Please Touch Museum in Philly

We're really lucky that Chris gets a 4 day weekend this weekend (Memorial Day weekend)!  And we're even more lucky that when we realized that 5 days ago, we were able to take advantage of a "book 2 nights get 1 free" deal at a hotel in Philadelphia (well, technically the hotel is across the river in Jersey), and an awesome deal season passes to Sesame Place (which we were already planning to purchase at full price!).  So we quickly booked it all, and are up in Philadelphia/Jersey for the long weekend!

The first thing we did when we arrived in Philly on Friday was go to the Please Touch Museum.  It was a really awesome Children's Museum with a variety of hands-on exhibits.  We really liked it.  The best part was if you had a military ID,  you can get yourself and one other person in for free. So our whole family was free! That was a fun surprise!

My kids are obsessed with hangers - so this was a perfect activity for them!  Ethan loved putting them up while Emily took them all down.


There were tons of busses, trains, trolleys, etc for the kids to play on!  Ethan loved the bus.


What a handsome mailman he is!


There was a room with lots of shoes and you could measure your feet!  Emily loved the foot measuring tool


"Hey mom - I can't quite figure out how this thing works"


I wish she enjoyed vacuuming this much at home!


There was a great Alice in Wonderland exhibit.  Here is Emily "painting the roses red"


A little croquet, Alice-in-Wonderland-style.


The awesome music room (jungle themed)


She looks like such a big girl to me here!


Water play tables




Tickling the ivories


Feeding daddy at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party


Checking out the hospital room!


Giving her baby an MRI


And next an xray!

A couple weekends ago we went to the Piney Orchard street festival.  There were lots of food and craft vendors, along with face painting, a bouncy castle, rock wall climbing and live music! We had such a great time.  It was walking distance from our house, and Emily could see the top of the bouncy castle from her bedroom window - made nap time interesting! 

Checking out the outfits by the fire truck


Climbing in the fire truck


First face painting! This was only half way through the bee...unfortunately the bee didn't last too long.  Emily scratched him off pretty quickly!


Saying Hi to Brandon in the bouncy castle.  Emily didn't stay in for very long - it was too hectic for her!


Dancing to the steel drums




Cuddles for her brother


Playing with the hay bales - she loved them.  More specifically - she loved pulling them apart :-/

Mother/Son Date night

We love our local Chick Fil A.  A couple weeks ago they had a "Mommy Son Date night'.

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to have eaten at Chick Fil A before, it's a fast food restaurant that serves only chicken and has excellent customer service, food quality, and commercials.

For our date night, we received a sunflower as soon as we walked into the restaurant and had our photos taken together.  We were taken to a table and our food was brought out to us as if we were dining in a "regular" restaurant.  There were "conversation starters" for moms and sons.  First our drinks came.  Then our chicken and sides.  Followed by desert.  It was such a fun night.  My friend Lisa and her son Brandon made it a double date!

Conversation starters


Lisa and Brandon


Ethan and I


Stealing mama's milkshake!


Buddies...Brandon trying to pull the table cloth off! (:Lisa stopped him in time).


Yummy brownies


Such a fun date night!  We ended it by letting the boys play on the toys ;).

Easter

It was so fun having family in town for Easter! Looking for eggs
 

We love chocolate sweets!
 
Riding the tram with Aunt Kara
 
She was in heaven
 
Easter loot
 
 
First camera lesson
 
Cheese!
 
Ethan checking out the camera
 
Goofy girl
 
Silly boy
 
He has such a sweet tooth!
 

And then we had more visitors!

Next, Grandma Susan, Aunt Kara and Brian all came to visit over Easter weekend. Emily convinced them to play candyland with her
 
 More port discovery
 
She is obsessed with sand boxes and sand tables
 
Ethan had to get in on the fun - throwing sand!
 
Practicing ballet with Grandma Susan