At the Valley-O

The sun was shining...do you really need more of a reason to visit Valley Green? My dad and Jeremy's mom took the girls down to the river to feed the ducks, but when they got there they discovered that the ducks were on vacation and someone had already fed the geese an all-you-can-eat buffet. They tried anyway, but without much success. So instead of passing out bread, Cambrie played in the mud. Cambrie had her tricycle with her so she rode a little on the trail. Okay...she peddled some of the time. The rest of the time she took advantage of the strength of the grandparents. It only became tricky when Cambrie turned her trike away from her sister. Just another day down in the Valley-O.

Phun in Philly

We've done the historical scene downtown, but there are some other random experiences that I wanted to make sure we had before we leave Philadelphia. I still have a few things on my "must do before we leave" list, but this put a good dent in it.

We visited Franklin Square and rode the carousel. Can you tell Cambrie is obsessed with carousels lately? We played on the playground that's there. We ate lunch at Reading Terminal Market. I have never had a bad lunch there and I've eaten at the Greek Gyro restaurant, the Creperie, the Amish ice-cream shop, a cookie shop near the corner, and a fantastic Italian sandwich/salad joint. Yummy! We had our picture taken with one of the Philly Phanatics that is set up around town. He was in front of the Franklin Institute so it's only appropriate that he looks like ol' Ben. We visited the Franklin Institute and learned about weather, electricity, the heart, and machines. This particular exhibit was a wall covered in lights that lit up whenever a cell phone near the wall sent or received information. It was pretty cool. We also finally got a family picture taken in front of the LOVE statue. I love this picture and it will probably be on the front of my blog book next year to commemorate our last year here in Philly. So much to do and so little time left!

Magic Gardens

Thanks to a friendly tip we visited Philadelphia's Magic Gardens down on South St. I can't believe that we've lived here nearly four years and have never heard of this place. The artist worked on this masterpiece for fourteen years! Holy cow! He started in his basement, covering the floors, ceilings and walls with mosaics. He worked his way up through his house then spilled over to the outside courtyard and exterior walls. He used mirrors, tiles, bottles, stones, plates, bike rims, china, glass bowls, bricks, and thousands of other random items to build his garden. It's hard to describe the experience in words, so hopefully these pictures can help you visualize what craziness is there.

The basement.

He has an obsession with anatomy and there were faces and bodies everywhere. He was particularly fond of the image of a man with one arm on his right side and three arms on his left. Cambrie found this face and thought it was hysterical to be standing on it.

Cambrie and I were standing in one of the hallways he built outside.

Papa and Cambrie exploring one set of stairs. I just can't believe he built levels in his garden.

Can you find the faces of Cambrie, Bruce and me in this picture?

We thought it was only appropriate to be crazy like our surroundings.

The four of us had a great time and I recommend the visit if you want to experience something truly Philadelphian.

Time to play

The week before Alysha's wedding we surprisingly had lots of time to play. Cambrie and McKenzie each found a new toy that they love. Cambrie loved having Nikita on a leash and took her for a mini-walk in the backyard. Kita was a pretty good sport and only sat down and refused to move twice. And I think I only saw Cambrie dragging Kita once...oops.A little girl and her (borrowed) dog...so cute! McKenzie played with this ball none stop. She gets it close to her mouth and her little tongue goes crazy inside of it. McKenzie is goofy to watch with fabric. She won't suck on a pacifier or a bottle, but she loves fabric. We laid her on this sheet and her little hands grabbed it and maneuvered it to it completely covered her head. She was having a great time. Jeremy and Bruce set up the trampoline and Cambrie loved it. Let's me honest. Jeremy and I haven't jumped on a tramp for years and we also had a great time. Cambrie can almost get some air when she jumps, at least she is getting better. Jeremy decided to help her get as high as possible. Crazy! We tried to remember some trampoline games that we could play. We played ring around the rosies. Jeremy became a swamp monster under the tramp trying to get us while we ran around in circles. And we taught her a very calm version of break the egg.

When mom's away...

While Jeremy and I were checking out dental practices in Denver last weekend, Cambrie stayed and played with Nana. Cambrie was in heaven. Her cousins, Parker and Kora, played with her all weekend and they were able to do lots of really fun things together. The three of them had a giant sleepover. They read books with Papa, ran races through the kitchen, and played in a giant pile of pillows and blankets. Cambrie keeps asking for more sleepovers with her friends.

The next day they went to Hogle Zoo. They saw the animals. They went on a train ride-one of Cambrie's favorite things. They rode the carousel-another one of Cambrie's favorite things.

They also watched a bird show. When Cambrie called that night she told me that a bird took some money out of her hand and put it in a box. I had no idea what they had done that day so this made no sense to me. Come to find out, she was exactly right. Jeremy thought that we should get a bird and teach it the same trick.

Yea for cousins to play with when mom's away!

Alysha & Brody

There are so many celebrations involved with weddings that I can't cover them all fully, so I will be brief and choose some highlights. There was a dinner the night before the wedding at a restaurant called Asian Star. Wow, it was yummy! The hero of the evening was a pair of chopsticks...let me explain. Cambrie had her new front teeth put in on the Sunday of that week. Understandably her mouth was sore that day and she only had one bowl of applesauce the whole day. She claimed her mouth still hurt on Monday and had one bowl of applesauce and a half bowl of yogurt. Tuesday she still wasn't eating and had only a bowl of applesauce and a half bowl of yogurt. By now we were getting desperate. We finally convinced her to drink a cup of PediaSure and were feeling a little better about the situation but were seriously considering ripping out her new teeth so she would eat. So when dinner rolled around Tuesday night at the Asian Star I was desperate for Cambrie to eat. She refused and fought us and wouldn't touch the food. We gave up trying and left her alone. A few minutes later she tapped me on the arm to show me what she could do. She was eating with chopsticks! Hallelujah! She ate the rice, she ate the soup, she ate the chicken, and she finally drank some lemonade. Those chopsticks were my hero and I wanted to frame them to put on my wall. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple. During the ceremony, Cambrie and McKenzie played outside with other cousins and it looks like they had a great time. The ceremony itself was beautiful and actually made me cry. Alysha and Brody were undoubtedly very happy. Then of course there were pictures afterward. Cambrie can be a ham or a pill depending on the moment. For the group picture she refused to look forward, but the rest of the day she followed the cameraman around asking him to take her picture. The wedding reception was at Heritage Gardens. It was beautiful and everyone who helped Leesa set up did a wonderful job. I was thrilled that there was plenty of space for the kids. They were free to run around the gazebo outside and to goof off in the man-cave downstairs. They could play arcade games, play with Legos, watch movies, and snack on all sorts of yummy food without disturbing the guests. When it came time for Alysha to throw the bouquet, Cambrie wanted to be part of the action. Unfortunately she didn't catch it but came up with a fantastic idea, she'd toss her own bouquet. The bridesmaids and Cambrie were each given a bouquet to hold for the evening. Cambrie loved hers. She picked up her bouquet and climbed the stairs to where Alysha had thrown hers, and threw her bouquet towards me. Her aim was better than I was expecting and she actually hit me in the face. I think she tossed her flowers at least ten times before we were able to distract her with dancing. The bouquet survived the action but looked little worse for wear the next day. After the cake was cut and the dancing done, the two lovebirds took off marking the official end of the party. It was a great couple of days and I'm so happy for Alysha and Brody. Congratulations!

We've been gone

We've been in Utah and Colorado for the last few weeks and there's a lot of catching up to do. Pictures and stories are forthcoming, but here's our most recent family picture taken at the temple. I have a beautiful family!