visit. It was pretty hard to coordinate their work/church/grandma/grandpa schedules, so they were only able to visit for 5 days (HNL-NY, where Hawaiian flies, is a 10 hour direct flight, then they had to drive about 4 hours to get to us in MD). Even still, we were grateful that they were able to come up, and had such a nice time! Mom and Dad got the only two standby seats on the flight to NY! This trip obviously was so meant to happen!

One thing that was enjoyable while my parents were here was that since they were both out of state, they had no other obligations or responsibilities to run off to. My parents are some of the most hard-working and busy people I know! It was nice to force them to unplug from all of that and really just spend some quality time with us :) It was also good for Uriah to get some one-on-one time with Grandma and Grandpa, particularly since it'd been a few months since they last saw him. 

We were able to maximize our time by spending our time sightseeing in D.C., organizing the house, and of course EATING! (It would not be a Kimokeo trip without the eating part!) I'm actually amazed at how much we were able to accomplish in the short amount of time! 

The first day was a half day due to the travel time, so we relaxed, went on a little walk to show Mom and Dad where we live, and ate dinner at Olive Garden. 

The second day, we went down to D.C. and were able to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial site, as well as the Holocaust Museum. The grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. site were beautiful, and peaceful. There was a wall that went through some of his most famous quote through the years, given at various sermons or gatherings. He was a brilliant man who did great things for humanity. His words still ring true and profound today.

The walk to the Holocaust museum was long, but so worth it. Parking in D.C. is CRAZY, and we lucked out and were able to secure a free parking spot along a curb (when Kelli and I went, it was $26.00 for one structure that we we were there for a few hours) so we just decided to walk. The Holocaust Museum was very sobering, as expected. I didn't quite get to explore the museum as much as I would like, as Uriah was starting to get fussy at that point. Even so, I was still able to see a lot, and feel the somberness of the space. There were two holocaust survivors who were scheduled to speak to a later group, and Mom and Dad were able to meet them. The one woman on the left of the photo really took to Uriah, and explained that she  has great-grandchildren, but that they live very far away. It was clear that she missed them. 

The following day, we had a productive day at home. Mom helped clear out our spare room that we had essentially been using as storage. We went from a place that had much more storage space in Hawaii, so downsizing has been hard for us! Our biggest problem is that we just never can seem to find the time to set aside for that type of project because:

1. we have an active, dictator/tyrannical baby
2. Who WANTS to do that stuff in free time?

She cleared out and made so much room and organized it so that our guests can actually sleep in there now! My mom was like a major home organization fairy that graced every room with her homemaking pixie dust. The bathroom got organized, the kitchen got organized, she forced me to go through bags of baby clothes boxes, and DVDs, and other types of terrible ghastly things. I AM SO GLAD SHE DID! While we still do have some work to do, the work is much less daunting and not overwhelming. She was such a huge help! 

We did another D.C. day the following day. D.C. has so much to offer in terms of sightseeing. Since my parents were on a limited time schedule, they chose what they would most like to see. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The museum was so interesting, and HUGE! It's the kind of place you could literally spend all day in - if you didn't have a little baby that gets bored after awhile. We were able to see everything we wanted to, though, and had a very successful day!

Uriah's first time on the grass. He was not a fan.

It wouldn't be a Kimokeo trip without some major GRINDS! We took Mom and Dad to Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse (Dad's favorite - the honey butter and dinner rolls are amazing!), Rita's Frozen Custard, and the grand finale - Fat Boy's Crab Shack! We got the hot crab dip (our favorite) and we all shared a dozen medium Maryland Blue Crabs. It was so fun! It was messy, and we were somewhat clumsy, but it was amazing!!

Dozen Maryland Blue Crabs

Broiled Crab Cakes

Despite all that grinding, me and Dad were able to get in a workout together! My Planet Fitness membership allows me to bring any guest that I want, so me, Dad and Rob all got a workout in! It was really fun!

It was so great having Mom and Dad here! It's crazy how home doesn't have to be the physical house you grew up in, or even the same state; we can find "home" in the familiar. Mom and Dad brought "home" to me :) Looking forward to going HOME home next month for REAL, though!