Have kids, will travel

One thing about us - we go places. I think a few (well, maybe a lot of...) people think we are right out of our minds. Maybe we are!! It's probably more me than Ken - but I am always up for the next great adventure. Sometimes it has bitten us in the ass (like the time we all got the hard core flu en route to Canada for Christmas in 2008, or the massive ear infections that hit one year at the beach...) but mostly - it's always SO much fun, and way smoother than either of us could have hoped for. We have taken the kids a lot of different places - San Fran is probably the furthest - but they have been to Florida a number of times, lots of trips to Canada, Tennessee, Connecticut, Washington DC and now we add Philadelphia PA to our list!

This past weekend we headed to Philly to visit our friends Lesley and Eric. They moved away from Cary last year for Eric's work - their daughter Madelyn and Ainsley have been friends since they were in infant care together! It's a little ironic because we didn't hang out a lot while they lived close, other than when the kid activities brought us together - but we've always sort of clicked and had great times with them. This weekend had been in the works for months, with a few reschedules mixed in - and thank goodness it came together because we all had a blast!

The drive up was fine - we left early enough to get through DC before their rush hour hit. Garnet Valley PA is like this storybook town that you imagine when reading stories of years gone by... smaller town feeling, windy roads, tons of trees and rolling landscape. It was beautiful! Ken, the kids and I headed to Philly proper on Friday during the day and saw the Liberty Bell and hit Reading Market. Reading was AWESOME - I could have spent the entire day there! We ate these massive chocolate cupcakes with the big "P" on them for "PHILLIES" as our morning snack!!! (gotta support the local home team!!). Cheese steaks for lunch too - it was a BIG bad food day!

We saw the Liberty Bell and read about it's history. Saw a big protest over health care. Checked out City Hall. Would have liked to visit the Children's Museum and the famous art gallery - but we'll have to see those next time.

Luke had his Halloween Parade Friday afternoon... and then soccer practice for Madelyn. We ran home grabbed some grub and then headed out to this cool orchard at Linvilla - for a hayride and story telling at the witch's house! Cookies, cider and roasted marshmallows rounded out a nice fall celebration evening. Somehow they managed to sleep even after all that sugar!! (The dad's stayed home and got Amelia to bed... :) )

Saturday was super busy between soccer and pumpkin carving, shopping, some gourmet apps (thanks to Lesley!!) and trick or treating! We capped the evening off watching the Phillies and it was fun even though they lost.

We were up at the crack of dawn Sunday to head home - again, that whole DC traffic thing... other than the rain, the drive was fine. We can't wait to go back! One of the coolest things about this trip was seeing Matthew really take on the role of "big kid". He was a super "big brother" to Luke - they played and talked and horsed around the same way that Cullen does (and used to) with Matthew when HE was 4. Before my eyes he is becoming a very mature, conscientious and caring young man.

Madelyn and Ainsley were just like they were in preschool - it was like time stood still. Lesley and I briefly talked about some future plans for us girls... nothing set in stone now, but let's just say the plans involve a certain flagship store in the big Apple that most every young girl dreams of visiting...

:)