Thanksgiving

Doug had the entire week off from clinic for the holiday & I could not have been more excited! We didn't really have any plans for the week other than wanting to get a few projects around the house completed. We did tackle part of a big one. Re-painting the basement walls & floor. We moved everything around & were able to go through a lot of our stuff & get rid of a LOT of stuff. It's amazing how much better one feels after de-cluttering. We also went through our closets & had mounds of boxes & bags full of clothes to donate. Doug just had to remind me that just because there are a lot of empty hangers now, doesn't mean I get to go shopping & fill them up again. :)

 Our friends the Evans' had been planning on taking a little trip during the time off & at the last minute we decided to join them. I am so happy that we did too! We've traveled to Boston, Washington DC & now we can add PHILADELPHIA to the list. On actual Thanksgiving day we loaded up the car & hit the road. The boys did awesome!!! Liam hardly cried, mostly slept. Gavin, what a happy camper! He stayed awake the whole first leg by talking, singing & looking out the window with the occasional toy in hand. In fact, he never watched a single show the entire trip! About half way there we stopped to see the Susquehanna River & have lunch.

 This is where John the Baptist came to visit Joseph Smith & Oliver Cowdry & give them the Aaronic Priesthood. They were also baptized in the Susquehanna River. Typically you can drive right down to the river, but it was a muddy mess & we decided against it.

Next to the monument is the cemetery where Emma Smith's parents & an infant child of theirs is buried. It was neat to see them & I'm glad they have redone them & made them bigger & easier to find. I'll be honest, when Doug started walking & looking at all the teeny tiny headstones I thought to myself, "Are we really going to do this? It'll take ALL day!" :) Travis was on the same line of thinking as I was. Our spouses LOVE to read all the detail of history which is wonderful, but Trav & I are more along for the ride. I love to see it & hear all about it, but I don't like to read every little thing. So it works out well to travel together. We just have them tell the recap of whatever they read.

Can you spot Liam in this picture? This was Doug's version of the front pack. :)

I did think it what pretty cool that they kept the original headstone wrapped in the new one.

The boys had fun running among all the headstones & hiding.

We got into the city around 4:30ish & checked in to our hotel the Holiday Inn Historic District. It literally was right in the middle of everything we wanted to see & walking distance. No subways this trip! I don't know how we would have managed that with the double stroller. :) Anyhow, we were all hungry & started thinking of places we could eat on Thanksgiving night. Steph did some research & there were plenty of nice places to go for the real turkey dinner, but they were charging over $25 a plate. No thank you! So we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe instead. Who knew that place would be so hoppin busy on Thanksgiving. We had to wait over 45 minutes! This was Doug's first time ever eating at the Hard Rock. He wasn't that impressed with the food, but you really only go there for the atmosphere anyways.

 The next morning we got up & got ready & off we went on our adventure. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was sunny & in the 60's!

 Our first stop was to the Liberty Bell. The museum was built on the land that use to occupy George Washington's homestead.

 Independence Hall
{where the Constitution was written}

In order to go inside you have to be on a tour. So we got our tickets & waited for our tour guide to start. Let's just say he LOVED his job. He spoke just like Chris Farley in his SNL skit of 'livin in a van down by the river'. Gavin was even taken back by him & listened right up! Well for a few minutes. He is 2 after all. :)

 

This is the actual room where the Constitution was written by our Founding Fathers. "The tour guide is shining a light on the sun etched into the back of that chair, which was Benjamin Franklin's. Maybe you've heard the quote where he says he didn't always know if it was a rising or setting sun, but after the document was written, he knew it was indeed a rising sun."(words from Steph's blog) 

I didn't get to actually be in this room to hear everything he had to say because Liam was fussy. But it is amazing for me to actually be standing where something so incredible took place. I really am grateful for the preservation of historic events/monuments/landmarks etc. 

 We also went to the Declaration House where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. 

It was time for lunch & we decided to check out the Reading Terminal {pronounced Redding} Man alive! That place is ridiculously packed with all sorts of things. Grocery, deli's, pizza, fish, bakeries, asian, etc. How were we ever to decide on what to eat?! As difficult as it was to maneuver in there with a stroller it was really fun. 

 After lunch we walked through Chinatown & headed to LOVE park. They had a bunch of giant chess pieces & dominos statues that the kids could run & play on. I didn't get any pics of that, but we did get one of us in front of the L-O-V-E. It wasn't near the size that I was expecting, but fun non the less.

Then we headed off to the Federal Reserve Bank & saw the 'money in motion' exhibit. They gave each of us a bag of $100 shredded into little pieces. (sorry no pic)

So it was only appropriate to head on over to the "Mint". Where they actually make money! Philadelphia's Mint is the largest & highest producing one in the world. We were able to walk along this upper hallway that has windows where you can overlook the massive machinery that produces the money. It was pretty darn cool! A fun fact that I learned was that the penny is only 2.5% copper. The rest is zinc! Who knew?

