Philadelphia Trip - Part One

Daniel and I just got back from a trip to Philadelphia - completing our third annual trip with just the two of us and no kids. I love this tradition.  The first year we went to New Orleans, and last year we went to Boston.  We flew my mom out to watch the kids (which they loved). 

It was fun to do Philly right after Boston because of the historical timeline - after things got going with the revolution in Boston (Paul Revere, Lexington & Concord, etc.) all the action moved to Philadelphia (Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc.). 

(Embarrassingly, I had not remembered any of this before these two trips.  I know I learned it at one point, but it turns out I have not retained any of my high school education.  Tristan (3rd grade) might actually know more than I do - when we told him we were going to Philadelphia, he said, "Oh, that was the nation's first capital.")

Anyway, because of all the historical significance of Philadelphia, we decided to spend the whole first day just walking around the Old City and hitting all of the historical sites.

Our hotel was in downtown Philadelphia, and just a short walk away from the Old City.  We started out by going to the Philadelphia Mint to see how coins are made.  It's an actual working mint (they can make up to a million coins in 30 minutes), but they have it set up so you can take a tour through the building and look down and see all the coins getting made.  It was pretty cool.  I think they should give away a brand new penny as a little souvenir to everyone who goes through.  I wonder how much that would cost them?  Or they could charge a nickel for a brand new penny, and then they'd make money!  I would have paid, and I don't even like pennies - I just have never seen pennies so clean and shiny.  We weren't allowed to take pictures, though.

After going through the Mint, we walked to the Christ Church burial ground, where Benjamin Franklin and four other signers of the Declaration of Independence were buried.  We also stopped by the Betsy Ross house, where the first flag was made.

Then we walked down Elfreth's Alley, one of the oldest residential streets in America.  It's been around since the 1700s, and people still live there.  We thought it would be a fun little place to live.  Probably not room for 5 (soon to be 6) kids, though.

We visited the Christ Church, where both Benjamin Franklin and George Washington attended church.  Here's Daniel sitting in the exact pew that they used.  I wish our church had pews like this - I can easily picture our little family sitting reverently (or playing on the floor) in there.  One weird thing about this church is that they buried people right inside - I guess the floor used to be gravel, and they would just dig it up, bury someone, and cover it all up.  You couldn't walk down the aisle without stepping on someone's grave.  I don't know if that's worth the fancy pews.

Then we walked down to Penn's Landing on the Delaware River.  Right across the river is New Jersey.  We were a little worn out from all our walking.

At lunch we went to the famous Franklin Fountain for ice-cream, where Man vs. Food visited in the Philadelpha episode (I know his name is really Adam Richman, but at our house he is just called "Man versus Food".  Has anyone else even seen that show?).  We even ordered one of the exact dishes that he got - the Franklin Mint.  It was awesome.

Here's me in front of Franklin Court, where Benjamin Frankln's house was.  I'd like to learn more about him someday - from what we saw in Philadelphia, he seems like a fascinating guy.

One of the neatest places we visited on the first day was Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.  We got to go inside and see the actual room, and learn more about the whole process (again, I know I've learned all this before, but it seemed much more exciting and important this time around - probably a combination of being at the actual locations and also not being a teenager anymore).

After that we walked over to see the Liberty Bell.  I couldn't help but think of the movie National Treasure, and it was making me laugh because Nicolas Cage's character is supposed to be some major history wiz, and he's looking for a clue or something at the Liberty Bell, and he climbs to the top of Independence Hall (where it used to be), and then acts like because he's such a historical genius he suddenly remembers the little known fact that the actual Liberty Bell is no longer being used, and in fact is across the street.  It was just funny, because it is so obvious to any tourist in Philadelphia where the Liberty Bell is, becaue they have a big museum specifically for it, with signs, etc. leading right to it.  So you can't really miss it.  C'mon, Nicolas Cage.

By then we were pretty much done with the historical stuff, so we walked down to the other side of Philly, by City Hall.  We spotted the love statue and hung out by the fountain for a little while.

For dinner we went to Reading Terminal Market, a huge indoor marketplace right by our hotel.  I love markets!  Daniel tried out the pork sandwich at DiNic's (another Man v. Food recommended stop).  We took a picture so the kids could see how cool we were being by hitting all the Man v. Food places. 

