Little Kid vs. Big Kid Field Trip

Here is a side-by-side comparison of two recent field trips that I've chaperoned. 

20 minute bus ride to a farm                      2 hour bus ride to Richmond

Impromptu dancing with friends                           "Give me liberty or give me death" reenactment


 
Time to run around and explore freely   4 stops around town and every minute is structured

Hanging out with big sister                           Hanging out with Thomas Jefferson

Pleasant company                                            Perhaps George's wig is a bit too tight?!

Being silly with friends                                        Being silly with friends

Laughing and giggling                                     Giggling and laughing

A couple of thoughts: 
I know I say it all the time, but I LOVE living where my kids see places in real life that I only read about in my history books. 

On another note, I can tell that someday I'm going to totally miss these days of having kids with wide eyes of wonder. 



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Ellie's Fashion Tip for the Day

No matter the color, no matter the size....polka dots ALWAYS match. 

Ladybugs and More

Blossoming azaleas, longer days, warmer weather, real deal sunshine, and ladybugs....

I LOVE THE SPRINGTIME!!!!!

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The Wild Side of Philadelphia: Palmyra Cove Nature Park

Finally here are the last of our Philadelphia photos: 

After having to use our self-restraint and quiet voices while we toured through the historical sites in Philly, we were excited to head just over the Franklin bridge out of Philadelphia and to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park where we got to let loose a little!   It was amazing to us that it seemed like we were out in the middle of nowhere, but in reality we were just across the river from Philly the whole time! 

At first everyone was just excited to run and be free...

They ran and climbed and picked up sticks and rocks...

Then when we slowed down a little.....

and we started to notice all the amazing things around us, like this  mama goose sitting on her eggs....

Adam's 2nd grade teacher this year has instilled in Adam a love for wildlife of all kinds, but especially birds.  He definitely is way better at identifying birds than Glen or I and he held tightly to his "Beginning Birdwatching Book" the whole way through the nature park and got to add several new species to his list. 

We met a bird enthusiast local who led us to this cute Great Horned Owl family.  The mama owl was a little skittish and flew off at our approach, but we got to get a good look at these two baby owls.  Glen was just as fascinated as the kids and totally took over camera duty at this point. 

We had an ongoing debate whether this turtle was actually alive or not, but dead or not, it was still cool to see up close. 

In the end, our wildlife tally for the day was pretty darn impressive.  

Our wildlife tally for the day:

Robins

Geese (including a mama sitting on her eggs)

Yellow Warblers

Fox x2

Deer (several)

Great Horned Owls (mama + 2 babies)

Red Tail Hawk

Bunny Rabbit

Groundhog

Beaver

Red-Winged Blackbirds

Turtle (maybe dead)

Downy Woodpecker

Gnatcatcher

Cardinals

Black-Capped Chickadee

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American History, birds, nature, and old friends....our last minute trip to Philadelphia was definitely a success and we already have a list for our next trip to Philly:  Longwood Gardens, Geno's and Pat's Philly Cheesesteaks, Battleship New Jersey, The City Tavern, and the Franklin Institute. 

Thank Goodness...

Thank goodness for being spoiled by my family today with a delicious dinner (Garlic Chicken Pasta, Braided Bread, and Chocolate Cupcakes with PB Frosting), no cleaning, and a long Mother's Day walk...

because apparently I needed a little rest.   

(By the way, this photo was NOT staged and I actually was sound asleep. Cami snapped several more pictures  before I finally woke up and confiscated the camera.)





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Zombies in the White House?

Not to get too political here on the blog or anything, but I couldn't resist sharing this video of one our favorite local newscasters delivering some pretty earth shattering news about President Obama:

I'm somewhat surprised that President Obama didn't take the opportunity to resign,  given that I assume he has somewhat diminished decision making skills now that he's dead, but I am glad that at least he was considerate enough to let the American people know. 


