Philadelphia

Olivia is studying the founding of our country in school this year, so we thought that this would be a great time to visit Philadelphia.  Philly is only about two hours or so from the Sanders' house in Delaware, so it was an easy drive. Once we arrived, we went straight away to get tickets for Independence Hall.  Even though we procured the tickets in the 10 o'clock hour, the first available tour wasn't until 3:45.  I'm glad we went ahead and got those tickets right off.  We saw several people wanting to tour and being turned away later in the day because the park service had run out of tickets.

After getting our tour tickets, we walked across the street to the Liberty Bell Center to see the bell. That didn't take long.

 It was getting close to noon and we had some time to kill so we decided to walk around Philly.  The plan was to walk to Reading Terminal Market because I had heard that that was the place to get a Philly cheesesteak, and I wanted Brian to have that (because he is such a foodie).  My guidebooks didn't lie, Reading Terminal Market is indeed the place to be for lunch, and I think that everyone in Philadelphia was there. I'm okay with crowds, but this was too much.  There was a long line at every stand.  We could barely move around. We quickly began looking for a plan B, but lots of other people were too.  Many of the restaurants around the market were also full.  We ended up just walking back to the historic district and having lunch at a pub in that neighborhood.  Although our trek failed, we did get to see some interesting things along the way.  We walked through a part of Chinatown, saw the surprisingly beautiful City Hall, and went into the fanciest department store (a Macy's) that I've ever seen.

 After lunch we still had a little time to kill until our tour.  So, we walked around the historic neighborhood checking out some of the other buildings and catching Pokemon.  Yes, the kids want to hunt for Pokemon everywhere we go.  They are really into it.

Three forty five finally rolled around and we were able to enter Independence Hall.  We got to see several rooms in the building- including the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and signed.  Olivia had to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution for her class this year, and we videoed her reciting it in three different places within the building where it was written.  The park ranger heard her reciting it and he gave her a card that had the Preamble written on it.

 After our tour we returned to our car and drove back to Delaware.  Later in the evening the movie National Treasure was on t.v. and we watched it.  There was a long sequence in the movie when the heroes are in Philadelphia.  It was cool to see the places that we had just been to that day in the movie.

Cherry Blossom Festival

While in Delaware we made a day trip to D.C. so that we could see the cherry blossoms.  I have always wanted to see this, and we really lucked out with our timing. According to the "cherry blossom watch" website,  the trees are only in "peak" for a few days and start looking pretty shabby after about a week.  The window in which one can see them in their full glory is narrow.  The "peak" was predicted to be about a week and a half before our trip, but a last minute cold snap turned things in our favor.  The "peak" was on Saturday and we visited on Wednesday, so the trees were still beautiful.  We could not have picked a better day to visit.  It was sunny and cool.  We parked near the Air and Space Museum and then walked toward the tidal basin.  The Cherry Blossom Festival was taking place so there was a band playing near the basin.  It was beautiful.  Even the kids- who had been complaining all morning that their mom was "making them go see flowers" and that "this was going to be lame"- were in awe of how beautiful it was.

We ended up walking all the way around the tidal basin.  We even stopped to rent some paddleboats and peddled around the basin for about twenty minutes.  While we were on the lake four helicopters flew over us followed by Marine One.  That was pretty cool.

Other than popping in the food court at the Air and Space Museum, we didn't do any of the museums on this visit.  Instead we did tons of walking and visited lots of memorials- some of which we had never been to before.  Some of these "new" memorials were those honoring Jefferson, FDR, and MLK.  We also walked all of the way to the White House.  We have seen it from a distance every time that we've been in D.C., but the kids wanted to get a closer view so we trudged all the way down to Pennsylvania Avenue.  With all of the walking we did, we were beat by the end of the day.  This was the most beautiful that I'd ever seen the mall, so I'm glad that we visited.

Stevie Nicks

While we were in Delaware, Barb and I made a trip to Balitmore to see Stevie Nicks in concert.  It was such a good show.  Stevie sang many of our favorite songs including "Stand Back", "Edge of 17", "Gyspy", and "Landslide".  She also sang some songs that we were not so familiar with.  She paused between most songs to tell of story of how each song came to be.  It was interesting.  One thing is for sure:  Stevie can sing!  She hasn't lost anything with age.  She sounded great, and we had a great time.