That evening we just walked around Philly, trying to see if there was anything to do.  We noticed that most places closed really early, so we're not really sure what people do at night there.  It seemed like a lot of people were going out to restaurants for late dinners, but we had already eaten.  We were pretty tired from all our walking, though, so we didn't mind not staying up too late.  It was a good first day.

Noah's Ark: The Opera

Last night Tristan and Oliver both had baseball games, so Daniel was gone with them and I was at home with the younger three.

I gave them all baths, and then sent Rachel and Elizabeth upstairs with the standard "brush teeth, go to the bathroom, get in jammies, and get in bed with a book" instructions. I told them as soon as I read to Henry and got him to bed, I would come upstairs and read to them (I used to just read to them all together, but now I like to do it separately so I can read chapter books to the girls, and dinosaur/dump truck books to Henry. Plus, I like spending reading time with the girls without Henry climbing all over and demanding everyone's attention. And Henry loves his own special time with me, so everyone wins.)

Anyway, after Henry was in bed, I went upstairs, expecting to find the girls in their separate beds - Rachel with a Boxcar children book, and Lizza with a stack of picture books - but instead, I saw that they were both up in Rachel's bed. Rachel was reading a big Noah's Ark board book aloud to Elizabeth. It was a cute little scene, but not one that would have seemed that out of the ordinary except that Rachel was singing the whole book, instead of reading it.

I went back downstairs, grabbed my camera, and snuck back into their room to take a picture, but when I saw that the singing was still going strong, I decided to start recording it. I didn't think I'd be able to record very much (I thought either my memory card would get full or Rachel would notice me and stop), but I got at least 4 minutes of quality sing-reading. She even finished the book and had started over before she noticed me (Lizza sat up and saw me about halfway through, but to her credit, she just laid right back down and didn't say a word).

Here's the full four minutes and twenty seconds of it. Some parts might not make sense until you read the explanations below the clip:

I loved it when they would stop to chat every once in a while.

At minute 1:07, Elizabeth wanted to try making a fancy little noise whenever it was time to turn the page.

E: Rach, when I say "ding-dong" that means stop. "DING-DONG! tongue-click".

R: No, cause. . . No, cause that's kind of boring.

E (next time it's time to turn the page): "tongue click"

At minute 2:03, Lizza took a moment to point out the picture of all the houses and trees under water (she loves that page).

E: Rachel - the houses are under there. And the trees.

R: Um-hmm.

E: Because them didn't obey!

And my favorite was on the last page (minute 3:06), after Noah and his family found land (you can see the rainbow picture briefly). I noticed that the way Rachel sang some of the lines didn't make sense, like she was skipping words or something (" Noah and his family gave thanks to ___ and ___ made a rainbow in the sky.") I couldn't figure out why, but then she stopped to explain to Lizza, and it all became clear.

R: Guess why I didn't say those? (pointing to some of the words)

E: Why?

R: We're not supposed to say it. (I knew as soon as I heard this that she had been skipping the word "God" any time it showed up in the book. I had to try so hard not to laugh out loud!!)

E: But one time I said it.*

R: When?

R (not waiting for an answer): Should I read it again?!

*This is true. Lizza says "oh, my gosh" a lot, and it wasn't always clear exactly how she was ending that phrase, so we had a little talk about not taking the name of the Lord in vain, and I guess Rachel took it very seriously.

I also love the last 20 seconds or so of the clip -Rachel continues skipping any mention of God ("____ told Noah to build an ark"), and then dabbles in a little bit of opera before finally noticing me (because I climbed up on their bed).

Her opera plus shocked expression at the end just kill me. I love this girl.

March Madness

I know it's not March anymore, and also, this post isn't even about basketball (although it was fun to watch BYU advance to a second game), but our March was pretty crazy, and "March Madness" sounded better than "Stuff we did in March", which is what I had first.

I've kind of been out of the blogging world for awhile.  Henry and I went out of town at the beginning of April for my little brother's wedding, so while I'm waiting to get pictures back from people I decided to get caught up and post pictures from March.  I think I'm getting tired of blogging, because I feel like all I do is post pictures now.  I don't know if it's because I've been extra busy, or just because I'm pregnant with #6 and have no extra energy for writing funny stuff down (how's that for a sneaky announcement?  13 weeks today!).