 Next up, Benjamin Franklin's grave. Right as we were walking up there was a grounds keeper that was sweeping all the pennies off of his grave. People throw pennies onto it because he made the term "a penny saved is a penny earned".

 This here is Betsy Ross' grave. It is located outside in the courtyard of her house. Kind of weird. We all joked about how most do that with their pets. :) We wanted to take a tour, but thought the price was a little much with the kiddos. So we just enjoyed the outside.

It really was so nice being able to walk to all of these sites. We did however have to drive to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That place was packed! There were a lot of people working out there. It made me laugh thinking about if they all had Rocky in their heads while running the steps. :)
  Gavin was in heaven running around all over the place. He & Doug made it to the top!

"Yo Adrian!"

Even me & Liam made the long walk up. It really wasn't that bad. :)

I love this picture of my boys being the king of the world!

 Isn't this view of the city gorgeous?! I just wish I had a nicer camera to capture it's true essence. ;)

Collin, Doug & Travis posing Rocky style

And sweet little Liam snoozing away!

For dinner that night we had to have the Philly Cheese Steak experience. So off we went to Genos. When we pulled up I couldn't help but think of Las Vegas with all the neon lights this place had. :) The line was forever long, so you would think this place was the bomb diggity. Well to others it must be, but I didn't see what all the fuss was about. I mean it was good, but not great. It was fun regardless to say you've had a Philly Cheese Steak in Philly. :)

 It was a great way to end our Philly trip!

The next morning after leaving the hotel we drove a couple hours to Hershey, Pennsylvania. I was super excited about being there. Probably more excited than my child. :)

When we first got there we jumped in line to get our free boat ride tour of how they make chocolate. I felt a little like I was on the 'it's a small world' ride from Disney. It was great fun! The boys (okay, and us adults) had a great time watching the whole process from start to finish. :)

I LOVE this picture of the Evans family. All of their facial expressions are priceless.

This house behind Doug & Gavin was completely made from chocolate! Isn't it awesome? I kind of wanted to start eating it. ;)

We ate some lunch & then headed into Hershey Park. It's an amusement park that is kept open during the holiday season at a cheaper rate. Score! It was only $26 total for our family. Nice right?! Anyhow, as soon as we entered they have different towers that you can measure up on to see what rides you can ride. The biggest they had was a Jolly Rancher. I can't remember who first said it, but everyone agreed that I might not be able to ride all the rides. So I had to prove them all wrong & by a mere few inches indeed I did! :)

 Gavin really wanted to go up to Mr. Chocolate, but as you can see by his face he was a little nervous. But for about a week post trip he kept talking about Mr. Chocolate & wanting to see him again.

 These two have always been best buds, but I'm pretty sure this trip just sealed the deal that they are best friends for life! They had so much fun together going on the rides.

 This starship ride was real fun. There is a lever inside that you can move to make the ship go up & down. Gavin was in heaven!

Gavin didn't quite make the height for this ride, but we put him on anyways because he loves swings. He did great until the end when it stopped. Everyone was waiting for their parents to come unbuckle the seat & get them out. Not Gavin! He squirmed his little body out all on his own & was running for the gate before Doug could even get in. I guess that is why they want you to be a little taller....

 There was only one 'thrill' ride open that even looked appealing to us adults. In fact the boys looked at it & said they would pass. Wimps! So Steph & I took off & stood in line maybe 10 minutes before Trav came up to us & said they wanted to ride it after all. Ha ha! Guess they felt pretty lame for not manning up to the ride like us woman. :) So Steph & I stood in line for like an hour & the guys stayed with the kids. After we got off they were able to just swap us at the exit & hop right on. Best way to do amusement parks with kids I say. Anyhow, this ride was intense. Poor Steph was actually really nervous about it once we got seated. She kept checking the shoulder harness & she was actually a little shaky. :) I just laughed the entire ride out of enjoyment & also because I got to listen to her yell & scream, "Oh my gosh!" over & over followed by and, "Ok, I'm done now!" It was awesome!

 Riding the train in the caboose

 This kid loves motorcycles & was probably the cutest thing to watch on it. He felt like such a big kid. Collin loves firetrucks as you can see he has a very determined look on his face. He must be in a rush to put out a fire. :)

Here we are going down the big pink slide as Gavin put it. Travis & Collin schooled us big time. Must be the mom in me that was a little more cautious. That, or I just really don't know how to use to those dang potato sacks. :)

 On our way out of the park.

 The park was so pretty once it got dark & you could see all the lights. It really did put me in the Christmas spirit.

Shaw & Evans Families
It really was a great trip & I'm so grateful to have them as friends. It is going to be so sad & weird not to have them so close to us next year. We really do so much together & we are indeed grateful for their friendship. We got home around midnight & hit the hay. Sunday evening we just couldn't resist having the traditional Thanksgiving feast. So Steph & I made everything & we had our own family turkey dinner. It was scrumdidliumptious too!

We have so much to be grateful for this holiday season. Good friends, loving families, the gospel & each other. My boys mean the world to me & I am the happiest a mother could be of my two little ones. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving week/weekend & now I can think about Christmas!