Father and Son Camp Out

The turquoise rental all packed and ready for camping

Jude and Lane went on their first Father/Son camp out on Friday night. I would have never thought that Lane could go at 3, but I loved the idea. Lane was so excited. We packed up his Batman backpack with pajamas and water and his bear and extra socks and underwear and clothes for tomorrow. He was carrying it around all excited.

It was really weird having them both gone all night. I kept wondering how things were going--I couldn't help but worry a little. It was so quiet with just me and Ivy in the house. We had the missionaries over with one of our neighbors so we couldn't do much with our girls night, but we had a really good talk and just spent time together. It was really nice to have some time with just me and Ivy. Life gets crazy and we needed that.

I finally got a hold of Jude the next day on their way home, and I asked if they had fun. Jude said, "Uh..it depends what you call fun. I mean, yeah, Lane had a great time." He said that there wasn't much for the little boys to do so they just tackled each other and it was hard to have to watch him every second. I'm sure it was a lot of work for Jude, but what a great memory. It didn't help that Jude didn't think to bring a pillow for his whiplashed neck or a change of clothes or anything to sleep on. He came home pretty sore and tired, but he said it was worth it.

Lane and Shane

Lane doing what he does best

Cousins

Andy and Lane

Edie and Ivy

Jack and Ivy

My sister, Alyson and her family came 2 days after Bryan left. We love having company. We went to the Please Touch Museum and to the New Jersey shore. We took them to Germantown and ate dinner and let the kids play at the castle park. We saw Historic Philadelphia--Liberty Bell and all of that and to Jim's Steaks. We've been dying to go there because it is supposed to be the best place in Philadelphia to get a Philly Cheesesteak. It's even in the book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, so we had to go before we move. But every time we go the line is out the door and around the corner and the people in it have been waiting over an hour. We went for lunch at 11:30 on a Tuesday and we hardly had to wait at all. It was great. I liked it much better than Geno's or Pat's which are also famous. Jonny got his cheesesteak true Philly style with wiz (cheese wiz. discusting, right?). It was actually really good.

Carriage ride
Jonny (sporting his NY aviators) Andy, Lane, Edie, Jack, and Al

Andy and Lane (with tough guy pose)

Outside Liberty Bell
(more sweet posing- isn't he cool???)

On Saturday we got a babysitter and the four of us went to New York City. We decided to pay the money and do a city bus tour. It was totally worth it. We didn't have a lot of time and I can't walk around all day so it was the perfect solution. We saw the whole city. You can get off whenever and wherever you want and a bus comes every 10 minutes to pick you up. It was perfect. We got off and went to the top of the Empire State Building, and did some back room purse shopping on Canal Street. We all got sweet aviators and some stuff for the kids.

Time Square

Al and Jonny on the bus

Empire State Building

Jude and me sporting our new matching aviators. cute

We had reservations at Beco which is in the Theater District. I think they called that part of the street Restaurant Row? It was a really cute part of the city. We saw Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theater. It is the #2 ranked show (after Wicked, of course, which we've already seen) and was nominated for 15 awards or something-- including best musical. How could we go wrong, right? It was good, don't get me wrong, parts of it were absolutely amazing, but there was so much bad language. Little kids saying the F word all the time and stuff like that which was not cool. There was even some boy on boy kissing-- a bit disturbing. We read the reviews for content and they said there was some language, but that the show was appropriate for a 9 year old. Well anyway I don't think I would recommend it, but I'm still glad we went. The dancing was amazing. It made me want to get Ivy into a ballet class.

Waiting for our table at Beco before the show

At Billy Elliot
Matching specs again and one very large arm


Me and Al after the show

The show got over and we rushed out of there to get on the subway back to the ferry. We got there at 11:37 and the ferry had just left at 11:30. The next ferry wasn't until 12:30. It sucked!! That put us home at 2:30. Our poor babysitter! Prairie you are a saint!

Staten Island Ferry

Uncle Bryan Comes to Philly

Despite the car wreck we were still able to do a few things while my brother, Bryan, was here. We saw Liberty Bell again and this time we did a carriage ride through Historic Downtown Philadelphia and Society Hill. I don't think it was Bryan's first choice, but I just can't walk around a lot right now with 30 extra lbs attached to my butt. (Yes, 30 extra pounds--sick, I know.) Our tour guide was pretty lame, I have to admit. He had the worst grammar and we couldn't understand most of what he said, but it was worth it for me to not have to haul my largeness through town.


We went to Valley Forge for the first time. It was beautiful! We're starting to remember why we loved it here--before winter set in, that is. We spent what little time we had in the Welcome Center before they closed and then we did a CD car tour of the park.

Deer everywhere throughout the park

We also went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was great. We left Lane with a friend and took Ivy. She loved it! She has good taste, too. Her favorite paintings were by Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Degas.

Here we are on the Rocky steps outside the museum

Jude giving Rocky the old 1 - 2

Jude and Bryan also went to New York for the day. All they had was a camera phone. They rode bikes through Central Park, saw the world trade center, Rockafeller Center, and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff.

Jude in front of St. Jude

Bryan on the Staten Island Ferry

Hospitalized Again?

Jude got in a car wreck on Thursday. I know what you're thinking...but it actually wasn't his fault. He was on his way to work when the person in front of him stopped quickly to let another car turn. Jude stopped in time, but the person behind him slammed right into him and propelled him into the car in front of him. Jude got whiplash pretty bad, but he's okay. The Jetta is totaled. Some pretty bad luck for poor Jude the last couple of weeks. It was just 4 weeks ago that he was at the hospital for the appendix. Our friend (and hometeacher), Clark, suggested that Jude just stay home for a while. (He's the one who came and mowed the lawn for us and brought us dinner after the appendectomy). What's next, Jude? Swine flu? While waiting for the x-rays we were stressing about injuries that could affect his insurability as a dentist and all sorts of nightmares. Luckily he's going to be just fine--sore and desperately trying to get a massage out of me--but fine.