Our Weekend In Philly
It's Saturday. It snowed today! Crazy.
Last weekend we were in Philly. We had such a fun time.
Friday I got us all ready. The kids went to school and we headed out after Q got home. Matt came home early and helped me pack the car.
I had us stocked with the essentials, snacks, ipads, movies, coloring, blankets, pillow pets, seeds for Matt and crafts for me.
Right as we took off our music was on... the same as always, it's not a road trip without Erasure, Depeche Mode, Tori Amos, Alanis Morsette and some other favorites. Matt have been listening to the same stuff for the last 15 years of road trips.
It's funny how time does change us! There were several times I had to switch the song! My head aches easily in my older age! I'm much more of an indie/alternative, emo, Christian rock kind of a girl now. I can't take the hard stuff anymore!
We stopped for a potty break and dinner, but pushed through. This was the hardest part of the trip! There was some fighting, some tears, lots of 'are we almost there'. Brand new movies helped! I bought a combo of the first two Harry Potter Movies, a combo of Happy Feet and The Last Air Bender. The only hiccup was one of our DVD players didn't charge. Bummer. So we had to switch electronics after movies. G loves to look at the atlas as we drive. It keeps him busy following along, keeping track of where we are. Q finally settled down and read a book and played on her ipad, so I was able to turn a show on for the little boys.
As we arrived in Philly we were a little frightened of the area our hotel was in, but totally relieved when we pulled in the actual hotel. It was super nice!
The kids had fallen asleep for the last hour of the drive. It's always hard getting them up to go inside, but they perked up quickly as we entered our room. There is something magical about staying in a hotel right? The pool was outside our balcony, they were excited for that.
Then as we were leaving we noticed a ton of people. Everyone had UCF shirts and attire. G noticed and was locked and loaded. Why do they all have UCF stuff on? As we walked out there were several busses outside. We then realized UCF would later be playing Temple. Cool! They stayed in our hotel! I asked the director if I could get a pic of G with some of the players, but he said no. He wanted his players focused. So, that is what this random photo is... wanted to remember that! G was totally nervous to come with me while I asked about the picture! It was pretty cool!
We went downtown. It was good to get our bearings before race day. We drove around the city for a bit, checked stuff out, then parked so we could sight see.
We brought the jog stroller, figuring someone would be tired at some point. We stocked it with drinks and snacks.
The weather was pretty nice. It was overcast and cool, but warmer than Buffalo.
We were close to the Ritz Carlton. I'd love to go in there someday, just to see. It looked all glamorous on the outside with the bellmen and their ear pieces.
We first headed to the convention center so I could pick up my packet.
After we picked my packet up we stopped for lunch at Subway, in Chinatown! :)
We actually ended up walking some of the race route without knowing it.
After filling hungry bellies I hoped our kids would be in better spirits. They were mad they had to stop swimming to come down town. They were upset that Matt and I wanted to sightsee! Seriously... where is the spirit of adventure? I was a little upset and disappointed in them! Maybe skipping down the street, or buying ice cream would help!!!
We walked to Constitution Mall. We watched a 20 minute movie on the Revolutionary War. We watched this guy play some old instrument. We were going to see the Liberty Bell, but the line was so long we just looked at it through the window! Good enough! We talked about Independence Hall and it's significance. Matt is great that way. He loves history so it's like I bring my encyclopedia with me everywhere I go! The kids enjoy history a bit more when it's real.
I do love this city. So many people, so much history. Part of me would love to live in a big city, even for just a year or two. It would be such a fun adventure. Not sure my kids would love it, maybe when they are older.
The kids were glad to be heading back to the hotel. They wanted to swim again.
First I needed dad to do a little race day recon, get a plan so I could settle down.
While that was going on G and O took turns playing Star Craft and Q played hide and seek with the little boys. It was hilarious! Really, how many hiding places are there in a hotel room!
My favorite was when E thought he was grabbing Q's feet under the blanket, telling her to come out! They were my feet! Apparently he didn't see my head! They were laughing so hard, trying to find new spots. I loved it!
Next we went to dinner. Nothing special, in fact it was a little questionable, at Denny's by our hotel. Not the greatest service, not the greatest food, my tongue burned because of how much dressing was on my salad, BUT, ice cream after makes anything go down easily!
