The Tuesday before we left for Omaha, we headed back down to Southern Maryland to spend the day hanging out with friends. Angela and her girls were still in town from Indiana, and we wanted to spend as much time as we could with them before we left.

We went to the sprayground, we played at our friends’ house, we met everyone for a chaotic but fun dinner at Applebee’s where the waitress was awesome and earned her generous tip. And then, of course, we all went to get tiny cones on the boardwalk!

Well, some of us got regular-sized cones, but that’s okay. The kids are all bigger now than they were in the old days when we used to go get tiny cones together. The point is, we all enjoyed our ice cream.

The kids had a great time watching this mama duck and her duckling, who obligingly stayed close to the boardwalk the whole time we were eating. The little one would scamper up onto the rocks occasionally and send all the bugs scattering, but not before she caught one or two for a snack. It was quite entertaining.

The kids played on the playground, ran around on the grass, made silly faces, and just enjoyed being together.

I made silly faces myself at Miss Kate, and got her to smile for me. I love gummy, scrunchy-faced baby smiles!

I even remembered to grab a quick photo of me and Ang, for once. I rarely remember to get myself in any of the photos. I’m really glad I took this one, though, because I love it of both of us.

As we all started to leave, Gabby asked if she could take a picture of Annalie holding her baby sister. Then a few other kids jumped in, too.

We had parked by a small beach near the boardwalk, and as we all walked to our cars, Annalie noticed the sun setting over the river. She climbed onto one of the posts to sit and admire the view and exclaimed, “Isn’t it just beautiful!? I could sit and look at the river all day!” I don’t know where she gets this stuff, but I love it.

Even though that week was crazy and we had a lot to accomplish before we left for Omaha, I’m so glad we made time to spend a day with friends. It was well worth it.