Happy Birthday Grammy!

My parents came to visit from Kansas for a few days. It was so wonderful to have them here! We were lucky enough to have my mom here on her birthday, so we had a little fiesta. We had enchiladas, fajitas, all the fixin's and homemade salsa. Then, for entertainment, Brittany made a pinata. We took it outside and the kids had a ball.

Everyone took a whack (even Grammy and Nate...though there are no pictures to proove it)...

But it was ultimately Alex who broke it open!

The kids swarmed the candy and collected it...as if it wasn't the same candy that has been sitting in our house since Halloween. I guess seeing it fall out of a pinata makes it exciting again.

After the pinata we came back inside for cake and ice-cream. Happy Birthday, Grammy! We are so glad we got to spend it with you!

Philadelphia

Andy had a conference to speak at in Philadelphia, so the kids and I decided to join him and make a little family vacation out of it. We stayed in a hotel across the street from Sesame Place, and the kids could hardly contain their excitement just waiting to go there. We spent one day in Philadelphia seeing the sights. We waited in line to see the Liberty Bell, so that we could literally stand in front of it for two seconds. It was our own fault though, we had to leave to take a tour of the city on the Ducks...and the Mack family always believes in cutting it close! The Duck tour of the city was fun, but Nate was a little scared as we approached the Delaware River at full speed. I think he believed Daddy when he said the Duck would go under water (but only for a second). Once we survived the initial plunge, Nate was okay. :)

My favorite part of the city was having a Philly Cheesesteak for lunch! Yum!

Sesame Place was the highlight of our trip. We stayed all day and had a great time. It is both a water park and amusement park, so that explains our funky attire. All the kids' favorite ride was the roller coaster...and the water slides...or the teacups...wait, maybe the pool...

We got to have dinner with the Sesame Street Characters, and that was awesome. The characters came to the tables to visit, which the kids loved. Alex even shared some of his cookie with Cookie Monster (and I was quite shocked when Cookie Monster actually took it).

This is probably obvious, but we forgot our camera for most of our adventures except Sesame Place. So, here are a few more pictures of that day... :)

Better now than never...

We think this speaks for itself... and the due date is the 30th of December.

God bless us all & may we all be blessed by life, liberty and our pursuits for happiness.