Fourth of July Weekend

One of the good things about living where we live, is the fact that we are close enough to do day trips to a lot of interesting things. Over the 4th of July weekend, we did a couple different quick trips.

On the 3rd, we went to New York City. We went to the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum. This is an old aircraft carrier that has been converted to a Museum. We enjoyed getting to see planes from all the way back to WWII and up to the present. It was a good reminder to us (especially as we were celebrating the USA over the weekend) to be thankful for all the people who have fought to allow us the freedom we enjoy...

This was our first trip where Julia wasn't happy to just ride in the stroller. She wanted to WALK! While we were walking around the deck of the Intrepid, though, she decided she didn't want to walk anymore, so she sat down right in the middle of the deck! So, Ben and Chloe went up onto the bridge to explore a bit while Julia, Gracie, & I took a little break. There was a band on the deck playing typical 4th of July kind of music, so it was a nice break to sit and listen to the music for awhile.

We also spent time doing a couple of things in NYC that we'd been wanting to do, but had always run out of time on our previous trips. We went to a Peanut Butter restaurant we'd heard about a couple years ago. They have all sorts of Peanut Butter sandwiches (made with different kinds of peanut butter, along with other ingredients like marshmallow fluff, bananas, chocolate, or different kinds of jelly). It was fun to finally make it there, AND to have a restaurant where we knew the girls would actually eat the food!!

We also went to Belvedere Castle in the middle of Central Park (we'd been to the north side of the park, and the south side of the park, but hadn't walked around in the middle much before this). It was fun to climb to the top of the castle, watch the turtles sunning at the turtle pond, and play at a nearby playground... Here are Ben and the girls at the top of the Castle.

The day that we were in NYC just happened to be a "First Friday" and the Children's Museum had free admission that evening. They have a whole floor dedicated to Dora & Diego. It was fun to get to climb around and "play" with Dora & Diego, although Julia was more interested in saying "hi" to all the Dora's, instead of actually playing with any of the activities.

After the museum, we were ready for a little break and some dinner (at the Shake Shack...another restaurant we'd attempted before, but never managed to make it to) before heading back for home...

The next day (on the 4th), we went to a little neighborhood carnival near our house, went to Penn's Peak for dinner...these are pictures of the girls on the deck, overlooking the area around our town, and then went back home to watch the local fireworks show.

Then, on the 5th, we went down to Philadelphia to go to the zoo (one more time before our passes expired). Here are a couple pictures of us with the animals, and doing some of the fun activities they have at the zoo.