Cell Phone Pictures from Philadelphia

Here are a few pictures that I took with my cell phone while we were in Philadelphia.

Our first authentic Philly Cheesesteak:

City Hall in Downtown Philadelphia (I didn't realize what it was at time I took it - I got a little lost when I was exlporing):

Alex during the Iron Bowl:

He was a little nervous about the score:

Riding the rides at Sesame Place - he loved them and it was so nice to see the smiles on his face:

Alex, Larry, Elmo and Zoe:

So he saw another child's stroller and decided he liked it! He hopped on and was REALLY angry when I tried to take him off:

Headed back to the hotel after a LONG day at Sesame Place:

Watching a movie in the hotel room after his day at Sesame Place. He was loving on "bankie" and "dog" (yes, we are VERY creative with names around here):

The Liberty Bell (no, we don't know the man in the picture):

Alex running on the lawn outside of the building with the Liberty Bell:

This was our incredible bathtub in the hotel room. I might have fallen in love with it and it might be a requirement for our next house:

Day 3 in Philadelphia

Today, we decided that we wanted to explore the city before we left. We had a few places that we wanted to see (namely City Hall and the Liberty Bell). We bundled up and headed out to sight-see!

We explored City Hall first. It was such a beautiful building and I loved taking pictures of it.

After City Hall we headed to Reading Marketplace to get some brunch. We found an amazing crepe place, among all the other great looking vendors. Larry had a bacon, egg and swiss crepe and I had the berry cheesecake one. They were fantastic!

We headed towards the Liberty Bell after brunch. We were able to go in and see the Liberty Bell for free. I am so glad that while we were up here, we had the chance to see it. I really enjoy seeing things that were such a large part of our history. We got great pictures of the Liberty Bell, as well as Alex and Larry near it! Outside of the building that houses the Liberty Bell, there is a great lawn, so we let the kids loose and let them run around. I really got some good shots of Alex when he was running around – he is so photogenic when I am able to capture the candid shots! Austin was being super-photogenic, too! I love some of the pictures that I got of him!

We headed back to the hotel after tiring the kids out, gave Claudia back to her mom and left Philadelphia!

Despite the traffic that we hit on I-95 on our way home (adding an extra 2 hours to the trip), we had a great weekend. Philadelphia is a beautiful city and I wish we would have had another day to explore it!

Here are a BUNCH of pictures from our third day in Philadelphia. The first half are mostly of the buildings and the sights – after that are pictures of Alex (which I know is really what you come for)!

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(I will put captions on the pictures tomorrow...I'm too tired to do it tonight)

Sesame Place and Day 2 in Philadelphia

Since we moved up to Maryland, we had been talking about taking Alex to the theme park in Pennsylvania called Sesame Place. Sesame Place is an amusement park for the little ones with a theme of Sesame Street. They have quite a few “dry” rides, but there were a bunch of “wet” rides. Obviously since it is the end of November, all of the wet rides were closed! We met up with our friends, Matt and Stephanie and their kids, Bella and Austin.

All of the rides at Sesame Place are geared towards kids and Alex was able to ride all but the roller coaster. Surprisingly, he LOVED all the rides. His favorites were Elmo’s Teacups and the Big Bird Balloon Race (think Dumbo meets Teacups – it went in the air AND it spun around). He could not get enough of the spinning rides! They also had a large climbing area with cargo nets and tunnels that he really liked and an inflatable bouncy pad that he enjoyed. He had a great time on the carousel, but he wasn’t very hygienic on it. For some reason, he could not stop licking the pole! If you look at the first few pictures in the slideshow, you will notice that he has his tongue out and he is licking the pole. No matter how hard I tried (holding his head back, redirecting him and distracting him), he continued to go back to licking the pole. Yes, we realize our kid is a little special sometimes!

At the end of the day, we went to meet Elmo and Zoe inside of the toy store. At first, he was VERY timid around the characters. Last year when we went to Universal Studios at Christmastime, he was terrified of the characters, so we didn’t have much hope for this year! Elmo then asked Alex for a “high five”, which Alex loves to give, and then Alex started opening up to the characters. He would not stand next to the characters without Daddy holding him, but even with Daddy hanging around we still got a few cute pictures. Bella on the other hand was not afraid of the characters at all and ran up to them giving them hugs and talking to them – I got a few cute pictures of Bella with Elmo and Zoe. We also tried to have Alex meet Bert and Ernie, he was shy at first but a “high five” to Bert quickly got him to befriend him! We didn’t get any pictures with Bert and Ernie.