Spring Break in Delaware

We spent our Spring Break visiting Brian's family in Delaware. We usually go in the summer so going in the Spring was a nice change.  We were able to enjoy some cooler weather, which helped make up for the total lack of winter that we experienced in the south this year.  We had lots of fun and were able to see many of our favorite people.




When we weren't out visiting or sightseeing, the kids had fun playing in the Sanders' enormous front yard. Owen carried the new super wubble ball that he got for his birthday to try out.  It was a hit.  Brian and the kids also made several trips to various locations around town to catch Pokemon (yep, they are still really into that).  I went to the historic downtown area with them one day and purchased an ezpass while they were hunting Pokemon.  I have been talking about getting a pass of my own for three years, and I'm so glad that I finally did it.  We used the pass to zip all around.  It felt good not to have to wait in the toll lines.

Visiting my Aunt and Uncle is always high on the list of priorities.  I was scared that we were going to miss them this year because they were getting ready to come down to Georgia.  As it turned out, we were able to visit right before they left and naturally we had to make a trip to Byler's for ice cream.  













Uncle Brandon was able to come over for a few days, and that made the kids so happy.  Brandon always takes up lots of time with the kids and they just love him.  This year they "helped" him build his Lego ship.  They were excited to assist with this project.

Our last full day in Delaware was a rainy one, so we decided to go bowling.  I had no idea that Poppy could bowl.  He even had his own shoes (and I'm told at one time he had his own bowling ball).

As always, we had a great time in Delaware. The week went by way too fast.

Harlem Globetrotters

 So, there's a story here.  Olivia's birthday usually falls on one of the days when we're out of school for Fall Break, and we have done something "special" on those days a couple of times.  Owen's birthday on the other hand usually falls on a school day, making it unlikely that we would be able to do any type of special activity.  This disparity has not gone unnoticed by Owen.  Even though we still do something "special" a few weeks after his birthday (when we're on Spring Break), it's not on his actual birthday and so it's just not the same in his eyes.  I know that this bothers him because he's mentioned it several times.  This year, however, I saw that the Harlem Globetrotters were going to be in Jacksonville on Owen's actual birthday.  So even though it was a Tuesday, we decided to get tickets.  It was a good show- even Brian and I thought that it was funny.  The kids laughed, cheered, and talked me into buying them a souvenir basketball.  Owen was so happy that we had done something special for his birthday, that it made the extra effort worth it.  Of course we have explained that we won't be able to do something like this every year, and he understands.  He's just glad that we were able to do something out of the ordinary on his actual birthday once.

Owen is 9

Owen's birthday this year has been unlike any before.  We have been so busy, that we have not been able to squeeze in any of the regular "birthday" activities.  Spring Break being a week early this year hasn't helped either.  Still, we did manage a spur-of-the-moment cake from DQ and a couple of gifts- including a super-wubble ball, which is the main thing that Owen wanted anyway.  We also took him to see the Harlem Globetrotters (more on that later).  Even though the actual birthday events this year were a little different, we are still proud of the young man that Owen is becoming.  Here are a few things about Owen at age 9:
1.  He loves Pokemon everything
2.  His favorite subject is math
3.  He is still an easy-going kid who loves spending time with his family
4.  If someone is selling popcorn in the vicinity, he wants some
5.  He likes to tell corny jokes
We sure do love our little buddy.

Anniversary Bike Ride

 Brian and I recently celebrated our 16th anniversary with a family bike ride around Jekyll Island.  Brian got a new bike for Christmas and I got a bike rack shortly thereafter- we have been anxious to try these things out.  The weather could not have been better.  It was sunny and cool.  We started off riding through the Historic District and then proceeded up to the Horton House Ruins.  After checking out the ruin site, we rode to Driftwood Beach where the kids had fun climbing on the branches of the downed trees.  We finished by cruising up the coast and having a meal at Tortuga Jack's.  It cannot think of a better way to have spent our anniversary.