Please Touch Museum!

We spent the afternoon at the Please Touch Museum. Of all the Children's Museums I have been to, I think this is my new favorite. It was recently relocated to this beautiful huge building. The interior was really spacious and very nicely designed. Throughout the museum they had a fun collection of vintage toys behind glass for adults to enjoy. There were some fun areas designated for smaller children which Elsa loved to crawl around in and explore.










Naturally Amelia chooses to organize all the ducks.


There was a beautiful, gigantic carousel to ride.

One of our favorite parts was the Alice in Wonderland exhibit. There were fun mazes and crazy rooms and mirrors and tea parties.


















Amelia also loved the grocery store and had fun shopping and ringing up all of her items.


Another favorite spot for Amelia was this little hospital where you could take care of the newborns.

Rodin Museum

Our first stop in Philadelphia was the Rodin Museum. It's small but has a great collection of his sculptures. It's in a great area of the city so we walked around a little bit, although it was raining so we didn't see too much. We grabbed some crazy cheap hot dogs and kielbasa from a street vendor for lunch and ate in the car.

Philly for a day...a rainy day.

We decided to drive to Philadelphia on Friday and spend the day exploring some areas of the city we hadn't seen before. It's so fun to live such a short distance from so many great places. Amelia has always been a great road trip passenger and luckily, Elsa does well also.

Amelia spent a good chunk of the drive playing with her princess laptop (best $3 consignment sale purchase yet). Doesn't she look excited to be on a road trip?


She had zoned out and seemed a little bored so I handed her my camera and let her go crazy for awhile. Here are a few of the results:








Amelia has been carrying around this ring, one of her Chuck E. Cheese prizes, for the last several days. I have found it in Elsa's mouth on more than one occasion.

First attempt at Cupcake Pops!

I have wanted to attempt these cupcake pops since I saw them here about a year ago. I needed to bring a treat to Amelia's last day of school since they were celebrating summer birthdays and I decided it was time to try these little cuties.



They turned out better than I expected for a first try and were so delicious. I just assumed it was all about the cuteness factor and not so much the taste. But these things are scrumptious. Amelia had fun dipping them in the chocolate coating and then putting the sprinkles on. It was a LONG process, but I'm excited to try them again.


Mmmmm.

First attempt at Cupcake Pops!

I have wanted to attempt these cupcake pops since I saw them here about a year ago. I needed to bring a treat to Amelia's last day of school since they were celebrating summer birthdays and I decided it was time to try these little cuties.



They turned out better than I expected for a first try and were so delicious. I just assumed it was all about the cuteness factor and not so much the taste. But these things are scrumptious. Amelia had fun dipping them in the chocolate coating and then putting the sprinkles on. It was a LONG process, but I'm excited to try them again.


Mmmmm.

Last day of school.

Amelia has loved going to preschool. She has learned so many new things this year and she had such a good experience. Her teachers were great and she was able to do so many fun things. It was a good break for both of us.


Her teachers, Mrs. Watson and Miss Hallie, accept a class gift from the moms on the last day.


Amelia has been really into cutting lately and this is the first thing she went for when I dropped her off on the last day.

All the kids in her class went to Chuck E. Cheese's on the last day of school. Amelia is under the impression that Chuck E. Cheese's is comparable to Disney World. I'll let her keep thinking that. Elsa had fun there as well although I found her licking far too many things.

Drag Me to Hell: Celebrating 6 years of marriage

Today we celebrated our 6th Anniversary. Our first anniversary was celebrated in Shanghai and I think we started off a little too big because our celebrations every year since then have seemed a little boring in comparison.

We decided on a night out at the movies at the last minute and our selection for the evening in no way represents the last 6 years. We just needed a light-hearted horror movie, Evil Dead style. Being married to Ben is pretty much the best thing ever.

Happy Anniversary to us!


(Engagement photo)

Parks, carousels, and custard. That's what Saturdays are made of.

We discarded all thoughts of doing yard work and house work on Saturday and just played all day long. We had fun at a friend's birthday party where Elsa experienced her first carousel ride and we experienced some yummy food. After we all recovered with a nap, it was off to the Dairy Godmother where I finally attempted their strawberry shortcake. Definitely a good idea, although Ben's caramel Heath Bar custard offered some stiff competition.

We also went to this great park (thanks for the tip Michelle) that had a huge cement pad covered with little ride-on toys that people have left there for everyone to use. Amelia went crazy trying out all the little cars and it was at least 30 minutes before she even noticed the playground.








Amelia on Amelia Street.

My kids.

Elsa is climbing on everything.


Amelia loves to do art projects and is drawing more elaborate pictures these days.