Family in MD

Before we went to Bethany Beach in Delaware, Kate and I stopped to see my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Hank, their daughter Lisa and her family in Maryland. These are some of my favorite people and ever since they moved to MD we just don’t see enough of them! We made sure to bring them some Hoffman coneys, as they love them but can’t get them in MD. We arrived early enough on Friday that we were able to attend Lisa’s oldest daughter’s school concert, where she, as well as her other classmates, did a great job!

After the concert we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant, The Stonebridge, where Lisa reminded her son Henry to “not over order”. Apparently his eyes are usually bigger than his stomach. When we questioned Henry about this, he said that ordering lots of food was “satisfying”. Well, that gave Kate and I chuckle, and I asked his mother for permission to let him order whatever he wanted, and she agreed. And come to find out, after we had already consumed a mountain of food, Henry and I both like crab cakes, and Henry tells me that this restaurant does a great job with them, so I ordered a plate for him and I to share. They were awesome, but we were so full we could barely finish them. Luckily there was plenty of us there to share with.

My cousin Lisa has a small business in organic farming, Oak Spring Farms. She works hard, and in doing so produces some great products. When we’re in town we usually go to the local farmers’ market on Saturdays where Lisa displays and sells her latest harvest, and my wife always buys some great fruit, vegtables, cheeses & olive oil to take to DE to enjoy while sitting on our balcony.

After the visit to the farmers’ market, we went garage saling with most everyone. Lisa’s youngest, Izzy, was at a friend’s house, and Lisa was working most of the day at the farmers’ market. What I discovered is that Lisa’s other two children, Samatha and Henry, are quite the commsumate garage sale shoppers, including the ability to quickly scan each home’s offerings to determine if there was anything of value that might be of interest to them. Sam found a bag that she liked and her Grandmother made the purchase for her.

We had determined earlier in the day that we would all meet for dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s house, and then afterwards we would go out for ice cream, my treat. We were out so long at garage sales I was worried that we would be late having dinner, which meant we might not have enough time to go for ice cream, so I made the suggestion that perhaps we should stop and have ice cream before going back home. Needless to say I didn’t get too much resistance to that idea. So that led us to the kids favorite ice cream shop, and another MD small business, Bonkeys. It is housed in an old movie theatre and has a large selection of flavors and various dishes. My one and only rule when it comes to buying ice cream is that you can have ANYTHING that you want, but you have to eat all of it! Needless to say, this was quite a fun surprise for Sam and Henry, especially being their mother was still working at the farmers’ market. (Sorry Lisa, but it was fun!)

We headed back to the house, where we had a great dinner in the screened gazebo with everyone there. And come to find out, Henry’s lacrosse team had won their game earlier in the day, which then qualified them for the championship game the next day, Sunday, which is the day that we were scheduled to leave for Delaware. We had a 3 hour drive to DE, but Lisa told me that Henry’s game was on the way and they would love for us to attend. Just to let you know, I’m not one to deviate from my travel plans, but as long as it was on the way, what the heck.

So, Sunday morning after breakfast Lisa loaded the kids in the car and headed out for the game, with the rest of us to meet them there later. We packed our things, and with my Aunt and Uncle with us, and the GPS locked & loaded, we headed for the venue. It took us an hour to get there, and we made it just before the game started. I had asked Henry before he left who the favored team was, and he confided that his team was, and that it should be a fairly easy victory. Well guess what, someone forgot to tell the other team that!! The opposition took an early lead, and at one point I thought their lead was insurmountable! But after some heart stopping goals and a big push by Henry and his team, they came from behind to win the championship!! What a great afternoon! So we stayed to congratulate the team, took some great pictures, gave hugs all around and said our good-byes.

Kate and I hop into our car, enter our DE hotel into the GPS, figuring we only had a 2 hour drive ahead of us due to the fact that Lisa told us the game was on our way, and as I mentioned earlier we had already traveled for an hour. So imagine our surprise when the GPS informs us that we had a 3 hour drive to reach our destination! Sorry Lisa, but I’m not sure that geographical travel is your forte….lol! But in the end it was all worth it, and Kate and I were so glad that we attended the game, and that they won!

We love to travel, especially when it involves seeing friends and family. But as a small business owner I also enjoy visiting small businesses of all kinds wherever we go. I know how hard these people work, and more times than not, it’s their passion that keeps them going. So please, whenever possible, try to visit at least one small business when you’re traveling, and hopefully you’ll have a great experience, and if you’re a fellow small business owner, you might even meet a kindred spirit.

To my Aunt, Uncle, cousin Lisa and her family, thank you so much for having us! As always, we had a great time and we appreciate your hospitality. And Henry, congrats again on the win! And I hope your grandmother’s phone that you and I paired to her new car has worked out that little dialing glitch…..lol!

And to our friends and family south of MD and DE, yes I know, we’re long overdue for a visit. Missing ‘ya all, and hopefully we’ll see each other soon!

Author: commonmanthoughts57

Living a common life with my exceptionally uncommon wife, who was the girl next door, and is the love of my life. View all posts by commonmanthoughts57