Easter

Easter was a very fun, beautiful day in New Jersey.  We spent lots of time outside and with our friends, eating good food and letting the kids play all day.

(I asked Arden to let me take her picture and she threw herself down on this pillow as if she was posing for a glamour shot or bad senior pic!}

{Loot from the Easter Bunny!  All of her favorites: Bubble machine, Tangled doll, shoes, books and something to draw on!}

{As soon as she saw this she said "Ohhhh boy, Tangled!" and gazed at her with a huge smile on her face}

{Truly so happy to have a Tangled doll...good job Easter Bunny!}

{Let's draw!}

{One of my favorite pictures of the day, she was SO proud of the eggs she found}

{First bite of a bunny marshmallow...}

{She didn't end up being huge fan of the marshmallows, especially after she found chocolate in the other eggs!}

{Meg and Arden at the Drew's for Easter lunch and an egg hunt}

{Team Brendan}

{Brendan was kind enough to ask Arden to be on his "team" - his older brother Owen helped the other little girl Bridget, how thoughtful are they?!}

{Brendan was the spotter and Arden picked them up and put them in the basket.  Her little feet couldn't quite keep up with him though!}

{A big discussion about who had found what}

{Still looking!}

{Time to open the eggs and check out the goodies!}

{Arden, Bridget and Meg}

So thankful for the holiday we shared with our New Jersey family!

Hugs!
Hillary

Road Trip - Philadelphia!

The month of March was pretty quiet for us.  Nothing too exciting to report on (lots of work for Kevin and I) but I do have to say that looking back at the weather from January-March we could not have asked for a better winter!  Last year there were multiple blizzards and I joked (a somewhat serious joke) that I would be flying South for the winter if there was another winter like that one but I didn't have to go anywhere, thank goodness!  So we avoided major snow and cold and, I think, for my first true winter here that is a good thing :).

We all had Good Friday off from school/work and were itching to get away so we made a road trip to Philadelphia for the day and night.  We decided to go sort of last minute so I was nervous about what hotel we would find without having to pay an expensive rate and we ended up finding a great deal on Kayak for the Sofitel!  It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me :).

We drove over on Friday, got checked in and then hit the town.  One thing Kevin really wanted to do was see the Liberty Bell so we headed there first.

{While waiting in line Arden had a pink poodle balloon animal made, it made her so happy!}

{There was a glass wall behind the bell and a full garden of tulips in bloom outside - it was a really pretty background!}

After the Liberty Bell Center, we walked around some of the historic sites on our way to dinner...

{National Constitution Center}

{We made a stop for a ride on the merry-go-round, Arden LOVES horses and was so happy, I didn't think she would be able to choose just one horse to ride!}

{During the walk Arden decided she wasn't going to walk or ride in her stroller so we had to have a talk on the step, I think she would have stayed on this step forever, she thought it was great (though not really sure why!)}

{We walked through the arts district and saw this!}

On Saturday we went to brunch, walked around town a little more and then headed to the "Please Touch" children's museum.  Arden is definitely getting her feel for places like this but this by far was the best one we have been too!  

{The sign didn't seem that big until Arden stood next to it!}

{In the entry of the building they have a replica of the torch that the Statue of Liberty holds made of toys!}

{The water tables were her absolute favorite!}

{She made a friend while playing!}

{A full view of the water room}

We finally got her dried off and moved on to other areas...

{Playing music in the jungle - all of these ropes were connected to different instruments at the top of the tree}

{An elephant made of toys}

{The space room...this may have been the neatest thing to do...}

{...you could launch foam "rockets" from here by loading them onto a pipe and pushing a button (the pipes were loaded with CO2 cartridges) - they went flying through the room!}

{The view from the launch pad}

After sprinting from room to room and touching as many things as she could (even going to the water room twice), it was time for ice cream...it was her first time for Dip 'n Dots, she was a fan!

And then it was time to head home.  We were exhausted and had to get ready for the Easter Bunny to visit the next day!  We saw new things in a new place, ate great food and enjoyed our family time - not much more you could ask for!

Hugs!
Hillary