Philadelphia Freedom

Yesterday, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we took a road trip!

For the last 5 years or so we've gone to NYC for Fleet Week but we decided to switch it up a little this time.

First, we stopped at the U.S.S. New Jersey, in Camden, NJ.  This ship is the most decorated battleship  in U.S. History. It's service encompassed 48 years and now visitors can tour the decommissioned battleship's 887-ft.-long deck & sailors’ living quarters.

We enjoyed the audio device with narration that gave us useful information and made it more interesting for all of us.  Here are the kids learning about the happenings in the Admiral's quarters.

We toured for about 2 hours and surprisingly we all enjoyed it with no complaining!  Here are some of the interesting things we saw.

Bunk beds--you can tell he doesn't have to sleep there.

The Brig...aka jail.

Chapel

Transfer chair that takes you from one ship to another.

Barbershop

  It was very interesting; a great place to visit.

Next, we went over to Philadelphia.  We parked and visited Dad's office.  Here's his view from his window.  Not too shabby.

View of  Independence Hall

Ben Franklin Bridge

We ate lunch at the Bourse Building.

Source

Then we went to see the Liberty Bell.

After that, a horse and carriage ride through Old City Philadelphia.

And last, Independence Hall, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted. It is now the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

That about wraps up our fun-filled day.  Needless to say, some of us were pooped by the end.

Mary and I had a little fun with those who fell asleep on the ride home.

Wishing you and your families a Blessed Memorial Day!

Spring Catch Up- Part One

Hello again!

I want to catch up on some Spring happenings around here.  It's been the usual whirlwind of events and activities.  I always start out with the usual dread of how much needs to get done and then look back fondly on all of it because it really is all good. 

I decided to break things down and write a post for each family member.

Me first:

* I just have to post this picture of me from Book Character Day at the school I work at.  We were to dress up as a character from our favorite book.  I mustered up some courage and this is what I came up with.

 My favorite book is Rebecca and I dressed up as Mrs. DeWinter.

This is funny for two reasons.
1.) most of the staff dressed up as their favorite children's book character, so I missed the mark on that one.
2.) I usually dress pretty boring, so no one really knew if I was dressed up or just wearing my regular clothes.

*I finished up my second year teaching 1st grade CCD.  Billy was my aide.

* Speaking of CCD, we came home from there one night to find 2 black labs in our backyard!

  One was our Vader and the other ended up belonging to a family a block away.  We enjoyed him for about an hour before the police came and returned him to his rightful owner.

* Mother's Day was a relaxing day with beautiful weather.  I really wanted WaWa hoagies and have a picnic lunch and my request was granted.  We went to the place where Ann recently ran a 5K (more on that later in Ann's post)--a park and fish hatchery.

* One of the Sexy Six's daughters graduated from high school and there was a big party.  Food, dancing, and the Six.  Fun, fun, fun.  Added bonus...all 6 husbands were there!  Good times.

* We welcomed another family member to the clan.  Little Catherine Ann was born in March...on my Ann's birthday!  She was baptized this month.  Such a joyful day!

That about wraps up some of my happenings.  The kids' stuff is really where it's at.  More to come on that front in future posts coming soon.

Until next time....