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Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in the Pouring Rain

I'm getting really bored of posting about our Philadelphia trip and can't even imagine how all of you blog readers feel about my endless travelogues, but, for the sake of good record keeping, I really don't want to leave any parts of it out.

  This was our last day in Philly and we finally got the pouring rain that had been predicted for the day before. 

Luckily we came prepared with rain gear and cute smiles. 

Here we are posing in front of Independence Hall.  Spencer decided that if he had to subject himself to pictures, he may as well have fun with it. 

Spencer had come on a school field trip to Philly in 5th grade, but they ended up running out of time and the only glimpse they got of the Liberty Bell was through the windows on the bus driving by.

We had to wait in line to get in, but were really excited to see the Liberty Bell up close. 

Outside Ellie was eager to take advantage of some 1-2-3-JUMPS with Daddy and Spencer. 

I love, love, love this picture of my sweet handsome hunny!  He was just smiling down at one of the kids, but I think this picture captures his gentle manliness just perfectly! 

Posing in front of a statue of George Washington..

We thought that  this plaque was cool and a couple of the kids (including me) took glee in standing on it, so that we could say that we've stood in the same spot as Abraham Lincoln. 

And here's a little glimpse of Independence Hall--the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution adopted.  It was a beautiful building and our tour guide was fun and animated, which made being there all the more interesting! 

Now I wish I could say that this was my last Philadelphian post in the series, but I've got one more before I'm finally done.   While you're yawning and waiting for me to post something more interesting again, go over to Recipe Shoebox and check out my attempt to make food jokes.    Don't worry..I'm keeping my day job.  :)



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A Few Things...

that you may or may not know about me: 

1.  I am prejudiced against dark meats and only eat them when necessary...like when Glen gets a sudden hankering for meatloaf and whips us up a batch for Sunday dinner.  (Yeah, yeah.  Don't worry the list gets better.   I just had to throw in this picture of me smirking at Glen's meatloaf.)

2.  I am of the personal opinion that Paula Abdul had some of the best get-up-and-dance music ever written.  I literally cannot help myself from grooving out when I hear it.   (You should test it sometime, by blasting "Straight Up" next time I'm in the room with you.  I promise you'll either be entertained (or scarred for life)). 

3.  I'm very risk averse....so risk averse that even straying very far from a recipe is stressful for me.  (I've been known to give up on dinner plans just because we're missing one ingredient, but lately I've been wanting to be a little more creative in the kitchen.)

4.  I think Irish dancing is  really, really, really cool and if I had any sense of rhythm at all I would go for my second career as an Irish clogger.  (I think "Lara--ye sassy Irish Lassie"  has a nice ring to it, don't you?) 

5.  I find two-year-olds to be extremely cute and fun to be around and I even think they're cute when they're grumpy.     Seriously.    (grumpy pre-teen girls are a whole other matter though)




 

Visit with an Old Friend and Valley Forge

As a teenager, Tammy was one of those cool girls I had long admired from a far-flung ward in my home stake (Anoka).  We got to know each other when we ended up hosting her and some other YW from her ward overnight for a stake activity (that may or may not have included some Dad sanctioned toilet papering escapades). She was friendly and fun and I enjoyed interacting with her at subsequent stake events.   

After high school we both went our separate ways....Tammy to Ricks and me to BYU.  Then a couple years later, I had arranged to live in Alta Apartments with some friends from my freshman year and we had one final space still open in our apartment.  We didn't know anyone else who needed a place, so we left it up to management to fill the last slot.   Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be my long-lost friend from back home...Tammy!  She had just transferred to BYU and somehow ended up in our apartment.  We were only roomies for a semester, since she was already engaged to her sweetheart by the time we lived together, but it was a fun semester reconnecting with her and getting to know her even better. 

Over the years we've kept up with each other via the wonderful tradition of once-yearly Christmas cards.   Through Christmas cards (and more recently Facebook) I discovered that Tammy and her family had recently relocated to the Philadelphia area.  So it was that when we started planning our recent weekend trip, that I made sure that we carved out a little time to meet with her and her cute family! 

