Philadelphia with PAUL...MEMORABLE!

Rewind....let's go back in time.  The specifics are unclear.  But after about a week in Raleigh, we headed to Philadelphia!  On the way up, we stopped to visit Joe and Christina in North Beach, met up with my mom and Paul at Panera, then continued on to Philadelphia.

Paul and his family promised an all expense paid trip north...and there was no saying "No" to this generous offer.  Not only could we visit with people along the way AND get to show Ben Philadelphia and New York City, we got to spend A LOT of time with Paul and Mena and the kids.

This was such a good trip.

Like all trips with Paul, you never really know when they would begin.  We got to Philly around 11pm.  Paul called and told us to sit tight because they weren't even on the train out of NY yet.  We sat for an hour....had the police called on us because we were just sitting there on the side on the road in a car.....Caleb and I started counting cars and took bets as to how many cars would pass before Paul and the crew returned to the house.  I won the bet!

But, the waiting was ALL worth it because it meant that we got to see Peter and Gabby and baby Ian. Peter is one of Caleb and Paul's high school friends who is married to Paul's sister Gabby!  Ian and Mel are only a couple of weeks apart of each other.  Mel was really sitting up well, and all by herself at this point.  She wasn't crawling just yet...

The next morning we went to a Battleship in Philadelphia (Caleb would be horrified that I do not know the name of it.)  After that, we went around the aquarium which was AWESOME.  Keep in mind, Ben was "fresh off the boat" and had never been to an aquarium or seen a battleship before in his life.  It was so fun to watch him not only enjoy his surroundings, but to have friends to be with.

Here is a picture of our first meal at McDonald's where they give you an unlimited amount of ketch-up packets when you ask for them.  In Australia, they didn't really like to give you more than one per ORDER! haha

Mel really began to eat on this trip and I was completely unprepared.  We decided to skip mushy baby food altogether (after reading a Baby Led Weaning book about it).  Since I wasn't prepared with any healthier baby food, a lot of Mel's first real foods were french fries. :)  Nothing wrong with that, right??

Yummm.....McDonald's grease!

There is something so undeniably American about McDonald's.  All my fellow missionary friends told me that I would really like it and I doubted them.  But, they were right.  In a sick way, being in McDonald's really made me feel like I was back in America... more so than anything else up until this point.  So, thanks, Paul!

Impromptu photo shoot with Mel before going on the Battleship.

It was a lot of fun and Ben still talks about it to this day.  Paul, you are known as "the guy who makes me put my hands behind my back." hahahaha

We decided to split up in the Aquarium because some people wanted to take their time and read everything. I have more of the attention span of the boys when in a museum or aquarium or any place that has to do with history or science.  So, I was happy to tour the aquarium with Ethan and Ben at a fast-paced speed.

The kids got to touch sharks and stingrays- major plus!

After that, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for an EXCELLENT dinner.  I still have dreams about the loaded nachos I ordered....and again, Mel let us know that she was READY to eat.  She tried something from everyone's plate and made a huge mess with her squishy banana.

The next day we all relaxed around the house in Philly.  The kids played, Paul convinced us we would one day need iPhones.  The new batman movie came out so we watched the first two in preparation for seeing the third.  (There are only 3, right???)

The next day we got to go to NEW YORK CITY!  It was a bit warm.  I tend to only visit the city during extreme hot or extreme cold temperatures...but I loved it anyway. 

Thank you Paul and Mena and kids for your love and friendship.  We are so happy that we got to spend this time with you and miss you already.  Cannot wait to show you around Colorado sometime soon.  Chow, baby! :)