Philadelphia

I attended a conference in Philadelphia this past week. Dan and Alli came along and we made a family vacation out of it. It was Alli's first time flying. She did great overall. She was able to sleep for the first leg of both our departure and return trips, but on the second flights she was pretty wiggly. Thankfully, she was not that kid that screams the whole way and we were grateful.

We spent 6 days there. I went to lectures in the morning, while Dan and Alli leisurely drank coffee and watched Regis and Kelly. We traversed Philly by foot in the afternoon. We saw most of the sights, ate too much and enjoyed ourselves. It was a nice getaway from the hustle and bustle we are used to.

Alli is getting closer to walking. Maybe we should bind her feet or something. Just kidding.
This picture was taken in New Jersey across the Delaware River (see below) with Philadelphia in the background.
Our hotel room was fabulous in many ways, but the best feature of all was the king sized bed. Oh how we will miss the bed. We all had room to sprawl about without bopping one another. Dan got more than the typical four inches of bed he claims to get at home. Alli could sleep sideways. It was pure luxury.

We really just wanted to play around in the water fountain behind this lovely landmark.
At home, she naps in the car. On vacation, she naps in the stroller.

On a more serious note, like most parents, we own multiple strollers for various purposes. We brought along this one for the vacation. Turns out, it is worth its weight in gold!! It went everywhere with us and made transporting Alli so easy!

We took a ferry across the Delaware River to go New Jersey. Our plan was to go to the aquarium, since it was too hot to sight see around Philly on that particular day. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who thought this was a brillant idea .By the time we got to the aquarium, the line to buy tickets was hundreds of people long all standing out in the blazing sun without any shade. We immediately bagged that plan and took the ferry directly back to Philly!

Feeding Frenzy

We visited our local zoo today. It was our first trip to this zoo. It is pretty small compared to big city zoos, but then again I live in a small city compared to big cities. Anyway, one of the exhibits is of Japanese Coy fish. There is a dock with multiple gum-ball type vending machines filled with fish food. For 50 cents, you can feed these fish. As you can see from the pictures, it is a feeding frenzy! The fish were literally swimming right over top of each other. The picture may look a bit misleading. These fish are not trapped in this square pool. They have a whole lake to swim around in. So they are gathered around the dock by choice or, more appropriately, learned behavior.

I like that the exhibit is interactive, however I also think it is just ridiculous! All these fish crowding around this dock for food doesn't really represent anything about what they are like in the wild. But heck, I was at the zoo! Nothing is really as it is in the wild. It was really more representative of any McDonalds in the US.

Alli's favorite game is pat-a-cake.

Grandpa Dave is here to cram in as much golf as he and Dan can in 5 days.

Broccoli

Yes that is broccoli she is eating! Alli has gone through phases in her dietary preferences. Currently she like veggies. Tomorrow may be a different story. The broccoli could be on the floor.

It is like we live in a new house

After months of hem-hawing whether or not to tear out the perma-dingy carpet in our living room, we finally just did got rid of it. The final straw was the grime covering Alli's bottom from scooting around on the carpet that had become the same color as Boone's (because he is the reason it was that color!) We knew there was wood flooring (probably original to the house), but really didn't know what kind of shape it was in. It isn't perfect, but livable for now. We'll probably hire someone to come refinish it, unless we get some wild hair to take it on ourselves. Anyway, it has given the house a new feel.

This picture shows the carpet in its perma-dinge shade, but really doesn't do it justice. Alli and Boone have started to become buddies. Up until now, he has just ignored her. Now he is beginning to realize that she is a food source when she is sitting in her high chair and that she pets him more that either Dan or I do. Did anyone know that the red corrector on Photoshop won't fix the dog's glowing eyes?