Phamily Pictures

We wanted to take family pictures in Philly before we left, in an urban setting.  Our friend-who is now a dentist- but is good enough to be a professional photographer- was kind enough to take our pictures.

On the way in he warned us there might be homeless people, and he called out a warning before we went in some urban ruins to make our presence known.  There's a homeless guy sitting on one of the beams in some of the pictures.  I won't tell you what was on the ground, suffice it to say it was pretty gross, and I washed our shoes when we got home :)

I loooove these pictures- they capture the boys' laughs so perfectly!

This is inside an old factory of some sort- we were balancing on trash.  There's a cool rusted out piece of equipment behind us.

Last Philly days...

A cool door at the baptist church...Brandon was taking the kids for a walk while I frantically packed.  They got rained on. 

We painted over our family tree...sad sad day!!!  I'm hoping Brandon will recreate it in Utah.

We found this Thomas on the street in the trash, Makett was ecstatic!

This tractor was also on the side of the road--it didn't quite work all the way, but was a great find nontheless

Totally awesome that our moving coincided with Brandon needing to study hard for his boards.  Ryme loves sitting on Daddy's lap

Goodbye preschool friends!

We loved doing our Mommy preschool!  A few pictures from the last day of school...

Students and siblings...as a side note, we are enormously lucky to have the green paintings over the couch in our house now.  More on that later :)

The fabulous five

The mom's who made it happen.  Augh!  Miss them!

Bye Subie!

Brandon bought his Subaru after his mission, in '99, and has loved it ever since.  When we were pricing our cross country move we found it would cost almost as much to ship it as it was worth.  Since I was wanting to get a bigger car anyway, we decided to sell the good ol' Subaru.  I put it on Craig's list, expecting to have it sit for several weeks.  Much to my surprise, it sold in 3 hours.  It was a great car.  Farewell, dear Subaru!

I was not prepared to be without a car my last 3 weeks in Philly.  

One day I decided to drive Brandon to work so I could have a car.  The hospital was 11 miles away, and, when traffic is good, only takes 30 minutes.  I left with the kids at 4:30 to go pick him up, thinking we'd be home in time for dinner at 5:30.  Lo and behold, the Philly traffic did what it does best, and we were stuck on the freeway for THREE FREAKING HOURS!!!!!  I didn't get to the hospital till 7:30.  My kids were champs, as I was ill prepared for a 3 hour car trip.  Luckily I had grabbed a loaf of bread off the counter on my way out. 

Philadelphia, I will never miss your traffic!

Chicken feet...to eat.

 We went to Dim Sum in China Town before I left with my Relief Society Presidency- 3 amazing women from my church who have helped me immensely the past two years and who I will miss incredibly lots!  Nary, who is Cambodian, ordered chicken feet for me to try.  She said they were her daughter's favorite.  I was very hesitant but decided I'd like bragging rights on consuming chicken feet...until I tasted it.

 The idea was to take a tiny bite--so I nibbled on the end...I wasn't prepared to bite bone!  I bit its toe---eeeeewwww!!!  I had to spit it out.  I'm not as brave as I wanted to be.

Ryme was a huge fan of Dim Sum!

Kareoke

As a final Philly girl's night out, Ini arranged for a karaoke party at Yakitori Boy in China Town.  I'm the reason karaoke is usually done in a bar- in order for me to be an entertaining karaokier it would help to have a few drinks first!  We had a fabulous time...although I couldn't think about it being my last time or I'd cry.

Final Schuylkil River ride with Daddy

Brandon took the boys on one last ride along the Schuylkill River (I still can't spell it!)

The boys still talk about this dragon statue frequently

Farewell to Long Beach Island

 Katie took us to Long Beach Island for the day, it was heavenly!  I can't believe we've lived so close to the ocean (75 minutes) and we've gone so few times!  Sad!!  We had an absolutely lovely day and I wish we'd gone more!  Kett spent a little more time in the sand this time than last, Tanny loved the water, and Ryme was a happy camper playing in, and eating, the sand.

Kate brought bubbles...

The boys had a blast looking for shells

We wished Brandon could have come!

Sand Angels...considering Kett wouldn't take off his shoes because he hates the sand, I was pretty impressed!

The boys kept burying a toy...then loosing it, repeat.

Thank you Katie!  Plan on an LBI reunion in a few years!