William and Chip goofing off in the Rain Forest section of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD on Friday the 13th

Note the blue Poison Dart Frogs...we visited the Aquarium on Friday night just after they arrived (4pm arrival)

Can you find the TWO birds in this photo?

William is pointing something out to me in this particular aquarium...

check out that funny looking fish... it's from the Amazon I think...

William was pointing out a Kookabura bird... (from Australia)

That's one BIG sharkie...

William is growing FAST... might be the last time I can hoist him up to check out something!

The night wasn't over!  We had  a campfire on the patio to cap off the night!  It was windy & smoky!

William hung in there... he snuggled up in blankets to take a snooze!

He needed to rest up for the Acela train ride from Baltimore to New York City!

Yes, us Holcher's take A LOT of pictures!

William are you excited?

Here comes the "bullet" train!

"All Aboard!!" ...9:21am train

We were hungry...waiting in the line for breakfast!

We've arrived @ Penn Station in NYC ontime (11:50am)!  Exciting!!!!

We've just hopped in a cap in front of Madison Square Garden.. COOL!

We've now arrived at the Nintendo World Store @ Rockefeller Center.... good grades PAY off!

William and some of his NYC friends playing GameCube!

But this egg thing was the BEST, surround sound while playing GameCube!

.....almost a BooYA!!!

Then we walked 10 blocks from Rockefeller Center to 59th ST and 5th AVE (the southeast corner of Central Park) to F.A.O. Schwarz

but we needed to EAT lunch.. it was almost 3pm!!!  What a great picture!!

William Holcher chillin' like the cool dude that he is IN CENTRAL PARK, NYC!!!

Great shot!  We need to take a picture here again in 10 years!!!

Walking into F.A.O. Schwartz

We didn't plan on going here, so we only had around an hour to spend... NOT enough TIME!

there were plenty of cool toys, games, and skateboards to try out!

William was getting the hang of it!

About 4pm we headed back down to Mid-Town to the Empire State Building!!!!

It was almost ZERO VIZ so there we NO lines!!  We had the place to ourselves!

It was dark by the time we reached the top ... it was incredible!  You could get a glimpse the streets below and the East River!

We caught the 6:05pm train back to Baltimore.. it was time for dinner and some candy for desert!

Then on Sunday night we celebrated William's 10th Birthday (a little early)..Aunt Kim made a special vanilla/strawberry cake!!!

And during the day we hiked with the dogs in the woods down the street!

...of course William was climbing ALL the trees!

Jethro, Clyde and Dad were in a "stay!" command :)

Monday morning we headed to National Zoo to see the baby Panda! 

We were there at 7:15AM and the temperature was in the HIGH 20's!!! Burrrr!!!!

William and Aunt Kim kept warm staying close!

Brenda had to gather up Tai because Mrs. Cheny and her family were there for a VIP visit!

Yes, our hopeful backstage visit was bumped for the VP's wife!!! Oh, well!!!

Mother Panda keeps a close eye on the little guy!!  He rumbled and tumbled EVERYWHERE!

GIVE ME SOME BAMBOO!!!!

I think I see some candy down here!

Nope, maybe over here.....

These Cheeta's were foolin' around :)

And running around!!!

and stalking us!

and finally just chillin'!

 It was great to have Mom, Dad and William in town for a visit on Martin Luther King Day Weekend January 2006.  We had a BLAST and can't wait for the next visit.  We covered some serious ground.  The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Nintendo World & FAO Schwartz & Empire State Building in New York with transportation provided by the Amtrak Acela train and finally the National Zoo in DC!!!  All in ONE weekend.  More impressively there were no major Holcherama moments!!!!  I promise :)  2006 is off to a great start.  The next big event will be Beth and Scott's little girl being born which is planned for February 22nd!  We can't wait for that... stay tuned for pictures of this wonderful event!