So for now, pictures is all I've got. 

Rachel has fallen in love with chapter books, and is now on her fifth Boxcar Children book.  I love those books. 

Oliver working on his balance.  He can count to 100 while standing on Daniel's hands.

A good napping spot for Henry.

When he's not napping in the cupboard, one of his favorite things to do is look up sharks and helicoptors online.  He used to just look at pictures, but then he discovered youtube (motorcycle stunts! shark attacks! helicoptors flying around and around in circles!).  I never thought I'd have to put a limit to my 1-year old's computer use.  Also, he picked that outfit out himself, in case you were wondering.  He doesn't usually care what he wears, but that vest has dogs on it, and Henry insisted.  He walked around all day patting his vest and proclaiming "Like it!  Like it!"

Baseball season started.  This might be another reason why things have been busy.

Ollie and Henry coloring together.  Henry loves it when he can get one of the older kids to draw him a tiger/dinosaur/helicoptor/big truck to color in.  He is lucky to have lots of nice older siblings.  I'm lucky that he has lots of nice older siblings, too - they take such good care of him.

The "tackle Daniel as soon as he gets home from work" game.  You can't see him, but Oliver is under that pile, too.

Henry climbs everything.  One time I got a phone call and the number on my caller ID showed my cell-phone.  I couldn't figure out how that could be right (I thought maybe Daniel had taken my phone to work on accident), but when I answered I heard giggling that sounded suspiciously like Henry.  He had somehow climbed up onto the counter and then managed to call the house from my cell-phone that was charging there.  He was so proud of himself. 

The main reason March was crazy was because we finally put together/decorated the kids' bedrooms upstairs.  Even though we've lived here almost 4 years now, I'd never done anything up there, and they were pretty bad - no bedspreads, dressers, curtains, pictures, etc., and Lizza was still in a crib and Rachel was in a little tiny toddler bed.  Embarrassing!  I guess the nice thing about how bad the rooms were before is that after the big changes (a bunkbed for the girls, and a new bunkbed for the boys, plus comforters, new pillows, and dressers) I only had to add a few finishing touches, and they were thilled.

I loved these pictures that I found to go above the girls' dressers.

Elizabeth loves her new bed!

I don't have any final pictures of the boys' room from after it was all done (I still have to move some pictures around), but here are some "during" pictures:

Henry loves the little bed we moved into Tristan and Oliver's room for him (I probably shouldn't even admit that this is the little bed Rachel has been sleeping on).  I haven't let Henry move up to sleep with the boys yet, so he's still downstairs with us now, but the plan is maybe sometime this summer.  We'll see how that goes. 

I hung some animal prints above it and added a Noah's ark quilt - he loves sitting in there and naming all the animals. 

I also hung some of my James Christensen prints in their room (I need to lower the one on the left - I just haven't gotten around to it yet -can you see why these rooms took so long to get done?). 

A glimpse of the boys' new bed and comforters.  Also, I moved my giraffe that is usually downstairs on my mantle up to their room, because it fit with their other stuff.  It might just be a temporary visit, though, because I kind of miss having it downstairs (Anita and Gretchen - do you remember when I got that?). 

Henry helping himself to an extra bowl of cereal after I accidentally left the breakfast out.

Oliver and Henry enjoying some Planet Earth.  The "animal movies", as he calls them, have become Henry's favorites.  He is always trying to re-enact the "crocodile getting the wildebeest" and the "shark getting the seal" scenes.

Lizza tucking in some of her magnet dolls for a good night's sleep.  Their outfits for the next day have been carefully chosen and set up in their little stands.

Oliver reading to Henry.  Henry loves being read to!  Once again, it's nice to have such nice older siblings.

So, that was pretty much our March (plus the St. Patrick's day fun from the post before). 

This was probably the most randomly illustrated pregnancy announcement ever.

St. Patrick's Day fun

I never really give much thought to St. Patrick's Day, so I kind of forgot about it last week until I heard the kids talking about it a few days before.  They were so excited!  Oliver and Rachel were especially sure that it was going to be the best holiday ever - I think Ollie had hyped it up quite a bit to Rachel.  I overheard him telling her that "It is just SO awesome!" and "Dad doesn't even have to go to work!!"  They were both a little sad when I told them this wasn't true.  Good thing it was Spring Break last week - I think Ollie would have been devastated to find out that there was still school on such an important holiday.

