Memorial Day

This year for the Memorial Day weekend, we did many things that most Americans do, went to cookouts, watched sports, enjoyed a three day weekend from work. But we also spent the actual holiday taking a trip to the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore. It was definitely a reflective trip to remember those that came before us that fought to make all the things that we love possible.

If you have never been before, we highly recommend that if you are ever in Baltimore take a visit to Fort McHenry. We were not able to go inside because dogs aren't allowed in the historic parts of the fort, but we were able to walk the entire perimeter. Here are some of our pictures:

The fort when we first walked in

A statue of the Greek God Orpheus. We learned that this statue was placed on the grounds of Fort McHenry to mark the centennial of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner (Fort McHenry is the home of our National Anthem). Orpheus is the Greek mythological hero of music and poetry so the statue was dedicated to Francis Scott Key, the writer of the Star Spangled Banner.

Looking out from the Fort, down the Chesapeake Bay.

This was the other side of the Chesapeake. And way in the background we could see the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore County.


This is a picture from the water looking back at the Fort. The canons that protected Baltimore during the War of 1812 are still in the same places that they were then.

A picture of us with the Fort in the background.

The east side of the Fort.

And while we went to Fort McHenry to celebrate Memorial Day, we also enjoyed our holiday grilling...

and sleeping in!

Happy birthday Papa Rogers!

Recently, we got to celebrate my dad's birthday. It was a wonderful day spent with the Rogers family. First we went out to dinner and then for a "friendly" game of minature golf. Tyler was the bigger winner of the night, and I won't even talk about what place I came in. Doesn't matter though, we all had a great night!

Look at that form!

Tyler again, watching one of his shots


The birthday boy taking his turn

Ty cheesing for the camera! He was usually waiting for everyone (well me) to hurry up and finish

And us at the end of the night.

The Martins go to Washington

With some new responsibilities at work, I will be driving into Washington, DC on occasion. As someone who usually takes public transportation from Baltimore to DC, I am not a good navigator of our nation's capital yet, but decided to use this past weekend to try and learn the streets a little better in DC. So I grabbed Tyler and we headed south for what was an interesting adventure to say the least. We got a little lost, but eventually found what we were looking for, parked the car and spent the afternoon touring DC.

Tyler in front of the Capitol building. We went inside to tour the new Capitol Visitor's Center as well, but no pictures are allowed inside.

Our walk down the mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

We also went to the World War II Memorial, which these pictures do not do justice to. Here is the Pacific side of the monument.


And the Atlantic side.

And the view to the Washington Monument from the WWII memorial.

And then the skies started getting dark, so we could not walk down to the Lincoln Memorial, but could see it very well from the WWII memorial.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day we celebrated by doing some of the same things we do every year. We went out to brunch in the morning and then in the evening we went out to pick crabs. This year we wanted to surprise our Moms with something a little different as well. We called our good friend Leah who is a photographer, and asked if she would take some family photos for us. We got all of the Rogers siblings and the spouses together and definitely had a wonderful surprise for our Moms. Here are a few of our favorites.

The whole crew. Me and Tyler on the right. My sister Jessica in the middle. And my brother Danny and his wife Nichole on the left.

After a few photos outside, we moved in to Leah's studio. She needed someone to stand in so she could test the lighting, so Tyler jumped in, and this was the result.

The Rogers siblings.

Dan and his wife Nichole

Tyler being Tyler... gotta love him!

And a good one of the two of us

The whole crew one last time in the studio

We're Back!

Well unfortunately we had to get rid of the last blog, it looked like someone had hacked the account somehow, so to be safe we just deleted everything. It was kind of a sad moment, but necessary. We are back with this new one and hopefully it will be just as much fun as the last!