Phil-da-love!

We love to walk around Center City, and went to Love Park in honor of Drew. Apparently Love Park was one of the top 3 skating sites in the world, until the city decided to ban skateboarding there in 2002.

These skaters were willing to risk the $300 fine to skate! If you want to help them avoid fines, check out http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/index.htm.

Perhaps this is why it was named Love Park? Jk, actually, these lucky souls are tumbling off of the roof of TGI Friday's...would love to know the story behind it!

Logan Square...one of the 5 original parks that William Penn set aside when he planned Philadelphia. We're really grateful for his dedication to open spaces, as we love to escape to Fairmount park!

More random sculptures that I'd love to know the story behind. This square is filled with game pieces--from Monopoly, Sorry, Chess, Checkers, and Dominoes. We couldn't figure out what the big blue circles were--they have white letters and numbers written on them. Let me know if you're familiar with the game they're from!

Khylo's new friend!

Michael, one of Brandon's young men, is now Khylo's best friend! He was hiding Easter eggs for Khylo to find. Khylo loved chasing the eggs...come play again soon Michael!

Crazy Khylo!

Khylo loves to roll on things...generally things that humans would consider repulsive (so if you come to our house and he starts rolling on your shoes, you can be assured that he thinks they smell wonderfully...then you might want to get them cleaned :) Anyway, apparently he also loves the smell of wool, as he was freaking out over our new rug. For some reason the sound isn't working, sorry!

Around Philly...

I think Philly has to be one of the most diverse, random and interesting cities out there!

We decided we needed to start documenting the cool and interesting sights around town. Unfortunatly, we usually forget our camera, but we're going to try to do better at recording the interesting sights we find!

There are cool murals everywhere--on buildings, bridges, overpasses, walls...we love it! The fuzzy one is actually really cool, although it's hard to tell at 40 mph...it says "Peace."

We also love the statues everywhere. There are tons! This is a statue of a Native American Healer. There's not much information on the statue, it's just sitting quietly on the corner. I'm always stopping to read the historical signs that are on every block...even in our neighborhood. It's amazing to me to be somewhere with so much history. The west definitely seems more boring!

Click on this picture to see the building better. It's pretty interesting to look at, even if it does look like the setting from the book "Series of Unfortunate Events." I love the floating door on the third floor.

Double-click to enlarge this one too! These are really typical Philly row homes, that definitely have character...and they're pretty big too! (yes, my definition of large has certainly decreased!)

Visitors!

Brandon's brother Brett & his wife Shelby came to visit us during Christmas break. It was great having them here, although I felt bad that their trip coincided with my short trip to Utah, so I didn't get to hang out with them as much as I would have liked to! The good thing is that they'll be moving to DC in June...yea! It will be nice to have family back east :)

Brett & Shelby in front of City Hall

Shelby in front of the Valley Forge National Memorial Arch

We're collecting pictures of us with people in front of the Liberty Bell...this was the 6th time I've been in the six months we've lived here, and I still enjoy it! All of the history here continues to fascinate me!

Our weekend in the Pocono Mountains!

We decided to take advantage of Brandon having his only week of vacation this year, so we decided to go somewhere special.

"Aruba, Jamaica...(no, too expensive and far)...ooh! I wanna take ya to the Poconos." We got there slow, and went fast!
***You need Brandon to sing it to get the full effect :)

Raymondskill Falls:

Khylo loves to hike, but dogs weren't allowed on some of the trails, so we had to carry him.

The spray from the Falls made the ground pretty icy!

Brandon liked this picture of the poor, unfortunate and uncautious stick-man.

Shohola Falls:

We spent much longer finding Shohola Falls than we spent appreciating their beauty.

Dingman's Falls:

Spectacular! We had to hike in to the trailhead, and once we got there, we found out that dogs weren't allowed on this trail either. I don't think Khylo minded!

We hiked clear to the top, it was amazing!

The Appalachian Trail:


One of the few patches of snow we found, although they got a snowstorm today.

We were amazed at how green it was. We're excited to go back in the summer...if it's this green in January, it must be amazing in June!


There were really cool mosses everywhere. This type of moss almost looked like miniature pine-trees. (double-click on the picture and you'll see what I mean!)

Brandon's New Years...

Brandon had an incredibly exciting New Years...he got to spend it at the hospital, working! Just another "perk" of being an intern--he gets to work a lot!