Now it is a well-known fact that I bring my camera with me just about everywhere---usually lugged over my shoulder like a purse.  Too bad, with all the lugging that I do,  that I tend to forget to take pictures when it matters most.  For instance, when family comes to town.  I take it with me everywhere and rarely use it.  Part of me doesn't want to subject others to the same paparazzi style picture taking that I subject my own family to and the other part of me just plain forgets in the hubbub of being social. 

And that is also exactly what happened during my visit with Tammy.   I made sure that my camera was right by my side, so I could snap pictures of our teens being social with each other at one table and our little ones being social at the other table, but unfortunately, right by my side, is exactly where my camera stayed during the entire visit until right at the very end. 

Here she is with her sweet little Olivia right as we were walking out the door.... 

And this is us as we're already out the door and our families are waiting for us (nine kids between the two of us).  It was great to catch up with her  and even better to find her healthy, happy, and with a beautiful family! 

After our lunch visit, we went off, with a borrowed audio tour CD,  for a driving tour of Valley Forge which happened to be very near Tammy's home...

It was very similar to Gettysburg tours we'd taken, where you start off at a visitors' center, then drive around while listening to a CD explaining the sites as you go...

We were totally in love with the picturesqueness of the area, like this quaint covered bridge and the stunning hills and trees.

We also very much enjoyed learning more about the experiences George Washington and his army faced while camping there, in Valley Forge. It really reiterated to me  that the formation of our country was nothing other than an inspired event.  There is no other way to explain the overwhelming odds our little untrained and underpaid American army  overcame in defeating the British.  Despite the ugliness of modern-day politics, it helped remind me how truly blessed we are to live in a land based on the principles of freedom and liberty. 

Sorry, but all this philosophizing is making me want to break out into song...

 

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Real Deal Philadelphian Phood

One of the parts of coming to Philadelphia that we were most excited about, was the FOOD!  I know that this pronouncement is probably somewhat of a shocker since you all know what a small part food plays in my life, but we just couldn't wait to see what all the fuss was about.  First on our list was trying out some of the world-famous Philly Cheesesteaks. 

We had several restaurants  recommended  to us, but in the end decided that Spataro's in the Reading Terminal Market was where we wanted to try. 

It was a rather slow process ordering several sandwiches, since they make each one of them fresh right in front of you....

In the end, it turned out to be a gloriously tasty hunk of beefy sandwich....

I still prefer my poultry dishes, but it was unanimously agreed that it was pretty darn excellent for something made with cow....

Afterward, we stopped at the Flying Monkey (also in the Reading Terminal Market) and got us some fresh cupcakes.  They were declared "better-than-average" by us cupcake snobs (Cami and me), but were scarfed down in short enough time, that I would declare them worth another try on another visit. 

The other place we had to stop while we were there was Ruby's Diner.  Glen and Spencer had been taken there by some friends after a BYU football pilgrimage a couple of years ago and Spencer just couldn't stop raving about how they had the best hamburgers AND milkshakes that he'd EVER eaten in his entire life. 

Once again, for something made of beef, I found them pretty enjoyable.  (better than Five Guys, for sure!)

I even stopped on the way and bought some Lact-Aid pills, so that I could indulge in the legendary milkshakes (of which I took no pictures) without subjecting my family to the unpleasant, but unnamed, consequences that milkshakes usually inflict upon their poor lactose intolerant mama....

Ellie was thrilled when she saw her favorite meal of Mac & Cheese was on the menu....

And that, pretty much, is a glimpse at  how we ate for three straight days...

Normally we would declare it time for a crash diet of salads and smoothies, but in this case we got home just in time for the indulgences of Easter and a week with TWO family birthdays and all its accompanying treats, which is why the scale is being avoided for a little while! 

Coming soon....a visit with a long-lost friend and the birthday week. 



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