Spring Break

So this is our Family! Dan had a few meeting in New Jersey last week while the kids were on Spring Break, so we decided to take a family vacation. It was the so much fun. We enjoyed being able to spend time together and become a little bit familiar with a few other cities and states. My kids thought it was neat that we traveled through 7 states on our trip! Technically it was 6 but we do have to count the District of Columbia too! I wish we could have done more...but Dan and I were so tired by the time we left that we decided the rest would have to wait until another time.

One stop we made in Philadelphia was the Independence Mall. It is amazing all the history you have there...the First White House, the Liberty Bell, which my parents think we may be related to the Stow on the bell, so I think I have some Family History research to do! Also, the Declaration of Indepence was signed right there. We were able to see a copy of the Declaration of Independence which George Washington had actually edited a word on it before the final edition was printed and signed! We crossed the street and went to the Philadelphia Mint and saw some coins being made, and we overlooked the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin was buried.

So the picure you see below is of the 'Row' houses in Philadelphia. I thought they were really interesting. They are similar to 'Town' homes, but could have tons of homes in a row. They built a lot of these back in the '50's and '60's. They are not very big and have no garage. Some of the homes have alley ways in the back for parking or they park on the busy streets in front. I loved Philadelphia!! I thought it was the most amazing city I have ever seen. I felt like I was right in the Rocky movies :) some of the places were so run down. And others were better taken care of. The buildings in down town were so tall. It was almost hard to see the top of the building while we were in the car. The buildings lined the streets, and contained a lot of shopping, markets and restaurants. Abover the stores were apartments. People had their chairs on their small balconys, or were standing and talking on their fire escapes (which they had to climb out the window to stand on!) It's a big, busy city and I loved it!

You see, North Carolina has already had it's beautiful Spring and is moving nicely into the warmer, humid summer temperatures. I think the North East is still somewhat chilly and is just now having thier Spring now! Both are pretty, that is for sure. I don't think I have ever seen anything so breathtaking as the beautiful new green growth that you see out here. The flowering plants are amazing. In both the North and the South!!!

My favorite part of the our trip was visiting "Lady Liberty" and Ellis Island. We arrived in the pouring down rain! We were soaked and ended up buying the girls 'I love NY' sweatshirts (which they loved!) and poncho's to help keep us from growing scales and jumping into the Hudson and swimming a bit (yuck)! We went to Ellis Island first where I gained a greater appreciation for our Country. I read so many stories where immigrants had left their native lands to come here to America, to gain freedoms that they longed for. I read about their hardships, which truly touched my heart and made me cry. One account that really touched me was from a Jew. When the ship he was sailing in on came close enough to see the the Statue of Liberty he exclaimed, "America, I kiss your ground". I'm glad I was able to see and read these accounts as it made my appreciation for this great country and the Statue of Liberty grow even stronger.

And we went to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was tons of fun. I considered leaving the kids with the monkeys but since I would miss them too much (and we couldn't find the gorilla's) I decided I better keep them for myself! The cool part about this Zoo is that it is the oldest one in the country! What history it has! It was started as an exhibit in a house. Other than it being cool because it was founded so long ago, it was pretty much just a regular zoo. And Nate did an awesome job taking tons of pictures of the animals.