How I've missed you, cola Slurpee

We don't have 7-11's where I live, so I always get a cola Slurpee when I'm back in the DC area. I bought one today and indeed, it hit the spot. When I'm back "home" in Northern Virginia, I try to satisfy any cravings for things I've missed but alas, some do not live up to my memories. I ate lunch at Jerry's Subs & Pizza today (which we don't have out west) and it was so-so. Last time I was in town, I got a cookie from Larry's Cookies because I always loved them so, but it was not as fabulous as my memory led me to believe it would be. I may grab one tomorrow when we're downtown for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, juuuuuuuust to be sure they're not as good as I thought they were. I am happy to report that Utz barbecue potato chips still meet my expectations, so there's that.

We're continuing to enjoy our vacation. A is being a bit of a pill and we're not sure what to do about it. We're not all that motivated to discipline her heavily, because punishing her also punishes us. I think she knows that we're less inclined to rein her in when we're in someone else's home, too.

Yesterday we went to Baltimore to visit Geppi's Entertainment Museum. This was P's idea - there was a comic book exhibit he wanted to see. He had a little nerdgasm when he spotted a mint condition copy of the first comic in which Superman appeared. He forced me to take a photo of it.  After the museum, we went to the Inner Harbor and took the kids (our unruly child plus our niece and nephew) out to lunch.  Then we toured a submarine and a Coast Guard ship.

I did call the dealership yesterday and arranged to have my mom-mobile towed.  I tried being in denial about the whole thing, but was fairly certain that the van wasn't going to repair itself. Of course, she certainly had the time to do it while left in the garage for nine days. What she lacks is the motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I brought my work-out gear and yoga mat, but have had trouble finding a class that worked with all of our other plans. So, I've just been walking my sister's dog a lot. Bessie Mae is a hound dog of some sort. Walking her is nothing like walking a Boxer. For starters, she takes her walks very seriously. There is a lot of snifflating to be done, and all of the information gathered must be carefully cataloged and archived. The process is very slow and methodical, so I can't say that I'm burning a lot of calories. When I walk my Boxers, they go full speed ahead with this approximate thought taking precedence: "Derrrrrrrr."  Honestly, they don't even recognize our own house when we get back from our walk.

On Friday, I'll have the opportunity to view my new nephew in utero. My sister is getting one of those 4D ultrasounds. I'm a little bit unclear on what the 4 D's are, but I'm hoping to confirm that he has my nose because I did get a better nose than my sister (just kidding, sis! Your nose is fine! I still have a bigger rack, though!)