Philly

The day after Sesame Place, we drove just 30 minutes south from our hotel and we were in downtown Philadelphia. Did you know that Philadelphia served as the nation's capital from 1790 - 1800 while Washington, D.C. was under construction? Well, now you do. That's just one of the great tidbits I learned on our little historical tour of the East Coast. Now you can't say I never taught you anything.
Philly's a nice city, now that I've seen it though, I don't really need to go back. We visited the Liberty Bell of course and it was in a really nice little museum. Though I must tell y'all we were there with what felt like every 8th grader in the states of Pennsylvania, NY, and New Jersey. They were everywhere! Anyway, then we visited the National Constitution Center, and Reading Terminal Market (more on this in the upcoming food blog), and we watched some coins being made at the US Mint (we could not take pictures of this). We skipped the Betsy Ross house because there were quite literally 500 8th graders there. It was madness!

Let Freedom Ring!

In front of Independence Hall.
Yes, that's Elmo and he got a tour of Philly too!

National Constitution Center

Cole Jabara, future politician? I sure hope not, but he
is quite charming and manipulative, so you never know.

These bronze men that signed the
Constitution are pretty cool, mom.

Dr. Jabara in a heated debate with one of the signers.

Sesame Place

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Place?! Why yes, I can. You just drive to Langhorne, PA. Besides seeing our friends on this trip, Sesame Place was by far my favorite part. When we first got there, Cole was very hesitant of the rides, but once he saw his friend, Elmo, he lit up and was completely happy the entire day. It was a great little theme park. It was super hot outside, but it wasn't too crowded and the park isn't super big, so you can easily get from one area to another. Plus they had water rides, character meetings, regular rides, and lots of fun shows with the characters. Cole loved, loved, loved all of the characters and it was so sweet to see him just run up and give them big hugs.

Sesame Place!!!

Elmo's flying fish ride

Cole is still very unsure of the rides

Grover's teacup ride

Awww, Big Elmo Hugs!

Watching the Sesame Street Rocks show

Cookie Monster

Wow, that's a Big Bird!

Big Bird's Balloon Race

Elmo's World Live set

Bert & Ernie

Riding the big water slide with Dada

Intently watching the parade

Kisses from Prairie Dawn

Bert's Bouncy Bed
(By far Cole's favorite "ride")

Dancing during the Sesame Rocks show And dancing during the parade

Boston

Our trip started out with a visit to our friends, Rob and Mollie in Boston. They're both residents at Mass General and are on crazy schedules, but we did get to spend time with each of them and we all had a wonderful dinner together at their place plus we got to play a little Mexican Train.

For those of you who have not been, Boston is fabulous! I would go back in a second (as long as it's not the middle of winter). It's clean, people are friendly, I never once felt unsafe, and there are so many cool things to see. Definitely one of the coolest cities in the US.
We got into town Saturday evening and we went to dinner in the North End, which is the Italian area, with Rob and we walked around a little. It was super busy since the Celtics were playing in Boston that night. Then the next morning, Mollie got off work and Rob took us around some more while Mollie slept. We walked some of the Freedom Trail and took Cole to see the bronze duck statues in Boston Public Garden. The ducks are from the book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey which was published in 1941 and it's about a family of ducks who decide to settle in Boston Public Garden. It's an adorable book, which made a great souvenir. After our long walk we ate a great lunch (clam chowder and lobster roll, yum!) and then that night Mollie and Rob cooked an amazing dinner. The next day, Mollie joined us while Rob worked and we walked to the USS Constitution, though it was closed, and took the ferry back. In the afternoon we took Cole to a fountain in the North End to play, but he was more interested in the dogs rather than playing in the nice cool fountain. Oh well. That night Mollie cooked an even more amazing dinner, which I'll post the recipe for later.
Thanks Uncle Rob and Auntie Mollie for taking time out of your busy schedules to see us and let us invade your home. We had an absolutely wonderful time with both of you and we wish we were closer so we could see you more often!

Walk along the Charles River

Make Way for Ducklings!

Cole and his mama duck

Visiting the police horse

Paul Revere House

The chapel from the midnight ride of Paul Revere

USS Constitution

Our free ferry ride
(Mollie and I charmed them into letting us ride for free.
Ok, it probably was Cole's charm, not ours)

Auntie Mollie, Cole & Uncle Rob

North End water fountains

Whee! Boston was so fun!

East Coast Extravaganza 2010

9 days + 8 States (and one District) + 5 major cities + 3 flights + 2 adults + 1 toddler = endless amounts of fun and, most importantly, we're all still speaking to one another!

We decided to take this little adventure because we had to go to our friends' wedding in DC over Memorial Day weekend. So, why not drag a toddler up and down the Eastern seaboard, right? People probably think we're crazy, but that's just how we roll. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit our friends, Rob and Mollie in Boston, and then stop and visit some places neither of us had seen before on the way down to DC. Needless to say, we all had a fabulous time! Even while breaking two new teeth in, Cole was wonderful. He LOVED just sitting in his stroller in the big cities watching the trucks (his new favorite word) and cars drive by and we walked around (and, we walked a lot).

As you can tell, this could be a rather lengthy post so I'm going to break it down by our stops and then do special food post at the end. It's a good thing we walked a lot because we ate a lot too.


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