Anyway, the kids were spending all day making elaborate St. Patrick's day decorations and cards and pictures, and Rachel kept trying to find out more details about the big day - "Like, Mom - so what do we actually get to DO on St. Patrick's Day?", so I decided I should at least make it a little fun for them. 

Luckily, even with such high expectations, they were pretty easy to please - I bought some Apple Jacks, limeade, green apples, and green jello to eat that day and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Then Daniel called around lunchtime and asked if we all wanted to go to lunch with him, so I told the kids we were going to go on a really special St. Patrick's Day outing with Dad (as if it was part of the plan, of course).

Then after lunch we let the kids play around on a playground right by the restaurant, which they thought was an extra fun holiday activity. 

Here they all are in their various green outfits that they had picked out to wear:

Later that afternoon I printed up a bunch of little papers with rainbows and a pot of gold on them, and I wrote little treasure hunt clues on the back and then hid them all over the house.  The kids loved figuring out all the clues and running all over the place in search of the treasure, which turned out to be a pot of gold (butterscotch candies) hidden in Lizza's bed.

Here they are at the end of the hunt.  I don't know what Rachel is doing in this picture.

Henry loved the treats, but he thinks each individual candy is called a pot of gold, so he has been asking me for "more pot of golds!" all week. 

January and February pictures

JANUARY

Major lego battle on New Years Day (major = it involved moving the whole kitchen table out of the kitchen):

Fancy Rachel.  I bought this wig from the Halloween clearance stuff at Wal-Mart for 50 cents, and Rachel wore it straight for one week until it started shedding hair everywhere and I threw it away.  It was a sad day.  She was so proud of her long blond hair:

Henry's favorite spot in the kitchen.  He will sit there forever just looking out the window at our neighbor's dog.  Free entertainment!  Neighbors, please let your dog outside more often.

Tristan helping Rachel practice her kung-fu moves.  I guess that is a kung-fu outfit?

Henry at the park:

Chef Lizza.  She and Rachel are always whipping up gourmet treats for me.

Henry has recently decided he is one of the big kids.  He wants to do everything with them now.

I love my little readers:

FEBRUARY

Proof that Henry has older sisters:

Proof that Henry has older brothers:

Proof that Henry's older sisters also have older brothers:

Rachel pretending she is a grown-up who is "really rich" because she has a horse and two cars.  She said the horse is for her husband to ride to work (lucky him!), one car is for her to drive to the store "and stuff", and the other car is for her teenagers to drive to college.  Dream on, Rachel.

 

Rachel and Lizza in some sort of elaborate cave/hide-out/sunbathing dwelling they created (They said the part they're sitting on now is for resting in the sun).  And Rachel is pretending to put stitches in her leg for some reason. Seriously, every time she went and sat in that spot, she would say, "Look, Mom, this little stool is perfect for me to rest my feet on while I stitch up my leg", and she would stitch away.  Where did she get that idea?  I can't figure it out.  I love the look of concern on Lizza's face. 

A friendly princess and a Snow Queen.  Can you guess which one is which?

All the kids at Maudie's on our 10th anniversary.  We didn't have a babysitter, so the kids got to celebrate with us. 

Riding horses.  Henry got this little rocking horse for Christmas, and Rachel has claimed it as her own.  No rocking in place for her, though - she gallops this thing all over the house. 

At least she gives rides, though:

And Lizza makes do with a rocker with a stick horse stuck in it.  She's a good sport.  And surprisingly fast on it.

Henry broke the bottom out of Rachel's toy cradle, climbed in, and tucked himself in with a little doll blanket.  He was very proud of himself.  I love his feet sticking out the end. 

Playing princesses.  It was so funny to watch these two play together.  Lizza was talking in a nice princess voice and having her princesses dance and kiss and find good spots in the castle to take naps.  Henry was growling and throwing the princesses from the top of the castle and then he'd dramatically fall to the floor and act like he'd been shot or something and then he'd repeat the whole thing. 

At the park: