Visiting Philadelphia

My husband was honored to attend a conference for educators in Philadelphia. We were honored as a family to be able to tag along for a great family vacation and to teach our children some history. Whether it's about some fun log cabin "play houses", a "broken bell", some really cool steps to run and play on, or eating in a place with some really neat guitars, they learned a lot and we all had a very special and wonderful time as a family!!

Enjoy some of our photos.

Visiting Valley Forge.

Cabins the soldiers stayed in at Valley Forge during their rough winter.

Victory after running up the flight of steps.

The Museum of Art where Rocky ran up the steps for training in the movie. These are those killer steps.

Our family in front of the Rocky Balboa stature. We loved it!! It was so neat.

Hard Rock Cafe, Downtown Philly

Peaking through the front door of Independance Hall. The front doors do not opne. All visitor's enter from the back, but a peek won't hurt.

A plaque by the front door of Independance Hall

The Liberty Bell ~ AWESOME to see!!

Independance hall was being renovated, but had a shear curtain covering the construction to show us the structure of the building. It was amazing to be standing there amidst history!

goin' fishin'

Nothing says fishing like a Lightening McQueen fishing rod...

Standing side by side with your brother who has a SpongeBob fishing rod...

Catching a 4 inch long Sunfish...


and being so proud!

and of course we have to humor Mom for one fun pic!

It's a favorite hobby of our families. We have a great Sportsman's Club we have a membership to and the kids (and parents) have a super fun time pulling out whoppers!

The end of a great baseball season!

This is our first year playing baseball. We played 2 years of T-ball prior. There was a big difference and for a while Nick felt "out of his league", but soon caught on adn had a wonderful time. I was amazed how his skills developed through the season.


Warming up in the batters box.

Daddy coaching third. Ray was the head coach w/ t-ball but is assisting with baseball so he can resume head coaching with Adam next year when he is old enough to play.

Ready to swing!


Entertaining Adam during games is sometimes a challenge. I wish our area had a league for 4 yr old. Adam spends time playing trucks and here he is doing a sticker book with my dad, Pap.

My computer was out for a while with a bad virus. we are all cleaned up and running great, so now it it time to catch up on some posts!

Spring is in bloom

Animals and Fun!!

We took a drive and visited the Washington D.C. Zoo this past Saturday. It is so nice living 1 hour and 20 minutes from D.C. There is always so much to do and it is always a wonderful way to spend a day with the family. Below are some of my favorite shots.

..and a GREAT time was had by all!!

Costumes!

Just wanted to share our 2010 costumes with my blogger friends/family. Link up and tell me what you dressed as this year!

The Smithsonians

I've briefly posted a few pictures of our trip to the Smithsonians in Washington D.C. We live so close to such a national treasure, sometimes you forget how lucky you are!

We had such a wonderful day and I wanted to share some more of our adventures with you!

Inside the Air and Space Museum


Climbing a tree on a rest break - we did LOTS of walking.


The National History Museum had a hands on table for kids to play and learn. In this picture they took the kids finger print and had them draw an ocean animal around the finger print. They turned out very cute!


Dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. These were very exciting for the boys.

A tree made out of metal outside the National Art Museum.

The Reflection Pool ~ I love this shot!

Pointing out airplanes "flying" in the sky.

It was the last thing we saw and the definate highlight of the trip for Nick. We didn't even know it was there until we left, but Nick got to "meet" C3PO!!! Life was good :)

Michelle Obamas Inaugural Dress

Adam was convinced this was Buzz Lightyears rocket ship.

We had a super day. We go on this trip every year and I've been there 20+ times, but everytime I go I discover something new, different, and very exciting that I never saw before. It's an excellent day trip and I certainly recommend it if you are ever in the area.