The kids probably could have stayed and played a little longer at Sesame Place, but the adults were worn out, so we left shortly after 3 pm. Definitely a long day, but well worth the $9.95 that we paid for admission.

Once we got back to the hotel, we met Matt and Stephanie downstairs in the lobby for the free wine hour that the hotel offered. After a glass (or two) of wine, we wrangled up the kids and got ready for dinner. We found that it was a little difficult finding a restaurant that was both kid-friendly and able to accommodate our large party. We finally settled on a local pizza place (that wasn’t that good) and followed it up with some frozen yogurt. We got back to our hotel and had great intentions to meet up with Matt and Stephanie for a little adult time once we got the kids in bed, but we quickly realized that we were pretty tired and wound up relaxing in our hotel rooms!

Here are a bunch of pictures from Sesame Place – enjoy!

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First Day in Philadelphia

We arrived in Philadelphia around 12:30 pm, got checking into our amazing hotel and set out in search of a Philly Cheesesteak for lunch. Lucky for us, the hotel staff recommended a place that was only a block away. We ate at a place called Jrs in downtown Philadelphia. Both Larry and I had a Cheesesteak with provolone cheese, Alex had a toasted cheese sandwich and we all split some fries. We were very impressed with our lunch and our “authentic” Philly Cheesesteak! We walked around a little bit after lunch and visited some of the stores around our hotel – The Children’s Place, a specialty toy boutique (it was so cute) and Coach (I had to point out a few purses for Larry for “ideas” for Christmas presents)! We headed back to the hotel so Larry could watch the Iron Bowl.

This year, as it is with most years, the Alabama vs. Auburn game really elevated Larry’s blood pressure. Alabama pulled out the win, but not without scaring Larry quite a few times. The final score was 26 to 21 and we couldn’t be happier…ROLL TIDE ROLL! Unfortunately this year, Alex was napping during most of the game (and I was out exploring the exciting streets of Philadelphia) so we didn’t get a picture of Alex and Larry all decked out in their Alabama gear! Next weekend is the SEC Championship game versus the Florida Gators, so I will be sure to take a picture of the boys in their finest Alabama attire! Who knows, maybe I will even show up in the pictures in my jersey, too.

Once the game was over, Aunt Claudia got to the hotel and we went to get something to eat for dinner. Another great dinner recommendation by the hotel staff led us to the Metropolitan Grill in downtown Philadelphia.

For those of you that don’t know, Claudia (Larry’s youngest sister) lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, which is about 45 minutes from Philadelphia. When we were on our way to Philadelphia, we asked Claudia if she would like to join us for the weekend – she said yes and her mom brought her to our hotel. We were happy that we got to see her and she was very excited to be able to spend some time with Alex (and us)!

We walked around a little bit after dinner and then headed back to the hotel room. After a long day of driving, walking around and the Iron Bowl, we were all pretty tired!

Off to Philadelphia...

We have a BUSY weekend planned. We are leaving this morning for Philadelphia.

Our plan is to be to our hotel in time for Larry, Alex and I to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn game (ROLL TIDE). After the game, we plan on getting a little sight-seeing in and hopefully having an authentic philly cheesesteak.

On Saturday, we are going to Sesame Place (http://www.sesameplace.com). It is a theme park devoted to just Sesame Street characters. It is also just for the little ones, so Alex will be able to ride all of the rides. We know that he will really enjoy it! After Sesame Place, we are going to walk around the area a little more.

On Sunday before we head back for Maryland, we are going to do a little more sight-seeing in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is a city that Larry, nor I have ever been to before, so any suggestions on things to do or places to visit are greatly appreciate it!

Oh, and no worries, we will definitely come back with plenty of pictures for everyone to see! We are hopeful that Alex isn't as afraid of the characters as he was last year at Universal Studios. We will see though :)

Hope everyone has a great, long weekend!