Happy Birthday Alex and Cassandra

Alex and Cassandra's birthdays are quite close.  When Alex was here they would share family parties and have their own friends party.  Now Skyping is our friend.  I had a lovely chat with Alex on his birthday.  It is fun being able to see him on his birthday.  Cassandra is in denial of turning 9.  She was born at 8:26 and has declared she is not 9 until such time today.  That did not stop her from getting her birthday pictures and Dutch Brothers earlier.  I am very blessed to be the mother of these two full of life individuals.  Happy birthday Alexander and Cassandra, and many blessings ahead.

God bless and have a great day.
Alicia

This has been such a big year for you Son, Love you!

Camping

Gender reveal

Baby almost here

Handsome father and son

The Surprise and the Zoo

The other day I was looking out the window while folding laundry.  I saw some people coming toward our door.  It was the weirdest feeling as they approached because it was my son Alex, Ivy and Weston.  I did not know they were coming and it totally caught me off guard.  I dropped my laundry ran to the front door and was filled with such delight.  That is the kind of surprise mamas love.  Danika heard me squealing and ran to the door, also quite shocked and overwhelmed.  It was so special.  The kids all ran to the door and it was wonderful.

Alex and Ivy's needed a new car and my hubby is supper at finding good reasonably priced cars.  He found them a car and we went and picked it up.  I was very concerned about how we would get them the car and tried to solve the problem.  David kept assuring me that they were adults and would figure it out.  I really didn't want them to have to drive here and then one of them drive back with the baby and no one to watch the baby, because both of them would be driving separate cars.  But here they were on my doorstep.

It was a great day, and we quickly threw together a BBQ.  We were already keeping August, because it was Brent and Latisha's anniversary (3 years, wow) and they were going out.  My parents and nephew did get to join us and we had a great time.  Alex had to head back the next day, but Ivy and Weston were able to stay a couple more days.  What a blessing.  My mom drove back with Ivy so they wouldn't be alone and it all came together smoothly.

On Monday we were able to have a zoo day.  I got some fun pictures.  Such a happy place.  Here are some fun pictures.  God bless and have a great day.

Alicia

The BBQ

Weston showing an interest in dessert

August loved running around

 

The boys

Our crew at the zoo

It is way too tempting not to climb

The zoo had a classroom set up and Cassandra wanted to be the teacher

They played along

Isn't he sweet

Happy Boy and auntie

look at this little man

Boston Trip Part Three

The next day we decided to explore Harvard.  It is a beautiful campus, although not quite as amazing as Princeton's campus, but still very nice.  We saw a building where several of our founding fathers stayed while attending Harvard and where George Washington had housed troops during the Revolutionary War.  The library looked amazing from the outside but without a pass you could not enter.  Graduation set up was all around the campus and families from all over the world were exploring the campus.  There was a church in the middle of the campus called the Memorial Harvard Church.  It intrigued me, so, Sunday we attended service there.

By noon we headed back to the apartment and ate left overs from the previous night.  David had a lot of work, so I headed back on the subway to do some more exploring of Boston.  I wanted to find the statues where the All About Ducklings book's setting was and see some buildings we didn't get to the day before.  Plus I needed to get gifts for the kiddos.  I was looking for a snow globe of Boston.  One of the venders recommended Walgreens down the street.  Sure enough, there were snow globes and many more souvenirs priced cheeper then the venders.  I felt safer purchasing my goodies there, so I felt like that was perfect.  I really enjoyed the Boston Community Park, where the duck statues were and what a beautiful pond it had.  Many people were there and several Brides dressed up taking pictures. Once back to Cambridge I visited the worlds only Curious George Store and picked up a few books for the kids.

The next day was Sunday, where I have already stated we went to church, and then had a wonderful lunch at Border Cafe.  It was time to get a cab to the airport and head home.  How thankful I am for the opportunity to visit the east coast again.  I am so grateful to God for our country and those that fought and died for the freedoms we hold so dear.  History isn't an unimportant past, it is something we need to know and learn from.  How wonderful it was to go and see these historical sights and experience history today.  Thank you for letting me share.  God bless and have a great day.

Alicia

one of several memorial statues, in honor of our fallen soldiers

entering Harvard

If I understood correctly, this is where several of the founding fathers
stayed while attending Harvard and where George Washington's troops stayed

one of the Libraries

The church bell

Looking at the church and the preparations for graduation setup beginning

the campus theater

the statue of Harvard, where apparently it is a thing to touch his foot

The worlds only Curious George store

The statues of the ducklings

a boat taking people for a ride on the pond
the the adorable ducks dipping for food

a statue of George Washington

another look at the Pond where if I recall correctly, the ducks in the book
lay their eggs

Church service, a lovely church, the picture isn't as beautiful as the church

Our final meal 

Boston Trip Part Two

The trip from Philadelphia to Boston is tricky.  We just let google take us there and it took us through North New York City.  I was so excited to be seeing the buildings and area as we crossed George Washington Bridge, it almost made the traffic not that bad, off course, I was not driving.  After we got over the bridge things got a little tricky and we missed our exit.  We drove around the Bronx and saw a smoking car, a street fenced off, with police and news television crew.  They might have filming a show but it looked pretty real.  We circled back where we were supposed to be and off we were, glad to be out of the crazy traffic.

Friends of ours were attending Harvard University.  They offered to let us stay at their apartment while they were out of town.  What a huge blessing.  Hotels in Boston are terribly overpriced around graduation, we felt hugely blessed to stay at their apartment.  The next morning we turned in our car and tried out the subway.  Off we went for our Boston adventure.  We began with a tour of the Freedom Trail.  I was not impressed with our tour guide and would not recommend the tour we were on.  After she (the tour guide) was done talking (a lot, and very little about what I wanted to know) we set off on our own.  The Freedom Trail in Boston is a red, mostly bricked line that leads to many historical site.  We had a wonderful map that explained the different buildings and we had a great time exploring.

Our friends that lived there had given us a list of things we could do there.  It was so helpful.  For dinner we went to a recommended restaurant, then Mikes Pastry for dessert.  It was a wonderful day, full of great memories.  A couple times when we took out of map we had very friendly people that asked if they could help us and they directed us in the right direction.

Looking at NYC as we crossed the bridge

lots of cars trying to get to where they are going

ready to take the red line to Boston from 

On our tour

Boston Harbor 

A lobster roll for lunch, quite yummy

Paul Revere's home

Inside the North church where the lanterns were hung for Paul Revere,
apparently you would purchase your seat at church

Outside the north church

The Bunker hill memorial

Because of the heat we weren't allowed to climb the monument
but it was still very majestic to see

Old Ironside.  I felt like I was walking through our history books

very yummy restaurant

our dinner.

More tomorrow, have a blessed day.
Alicia