Philly Fun and FIVE YEARS

This year during our annual "mandatory" vacation for the Boston Marathon when we rent our house out, we decided to take a trip to Philadelphia. None of us had ever been, and it is "within driving distance" (actually it took FOREVER, but it was supposedly going to be just 5 hours). We really loved the city, even more than we anticipated we would. Especially the food, which was really delicious, and besides the Italian, I'd say that it beats Boston's food scene, and Boston has some pretty good food.

On the drive down, we went to the Louis' Lunch in New Haven, CT, the home of the first Burger, which was actually on sliced bread with little fixin's but actually really delicious. New Haven was a very beautiful city.
 
Next we stopped at the grave of Nathan's Grandma and Grandpa on his mother's side, where he had never been before (he was on his mission in Albania when they were buried there). I never had the chance to meet either of them, but am grateful for their strong influence on Nate.  Meda, his grandmother, is a benchmark for him of perfect love and compassion that he is always trying to emulate. And I think he does a pretty good job (as we speak he is slaving away in the kitchen preparing me my Mother's Day meal, chicken enchiladas, which involve sour cream, so he may not even like them :) ).

When we arrived late that evening, we picked up some of the most delicious pizza ever at Pizza Brain, which has a weird assortment of all historical things pizza, including lots of TMNT, trolls, barbie, and etc. It was fun to check out, but more importantly, the BBQ chicken pizza had delicious crust, that wasn't paper thin (sorry Boston, your pizza crust is pretty lame, aka doesn't really exist. My rule is if your crust can't sustain your pizza enough for the one-hand hold, than it sucks, and the higher the crust:toppings ratio, the better.) We stayed in Fishtown, aka the hipster heaven of Philly. 

weird pizza museum artifacts

We visited Race Street Pier, Graffiti Pier, saw the Liberty Bell from the window (we didn't wait in the line), independence hall visitor center (although not the actual Independence Hall because we were like one minute late to pick up our pre-reserved tickets 45 minutes early and they gave them away, DON'T ask me how I feel about that), the US Mint (because of Nathan's obsession with all things money), and this pretty awesome mosaic artwork garden, that was Elliott's favorite thing ever. We also went to the Eastern State Penitentiary, the first penitentiary in the US (now only a historical site for visitors and research) and we learned a lot about the history of prisons, as well as the current state of prisons and desperately needed prison reform. The Rocky stairs were actually taken over by preparation for the NFL draft. We drove by the newly built LDS temple that was very close by to there, did Elfreth's Alley, played disc golf (my ineptitude here explains our tardiness to get our Independence Hall tickets), and we went to Longwood Gardens. So we packed a lot into our trip!

The Penitentiary

We smuggled in an easter egg hunt to the gardens

graffiti pier, pretty sure I was going to die walking out there alone while Nate
waited with a sleeping Elliott in the car. Very cool though

At the oldest continually inhabited residential street in the US, Elfreth's Alley

At the Magic Garden's his happy place

                       
We ate some delicious food including Challah bread french toast on a couple occasions, Campos Cheesesteaks, and incredible donuts from both Beiler's in Reading Terminal Market, and Federal Donuts (my pants are fitting pretty tight now).
          
Our trip overlapped with Easter so we had the opportunity to spend the day with Nathan's cousin, Christine, her husband Jeff, and some of their family. It was the perfect Easter dinner and we loved seeing them. Elliott fell IN LOVE with their dog, Connor, who was the perfect playmate because he was totally ok with any pulling and pushing that Elliott inflicted on him. After that, Elliott approached every dog he saw. I LOVED it because it was so adorable that it seemed to even convince Nathan of the necessity of us raising Elliott with a dog as his best friend and adventurer. Good thing too, because we are ON THE WAITING LIST TO GET AN ADORABLE NEW PUPPY THIS SUMMER!!!!!! He told me before that maybe a year after having a baby we could get a dog, I took that as a promise etched in blood and put enough money down as a deposit on one that he couldn't back out on that commitment. 
We had a lot of fun and it was a much needed vacation. I have had an very busy semester because in a addition to a very busy work schedule at school, I've been doing two separate night programs on top of that, first a program at MIT for graduate students and postdocs to teach us how to best plan and communicate research that makes the greatest impact, and second a class to teach me about the FDA and regulatory affairs of drugs and medical devices. Both of these have been incredibly helpful, but stressful as I am trying to find some guidance into exactly what I want to do with my life once I get my PhD, (eventually, someday, please!!!!) I finished up the Regulatory Affairs class this past week, so my life may be returning back to normal soon, which I'm grateful for, so I get to see Elliott every night again.
Nate's life is also super busy these days, he recently had to submit a huge 40 page grant for work, completed mostly on his own, is studying away for his 3rd CFA exam this June, he was asked to be a judge for a MIT competition for social entrepreneurs, AND he is going to Cuba at the end of this month. While he is in Cuba for work, I will have to fly alone to one of my best friend's wedding across the country in San Diego, and once he returns, he's only here for a few days before leaving again for another work trip. BOOOOO. So he will only owe me a million back rubs, a million more mornings of being the one to get up early with Elliott, and one BILLION poopy diaper changes. (I REALLLLLLLY hate it when he leaves).
We also had a pretty great 5 year anniversary this year, which Nate planned like a pro, including getting the babysitter lined up. We went to Venezia, which is an amazing Italian restaurant that is really close to our house, but we'd never been, it has giant glass windows overlooking the harbor and was delicious. Then we went to see LION, the awesome movie about the lost Indian boy who was adopted by a family in Australia, then later in life used Google Earth to find his home village and return to find his birth mother. (Even Nathan shed tears) SO GOOD! I'm so glad I'm married to the most incredible man ever, and can't believe it's already been half a decade.    

Like true parents, we watched our child scream
all throughout dinner, sorry, babysitters!

Update on Elliott: He is almost 16 months now and can run, dance, and say "apple." He just got his first real haircut and he looks so much older now! He loves to impersonate his parents and put on his dad's shoes when it's time to go and generally do things he knows will make us laugh. He likes to read books in his cute little chair and get tickled.

His new chair, HE LOVES THIS CHAIR!

 

First professional hair cut

  

We started some swimming lessons for this boy

They made breakfast in bed AND a delicious dinner for my mother's day!