I took the kids swimming again and met another racer. We talked strategy for the morning. My anxiety was greatest because of the unknown. The race put out great info to answer questions, but still it's the unknown! So, that was good, we visited and our kids played with each other. Wish we'd exchanged info, they were a cute family!
We got ready for bed and all slept well. We changed up the bed arrangements, which threw my girl for a loop. I slept with here the first night and she wasn't thrilled to sleep with any of her brothers. So, she slept on the floor! Fine by me!
Sunday we got up early for the race. I was up at 5 and we got the kids up at 5:20/5:30, to be out of there by 5:40. The kids hated it! It was hard, but we did it! They dropped me off at the race, went to find parking. They nailed it with the second parking garage. We did the race, found each other then went back to the hotel... so the kids could swim!!!
I showered and got ready, packed our bags and we headed out of there!
It was sunny and warm as we left. We had some snacks and shortly after we started the kids all fell asleep. Really, that was the best part of race morning... tired kids! They slept for a good chunk of our drive home! It was so quiet and nice!
We stopped for dinner at Chili's in Rochester, that was our only stop!
The kids finished their movies... we got the second DVD player working, yea!
We all lugged everything in together when we got home... that took me a couple of days to recover from! It's so easy packing, so hard putting everything away!
It was a quick weekend trip, but lots of fun! I bet if you even ask the kids, they'd say they had a great time, despite the complaining we heard.
I told the kids we hesitate taking them places because their attitudes aren't the greatest at times. G responded to me that if we took them fun places they wouldn't complain! Nice! Seems to me fun is any place new, different, but I guess they don't hold the same opinion. We need to work on that!
Who knows we may get to practice this again next year! It was a great race. I'd love to run it again.
Last weekend we were in Philly. We had such a fun time.
Friday I got us all ready. The kids went to school and we headed out after Q got home. Matt came home early and helped me pack the car.
I had us stocked with the essentials, snacks, ipads, movies, coloring, blankets, pillow pets, seeds for Matt and crafts for me.
Right as we took off our music was on... the same as always, it's not a road trip without Erasure, Depeche Mode, Tori Amos, Alanis Morsette and some other favorites. Matt have been listening to the same stuff for the last 15 years of road trips.
It's funny how time does change us! There were several times I had to switch the song! My head aches easily in my older age! I'm much more of an indie/alternative, emo, Christian rock kind of a girl now. I can't take the hard stuff anymore!
We stopped for a potty break and dinner, but pushed through. This was the hardest part of the trip! There was some fighting, some tears, lots of 'are we almost there'. Brand new movies helped! I bought a combo of the first two Harry Potter Movies, a combo of Happy Feet and The Last Air Bender. The only hiccup was one of our DVD players didn't charge. Bummer. So we had to switch electronics after movies. G loves to look at the atlas as we drive. It keeps him busy following along, keeping track of where we are. Q finally settled down and read a book and played on her ipad, so I was able to turn a show on for the little boys.
As we arrived in Philly we were a little frightened of the area our hotel was in, but totally relieved when we pulled in the actual hotel. It was super nice!
The kids had fallen asleep for the last hour of the drive. It's always hard getting them up to go inside, but they perked up quickly as we entered our room. There is something magical about staying in a hotel right? The pool was outside our balcony, they were excited for that.
We made it! We had a pullout bed and slept 2 to a bed. Perfect right? At least until our kids get a little bigger! We almost don't all fit into one room anymore.
Saturday morning, we hit McD's for breakfast then went swimming. The kids were so excited! We had the pool to ourselves for most of the time. They all jumped in over and again, we had races, played motor boat and my baby. M threw the kids around, played marco polo. I wrote for a little bit, then swam for a little bit.
We got ready and headed into the city around lunch time. I took some photos of the hotel. I think it's my favorite hotel lobby! I love how it was designed. There were several conversation areas, unique chairs and furniture. We loved it! I told the kids I'd take a picture of them in their favorite chair.
Then as we were leaving we noticed a ton of people. Everyone had UCF shirts and attire. G noticed and was locked and loaded. Why do they all have UCF stuff on? As we walked out there were several busses outside. We then realized UCF would later be playing Temple. Cool! They stayed in our hotel! I asked the director if I could get a pic of G with some of the players, but he said no. He wanted his players focused. So, that is what this random photo is... wanted to remember that! G was totally nervous to come with me while I asked about the picture! It was pretty cool!
