Day in Philly, Rehearsal & Dinner

This morning we had a couple of hours to go into the city and sight see a bit.

The Philadelphia Skyline

Independence Hall

The fam in front of Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell

Adeline and Grandma with a horse
Adeline loved all of the horses pulling the tourist carriages.
We had to save the memory :).

Adeline had her first ice cream cone - Strawberry, mmm!

Also today, of course, it being the night before the wedding, we had the rehearsal at the church followed by a dinner at a very fancy retirement home. A dear parishioner from the church where the groom, Aaron, is a priest treated us all to steak, salmon, wine and champagne. It was lovely!

Gathering, chatting, rehearsing, etc...

Grandma & Evelyn

Aunt Laura and Uncle Patrick

The Rehearsal Dinner

Beckie had the foresight to put us on the side of the room where there was some open space for the kids to run around and play a bit but be out of the way. I brought a couple of things to keep them occupied, and everything went very smoothly in that department! :)

Grandma loving her grand-girls

Late night. Tomorrow's the big day!

Road Trip!

This morning we left for our road trip to Philadelphia for Alan's sister Beckie's wedding. We planned for a 12-hour day and that's pretty close to what it ended up being, including stops and lots of traffic over that last hour or so. A lot of trees had fallen onto the highway in Pennsylvania due to a severe storm the night before, so the last little bit was pretty slow going!

We packed up the car using just about every eensy bit of space! My mom (aka Amma) was very gracious in allowing us to borrow her car for the trip while she is out of town. What a blessing! There's no way we could have done this in our little sedan.

We left at 8:29 in the morning, made a stop at the church to pick up a couple of things from Alan's office, followed by a stop for the rare treat of McDonald's hash browns for me (love those things! ;-), and then we were on our way!

Eleven+ hours, three stops and two & a half tanks of gas later, we made it!

Loaded up!

Evelyn now sits facing forward!

This is how Alan looked for the vast majority of the day!

Ohio!

Cool Ohio bridge

Pennsylvania!

Adeline's #3

We celebrated Adeline's third birthday in the morning with opening presents. (Truthfully, Mommy couldn't wait to give her the gifts! :) Her main gift was a Leapfrog toy she could play with on the road trip. It teaches writing skills and letters. She has had tons of fun with it already!


At noon, between thunderstorms(!), we met Hannah and Kara at McDonald's for a little celebration including cake.

Happy Birthday, Adeline!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Adeline!

My precious girl,
I am overcome by my love for you yet somehow it seems to grow everyday. I hope you have the happiest of 3rd birthdays ;-).

Love love love,
Mommy :)

Spring Mill Pond

The girls' first time at this beach, and Evelyn's first time playing in the sand. She didn't like it at first, but I persevered and she ended up having a great time in the end. I'm pretty sure she ate some sand but hey, whadya gonna do?? ;-)

Pigs, Cows and Dancing

Father's Day

We enjoyed a nice Father's Day together. First thing in the morning Adeline and Evelyn gave Alan their gift for him. It is a book entitled "I Love My Daddy". It is very sweet. I highly recommend it :).


After church we had lunch at Outback. Evelyn had her first taste of Bloomin' Onion :).



For dessert Alan had a chocolate milkshake made especially for him. It's not on the menu :). Like Father, like Daughter.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!