The City of Brotherly Love

So a few weeks ago we took a drive up north into Pennsylvania. It’s kind of been on my list for a while to make it to Philadelphia to see the sites and eat a cheese steak, and Becky wanted to take the boys to Sesame Place, the theme park based off of – you guessed it – Sesame Street. So we did the park on Saturday and then checked out the city on Sunday. It rained a little bit at the park, but for the most part we had a great day, and Paul had a blast riding the rides and meeting all the characters from the show. In Philly, the day was beautiful and the cheese steak was very cheesy, so it was an excellent weekend.

First thing through the gate, Paul took his first roller coaster ride. We weren't sure how he'd handle it, but as soon as we got off, he was running back around saying, "Let's do it again! Let's do it again!" So I guess he wasn't afraid.

Then we saw these two guys hanging around in a side alley on Sesame Street. Yet again, Paul had no fear and ran right up to hug them. I guess if you see them on TV enough they're not technically strangers.

Adam on the other hand, is not a huge fan of people outside of the imaginary bubble that surrounds the four of us, but he did have fun throwing padded blocks at other kids here in Big Birds Nest.

We then went to see a "real" performance of Elmo's World, with the "real" Elmo, "real" Dorothy, and some dude that Paul was sure was definitely not the "real" Mr. Noodle (for those that don't know, he's the weird guy living outside of Elmo's window... slightly creepy).

And of course, we couldn't leave without saying hello to the Cookie Monster.

We spent the next day checking out Philadelphia. Unfortunately, Independence Hall was under renovation and you can't really see all of it, but we did take a free tour. Inside, we got to see the room where the Declaration and Constitution were debated and drafted. I even saw the exact chair where Thomas Stone sat!! Uh, you know... the guy from Southern Maryland who signed the Declaration? We went to his house in one of our less exciting posts... I think he would have been on the $7 bill if they had made one.

And we had to check out the liberty bell. It's a pretty big bell, but I had no idea it weighed more than 2,000 lbs.

And in the City of Brotherly Love, the two brothers spent some time running around in the grass on a beautiful day.

And Paul may have run around a little two much. Just maybe.

But he recovered, and we even got him to smile for a few pictures.

I'm not exactly sure what they were talking about, but my guess is that Paul was explaining to Adam that in this exact spot, Alexander Hamilton once argued with Thomas Jefferson that the federal government needed not just some level of financial autonomy, but also the ability to make laws that supersede those of the individual states. Or he may have been talking about who would win if a shark fought a T-Rex... I can't really say.

And then there's Philadelphia's favorite son... a steroided-up Sylvester Stallone.

Yo, Adrian!! We did it!! We ran the steps (like everyone else was doing) and then we knocked out Clubber Lang, ate our cheesesteak, and headed on back to DC. It was a fantastic day, and Philly was a very cool city.

Workin' the soil Colonial style

While Maryland may not be the biggest state in the union geographically (since you can cross the entire state in the amount of time it would take you to drive from Missoula to Bozeman back home) there are still a few places around here we haven’t been to yet. So a couple of weeks ago we went just a couple of miles down the road to the National Colonial Farm. At the visitors center we met a box turtle whose name I forget, and a little old lady who was overjoyed to have visitors (I’m guessing they don’t get the kind of traffic that other sites in DC get). She told us that the site was originally planned to be a sewage plant, but its position directly across the river from Mount Vernon caused the ladies who operate that more often visited site to not want the view from George’s back porch to be a human waste facility, along with the smell that would probably waft across the river. So they turned the area into an operational colonial farm where they could grow farm things like pigs and vegetables the way the colonial people did. They had baby sheep, goats, geese, lots of plants, tobacco, killer Uncle-eating chickens, and all sorts of other things colonial people would need. Unfortunately, most of the people who work on the farm still die in their twenties from malaria and dysentery… so we didn’t stay too long. But we did get these pictures!

Paul stopped for a moment to get a picture taken, something he rarely does... because it's very painful for him anymore.

And Becky actually got one of them together where they're both looking, and both giving genuine smiles... another rarity.

Adam was not too sure about the pigs, but to be honest, they were pretty massive, hairy, weird looking creatures. And we steered clear of the farm chickens...

But it was another beautiful breezy and cool day around here. Thankfully, the humidity hasn't jumped up yet and the days have still been great to venture out to places like these. I'm sure as June approaches that will change, but for now we're loving life and the weather in springtime Maryland.

Easter at the Beach

My long lost brother came to visit us a week or so ago (ok maybe he wasn’t long lost since we did see him the month before, and maybe he didn’t come to see us… he actually came to see the beautiful sites in Emmitsburg, MD, and if you’ve never heard of Emmitsburg, you should visit, it’s amazing this time of year). After his class at the fire academy he came down to hang out with us and we drove on down to Virginia Beach, since none of us had ever been there. We stopped off at Yorktown to see where we finished off the British a few years back, and then headed down to spend the afternoon at the always amazing, but incredibly freezing, Atlantic Ocean. The sun was out, so the day was warm, but the water was like Montana creek water in July: unbearably cold. But of course, when you’re 97% salt water and a native Floridian like Paul James Sellers, not even bone numbing ocean water will stop your enjoyment of the rolling tide!

Yep, that would be the Jacksonvillian right there. Not much has changed.

Adam was a big fan of the sand. Gotta love throwing it, eating it, and getting it all over your head.

The freezing water? Uh, not so much, not so much at all.

It was actually a pretty busy day on the beach, but that's to be expected with some of the first few warm days of the year.

On the way back north, we stopped in at the Capitol of the Confederacy, here in Richmond, VA.

Paul and Josh did their Rocky impression racing to the top of the steps.

And then looked for a place to break in.

And also checked out Mr. Washington himself, hanging out in Virginia atop this here statue.

Adam took a time out to pick some wild flowers in Yorktown.

And it was a great way to spend Easter weekend! Good to see Uncle Josh, good to see some new sites, and good to see the ocean again. Who could ask for more?

Eggs and Dirt

It’s springtime in Southern Maryland and that apparently brings rain followed by sun, followed by rain, followed by sun, and on and on. But the sunny days have been beautiful and the world around us is very green now. A couple of weeks ago it was Easter, and of course we did a little bit of the Easter thing, the eggs and the chocolate and all that. We spent the weekend in Virginia Beach (see next post), but before that, the boys played in the yard and Adam apparently had a little bit of fun helping his mother plant flowers in the front yard. Get a little dirt, and add a little water, and this is what you get:

Just a messy kid.

That's alright though, if you need something sprayed off with the hose, Paul will gladly take care of it.

And as I said, we did the egg thing. Boiled, dyed, and stashed around the house for Paul to find. Except for that one we never found, but something under the couch smells really, really bad now.

Yep, he had the most fun of all. We basically had to just keep Adam from throwing them on the hard floor and making a mess. But both boys did love all the chocolate. Hope everyone's Easter was as good as ours!