Great Weekend

I'm so totally lucky to have lots of awesome cousins and one of them had a wedding reception this weekend giving us the kick in the behind that we needed to spend a very fun weekend in Philadelphia with my brother. Philly is so close! And, it is a great city, with or without kids. If you haven't ever been there or haven't been there recently, GO!

We got to my brother's apartment mid-afternoon and trekked all our stuff up to his 3rd floor apartment before heading right over to the oldest zoo in the nation. It was chilly but very sunny and there were only maybe a few dozen other people there--it kind of felt like we had the place to ourselves which was very fun. Plus, the animals were all out and about and pretty active.

Saturday we spent most of the day at the Please Touch Museum. That place is totally worth the trip to Philly if you have a preschooler. It was awesome! Lucas had a blast and we all enjoyed watching him play and playing with him.

After the museum, we went back to Eric's apartment and quickly got ready before Lucas's babysitter--a friend of Eric's--came over. Kids weren't invited to the reception (only a reception because the couple had eloped a few months earlier) but I requested and received a special dispensation to bring Nathaniel. (Of course he was a hit, but he was also very good. Grandma held him for much of the evening and he slept in his car seat for another good chunk of time!)

Sunday afternoon my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin came over to Eric's for lunch and then we headed back home. Both boys slept for most of the drive and it took almost exactly 2 hours to get home.

A few observations:

1) Little Nathaniel pretty much doubled the amount of STUFF we had to take with us!
2) I'm getting soft as an official 4 year suburbanite. My brother's neighborhood is somewhat sketchy and I was totally worried about our mini van!
3) Maybe everyone should have their wedding and reception on different days. My cousin got to wear her (stunning!) dress twice and had a totally relaxing day before the big par-tay.
4) If you take a baby to a wedding reception, arrange to have a grandmother there to hold him most of night so you can mix and mingle and dance the night away!


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!