We brought the jog stroller, figuring someone would be tired at some point. We stocked it with drinks and snacks.
The weather was pretty nice. It was overcast and cool, but warmer than Buffalo.
We were close to the Ritz Carlton. I'd love to go in there someday, just to see. It looked all glamorous on the outside with the bellmen and their ear pieces.
We first headed to the convention center so I could pick up my packet.
They still had leaves on the few city trees there were. So pretty!
I love old buildings!
E thought he was lost for a minute. There were SO many people! This was the biggest race I've raced. I'll tell you all about it on Monday!
I love this building. I have dreams of living in this era, with big stone buildings, big dresses, carriages, hats, parlors, old money. So much history here.
We actually ended up walking some of the race route without knowing it.
After filling hungry bellies I hoped our kids would be in better spirits. They were mad they had to stop swimming to come down town. They were upset that Matt and I wanted to sightsee! Seriously... where is the spirit of adventure? I was a little upset and disappointed in them! Maybe skipping down the street, or buying ice cream would help!!!
We walked to Constitution Mall. We watched a 20 minute movie on the Revolutionary War. We watched this guy play some old instrument. We were going to see the Liberty Bell, but the line was so long we just looked at it through the window! Good enough! We talked about Independence Hall and it's significance. Matt is great that way. He loves history so it's like I bring my encyclopedia with me everywhere I go! The kids enjoy history a bit more when it's real.
I do love this city. So many people, so much history. Part of me would love to live in a big city, even for just a year or two. It would be such a fun adventure. Not sure my kids would love it, maybe when they are older.
We bought a box of ice cream bars from DQ.
After we got back in the car we drove around a little bit more, there was still much to see, and we wanted to make plans for race morning.
We drove past the art museum, that is in the Rocky movies. The kids were lost on this, but we liked it! Everyone on the steps were posing as Rocky!
The kids were glad to be heading back to the hotel. They wanted to swim again.
First I needed dad to do a little race day recon, get a plan so I could settle down.
While that was going on G and O took turns playing Star Craft and Q played hide and seek with the little boys. It was hilarious! Really, how many hiding places are there in a hotel room!
My favorite was when E thought he was grabbing Q's feet under the blanket, telling her to come out! They were my feet! Apparently he didn't see my head! They were laughing so hard, trying to find new spots. I loved it!
Next we went to dinner. Nothing special, in fact it was a little questionable, at Denny's by our hotel. Not the greatest service, not the greatest food, my tongue burned because of how much dressing was on my salad, BUT, ice cream after makes anything go down easily!
I took the kids swimming again and met another racer. We talked strategy for the morning. My anxiety was greatest because of the unknown. The race put out great info to answer questions, but still it's the unknown! So, that was good, we visited and our kids played with each other. Wish we'd exchanged info, they were a cute family!
We got ready for bed and all slept well. We changed up the bed arrangements, which threw my girl for a loop. I slept with here the first night and she wasn't thrilled to sleep with any of her brothers. So, she slept on the floor! Fine by me!
Sunday we got up early for the race. I was up at 5 and we got the kids up at 5:20/5:30, to be out of there by 5:40. The kids hated it! It was hard, but we did it! They dropped me off at the race, went to find parking. They nailed it with the second parking garage. We did the race, found each other then went back to the hotel... so the kids could swim!!!
I showered and got ready, packed our bags and we headed out of there!
It was sunny and warm as we left. We had some snacks and shortly after we started the kids all fell asleep. Really, that was the best part of race morning... tired kids! They slept for a good chunk of our drive home! It was so quiet and nice!
We stopped for dinner at Chili's in Rochester, that was our only stop!
The kids finished their movies... we got the second DVD player working, yea!
We all lugged everything in together when we got home... that took me a couple of days to recover from! It's so easy packing, so hard putting everything away!
It was a quick weekend trip, but lots of fun! I bet if you even ask the kids, they'd say they had a great time, despite the complaining we heard.
I told the kids we hesitate taking them places because their attitudes aren't the greatest at times. G responded to me that if we took them fun places they wouldn't complain! Nice! Seems to me fun is any place new, different, but I guess they don't hold the same opinion. We need to work on that!
Who knows we may get to practice this again next year! It was a great race. I'd love to run it again.