Christmas in Philly

There are things in life that I really want to like, but I just can't get there. Goat cheese is one of them, I've tried it so many times, no dice. Running, I so wish I liked to run, I just don't. And going into the city. I really want to like going into the city. I wish I could sit and tell you about all of our crazy adventures in Center City Philly, but I can't. I avoid the city, I can't stand how hard it is to park, I don't like rubbing shoulders with a million different people, and I'm a wreck behind the wheel, the roads are so narrow!

But, in the spirit of Christmas, and being that this might be our one and only Christmas here, we had to venture in and see how they celebrate Philly style. Once we were parked we had a great time! We walked through Christmas village, where they play great live music and sell all sorts of fun stuff, a lot of it of a European nature. We warmed our bellies with hot chocolate, and checked out the lights show at Macy's. This Macy's was awesome, and HUGE. On youtube they had shown a flash mob of the Halleluiah chorus that had just recently happened there. I would have LOVED to have seen it in person!

I still don't see myself running to the city every chance I get, but we did have a great time. It definitely helped to get us in the Christmas spirit!






I was really excited when I saw this thing. I don't know what it's called, but when you light candles under it, it makes the top fan spin. We had one growing up and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Bridge Walk

I've known about the bridge walk for a while now, but this time I was finally able to do it! Every fall there is a 10K on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge that goes from Philly to Camden NJ. I drive this bridge all the time, so I thought it would be so cool to cross it on foot. Since I wasn't quite ready to run a 10K, the walk was just perfect. It was a very cool experience, there were a TON of people there, and Bann was a great walking partner.

O Christmas Tree...

Since this will be our first year here in Philly, we thought we'd go all out with our decorations, including a tree, we haven't had a tree in years! It was so much fun pulling out all of our stockings and decorations that we've been collecting, I forgot that we'd had a lot of them. Glenn insists on a real tree, so we found a beautiful one that is perfect, except for the fact that it doesn't put off any smell at all! Oh well, I'll just have to get a candle.

The kids had a blast decorating it, it was funny to watch them, it seemed that the majority of the decorations ended up on the same five branches. They didn't quite get the concept of spacing, but it was dang cute anyway. I love our tree!

Our Week with the Greens!

It's a real treat to have family with us during Thanksgiving while living out here in Philly. We've been looking forward to having Glenn's parents, sisters and brother Shad with us for a while now and we had a wonderful time!

Since Jayda still had school and I was so busy in the kitchen, I wasn't able to come along with them every day, but they were able to go into the city, and see Valley Forge. The day I did go along we checked out Kitchen Kettle (never get sick of that place!), had lunch at the Smorgasbord, and rode the tour at Hershey. We also drove through the Hershey Sweet Lights Tour which is a fun two miles of Christmas Lights, including a Christmas forest. It was no Temple Square or Longwood Garden, but it was still a lot of fun.

The day before Thanksgiving was Glenn's birthday, which was great to celebrate with Glenn's family in town. He is now one year away from being thirty! I love this guy so dang much, it's hard to believe that we're about to enter a new decade together.

Thanksgiving day was a blast for me. I woke up, put the apron on and got busy making everything from the turkey to the stuffing, to the best brussel sprouts I've ever had. The rest of the family pitched in with their really yummy desserts. A very satisfying meal indeed!

The rest of the time was spent hanging out, playing games, eating more great food and watching a lot of Glee, a show that I am currently and utterly obsessed with. We had a wonderful time! Enjoy the pictures, they're totally out of order, but I'm sure you can figure it out :)

Please Touch Museum

It's weird not having Jayda around during the day anymore, I miss her. But I have also really enjoyed my time with my little buddy. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to send him off to school too!

For playgroup I got hooked up with some free passes to the Please Touch Museum, which is a real treat because it's an awesome museum that's not exactly cheap to get in to. Sky and I had a lot of fun. And since it was just the two of us, I was able to relax and let him go and play with whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted. If we go back, we are going to go earlier in the day because the poor kid did not want to leave! It's stuff like this that makes me happy to live in Philly.

Kennett Square

About a month ago Glenn and I really needed to take a day off and get out of the city for a while. It was hard to decide where to go, we really wanted to try something new, but after two years of living here, we've already seen a lot of the surrounding areas. Finally we remembered Kennett Square, where Longwood Gardens is. Kennett Square is pretty historical and has a cute touristy shops and restaurants to check out. We got lunch at a really cute and yummy local pub, shopped around for a while, and then spent the rest of our time at their park. It had a playground, a few duck ponds, and lot of walking trails. The weather was cool but nice and it felt SO good to get away for a day. Sometimes it's the best way to clear your head!

Halloween Party at the Bostons

The day before Halloween we spent the evening partying over at the Bostons. The McGowans, Drakes, Ringers, Blandons and Petersons were there. We ate all sorts of spooky food, played fun games, and danced to scary music. It's so nice to be out here with so many awesome people. We had a lot of fun!