family, philly, friends

The goal of Monday and Tuesday was to spend as much time with these two as possible.  To help make this short 4 weeks in America a lot easier on our family, Barb and Keith (Matt's mom and dad) flew up to Philly to see us right where we were, and after a wonderful day together at Seeds of Greatness on Sunday, we all set apart Monday and Tuesday for good family time!

On Monday, that meant going to one of the places where Barbie grew up, at Ocean City NJ.  While the water was waaaayyyyy to icy for our Caribbean kiddos, the boardwalk was beautiful!

The girls just wanted to ride rides with their brave grandparents, anyway :)

Lily has been studying American History all year, and so Tuesday we all headed to downtown Old City Philly to take her to some of the amazing places she's studied. 

 

To be fair, we never studied Philly Cheesesteaks.  But the girls had never had one :)

That fueled us for the liberty bell, and Lily made us read every single plaque.  She was utterly fascinated, which drew Sofie's interest....so much fun.  SO much rich history.

As I was saying this to Sofie, "Sofie!  Look at what a rich history we have as Americans!" she does a double take and says, "WHAT?!?  We're AMERICANS???  I thought I was HAITIAN!"  

mom. fail.

Listening to stories of how things used to be...

Visiting the tavern where Washington and Franklin and Jefferson used to go for drinks after long days of meetings in Independence Hall.

These, folks, are really awesome grandparents.

Benjamin Franklin's grave...

The room where both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were debated and adopted, where Abraham Lincoln spoke, where his body was brought.  Lily and I have read book after book about what went on in this room.  It was amazing to stand there with my little family, a Haitian-American blend of this kingdom and not yet, and to be thankful.

The Liberty Bell behind the glass, with the reflection of Independence Hall.

If you ever have a chance to go to Old City Philadelphia, give it a whole weekend and wear your walking shoes...there is SO much to do and see.  Take your kids!

Malcolm and Cindy (my dad and his wife) joined us all at City Tavern for dinner, and then we saw Grammy and PopPop off back to Florida.  So thankful for their fun, gracious, loving hearts for us, and for their constant prayers and desire to be where we are...even when it's not easy to find us :)

Today we had a fun day at Aunt Lisa's with Dad and Cindy, Lisa and all the girlies, doing crafts, playing in the yard and catching up. 

Then, we headed back to Jersey for dinner with our besties...who we live next door to most of the year, but still can't wait to hang out with after 1000 miles, this time to celebrate Ethan's 17th birthday and driver's license!  

Dad and Cindy head back to Ohio in the morning, and we get our long awaited family fun day tradition with Lisa, Adam, Evie, Jayla and baby...Sesame Place!

So thankful for this whirlwind of dear time with family, packing all the "normal" life things with friends and family into a couple of days!