Philly Here We Come!

For about a year now, Mike and I had a trip to Philadelphia planned.  It was supposed to be for my sister's wedding day; however, a month before the wedding she made a very brave and very smart decision to call it off.  I cannot tell you how proud I was of her to make such a difficult and heart wrenching decision, but I am so happy for her.  She is beginning a new part of her life and all I wanted to do was lay eyes on her to make sure she was really okay after such a tumultuous month.  And, I must say, she looked good!  I have a beautiful and smart sister who I don't get to see often, but when I do I am so happy to be part of her life.  Even though we are almost 8 years apart in age and did not grow up in the same household, it is amazing how similar we really are.  Definitely Heidler genes!  She is a strong woman who is embarking on a new journey.  I am confident it will be a fun year for her.

Personally, I was very happy to make the trip without the kiddos.  Mike and I had a ball seeing everyone and spending quality time with my dad, step mom, and sister.  We saw all the sights!  We had an itinerary that was endless and we vowed to see it all.  Independence Hall, The Constitution Center, Liberty Bell, Philly Cheese Steaks, you name it....we did it.  We spent most of Friday in the city seeing downtown Philadelphia.  In the evening we headed out to the suburbs to spend the night.  We spent Saturday at Valley Forge National Park, then met back up with AJ that night for dinner and bowling.  On Sunday Mike and I headed back downtown to stay at the Omni Hotel at Independence Park.  We went to Museum of Art, which, I must say was the largest and most expansive Museum of Art I have ever seen.  Mike and I literally got lost in the Chinese Art section.  Who knew, right?  After that we had lunch at this really good restaurant that used to be a fire station situation right across from the Eastern State Penitentiary.  We toured the old prison as it is no longer open.  

After that we met back up with Chris & Lauren and their kids to tour the Betsy Ross House.  All of this history was really neat and it being on the weekend of the 10th anniversary of 9-11 made it that more special.  We had the privilege that evening of being right in front of Independence Hall for a 9-11 ceremony.  It was very cool to be there on that evening.  

After that we ventured off to dinner.  I really wanted a steak but we couldn't really agree on anything so we decided on a whim to go eat some "bar food".  We had already gone down the entire strip in search for a place and we went into this too trendy bar and ordered a drinks thinking that they had something on the menu that sounded good.  As it turns out, Mike, who never complains about anything says to me, "um, I don't see a single thing on this menu that I could eat."  With that, I agreed.  We drank our drinks very quickly and went and had dinner at an expensive steak house a few doors down.  Best steak I have ever had.  Absolutely delicious.  In case you are in Philly, go to Marmont on Market Street.  Yummy!  I must say though that anything would have tasted good compared to the restaurant we had previously been at.  I mean who has fried cauliflower on a menu??  It was just such an odd menu of items that we had no choice but to leave.  I will give them points for the margarita.  They did do that part right.

Then Monday morning we found a toy store to pick up a few treats for the boys before heading home.  However, before getting on the plane we needed to have one more really good cheese steak.  We stopped at Jim's Steaks on South Street in Philly.  Yum.  Even at 10am it was the best!  From there we got our car and headed to the airport.

A huge thank you to Grammy & Pa for taking on the tornadoes for four full days.  They miss you already.  It was especially sad when Drew realized it was "grandparents day" at school and his Grammy and Pa were not able to be there.  But, I am truly grateful for all that you do for them!  It is a blessing to have you in our lives.

And, now it is back to reality.  Here are pics from our trip.