Contemplating the PTA

I know, it's dangerous. You can get sucked under. All your free time can get totally filled. 

But...it's for the children.

Baltimore

We drove up to Baltimore and did touristy things around the harbor. The very first thing we did was find the bathrooms, because Emily really needed to go.

We did paddleboats. T and I paddled and Emily steered. We inspected the red boat and the sub (USS Torsk) from the water.

We saw a street performer doing a unicycle and juggling show (and insulting the audience and passers-by in a very funny manner). For example, I was wearing a tie-dye shirt and he said that I need to learn to separate colors in the wash. His main schtick was accusing various audience men of either being gay or frequenting the prostitutes nearby.

Then we discussed the tapas menu (at a Spanish tapas bar, La Tarsa) with Emily and she turned it down. Often she likes shrimp, but today she wanted crab. So we went to Phillips. They had traditional crab cakes (broiled and a little more butter) and Ocean City-style crab cakes (fried with more breading and more mustard). T ordered the Ocean City, I order the traditional and Emily ordered the crab cake sandwich (one crab cake with a bun, lettuce, tomato, and french fries). All of them came with cole slaw. That is some of the best cole slaw I've had.

After that Emily played on the interactive floor game for nearly an hour, while T and I discussed things we have to do to fix our back yard.

Then we watched fudge being rolled at the Fudgery and bought a whole bunch.

Then we saw another street performer.

Then we got ice cream.

Then a little girl (not ours) had a really bad fall on her head on the cement. Her parents were younger than us, and were talking nervously and sitting there. I went over and asked a few questions about whether she cried immediately (she did), how her pupils looked (the same and they responded to light) and whether she had thrown up (she hadn't). All of their answers are good for minimal head injury. They said that there was a Nightime Pediatrics near their home--an hour and a half away, but they were afraid that they should not let her sleep in the car. I said that if it was me, I'd get driving and take her right in near their house. Baltimore has great hospitals, but a lot of people in the ERs, and they would probably be seen quickly at home, and much later if they tried to go to a close ER. Plus the signs were good.

Then we left and it started pouring down rain. I really hope that the other family got moving.

We got totally drenched before we got to our car and drove home.