Philadelphia

Each year Hyrum has the opportunity to attend a medical conference that his work will pay for.  I come along just for fun and to spend a week with my husband:)  This year we went to Philadelphia and had a great time exploring the city and learning about our Country's founding.  We ate our share of Philly cheesesteaks and got to see quite a few shows.  I look forward to this time with Hyrum each year.  I love that we can explore together and spend time just the two of us.

Walking around on the first night, had to stop by Independence Hall.  This is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and our new nations Constitution was debated.

The next morning we caught the tail end of the Sunday service being held at Christ Church.  This church was founded in 1695 and boasts it has held Sunday services for more than 300 years.  It was a beautiful old building and I enjoyed the service and the choir singing.

We got tickets and toured inside Independence Hall.  This chair (set in the aisle) is supposedly the chair used by Benjamin Franklin during the Constitution debates.  It was so neat to see the room where our country was established.

Independence Hall is a beautiful old building.  And visiting this historic spot in September was perfect.  The weather was beautiful and there weren't too many tourists!

The famous Liberty Bell

We got to see the musical "Hamilton" and it was really fun to watch in Philadelphia because so much of what happens in the musical actually happens in Philadelphia!

Walking around Philly at night.  So many fun places to see!

Hyrum and I rented a car for a day to drive down to DC.  Mostly to say hi to my brother and his wife but also to explore some new things in DC.  It has been over 20 years since I visited and they have quite a few new museums.  We went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  It has a fantastic display of artifacts and history.  

My favorite part inside the museum was this "Contemplative Court"  After walking through the exhibits, most of them very emotional and heartbreaking you come to this room of quiet with a waterfall in the center.  It is very peaceful and you can give yourself time to think and process the things you have seen and learned while visiting the museum.

Lunch with my brother Del and his wife Lori.  It was super nice of them to make time to get downtown DC to say hi!

The Memorial for WWII was a new one for me to visit.  After so much walking around it was nice to sit down and put my feet in the cool water of the fountain.

We stopped by for a quick hello with Abraham Lincoln.  This memorial always impresses me with it's sheer size and how it feels like walking into a church.  You feel like you should be reverent in his presence.

A beautiful sunset at the Washington DC mall

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was also one I had never seen before.  I'm glad I got a quick look before it got too dark.  What a great memorial to a great man!

We ran into a good friend from Hyrum's medical residency days.  Jason was one of 6 residents in Hyrum's year and we really got to love he and his wife over the 3 years we lived in Washington State. 

We explored around the Reading Terminal market and got some lunch.  It was fun to look at all the different food from all parts of the world.

We went to a Janis Joplin tribute show.  It was an OK show but it was mostly fun to watch the audience members (mostly over 60) sing along to all the songs and sometimes even get up and dance:)

We rented a couple of bikes and rode along the Wissahickon Gorge/Forbidden Drive.  This was a gorgeous dirt biking and walking trail.  Another beautiful sunny day and a bike ride through the forest, what more can you want?

There aren't many covered bridges left standing anymore so it was fun to come across one while we were biking the trail.

The covered bridge from the outside

There were lots of fun little spots to explore along the trail

Hyrum posing with the famous Native American statue along the Wissahickon river.  We trekked through some sketchy dirt paths and up steep slopes to find this guy who was very well hidden among the trees.  The view from the top was amazing and I'm glad we persevered and found the 15 foot tall statue.

From the Wissahickon trail we biked over to Fairmont Park.  You can see the Philly skyline in the background.  It was a long day of biking but we got to see some really interesting things.

We took a tour of the Barnes Foundation Art Museum.  So many wonderful pieces of artwork and a beautiful museum to walk around

This was a fun little street to explore.  Elfreth's Alley is the oldest continuously inhabited residential street in the country.  The homes were built between 1720 and 1830.  It was a fun little walk back in time to walk long this street.

We waited around a bit to get a photo with no tourists:)

Walking along the waterfront and looking across the river into New Jersey

Saw the inside of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.  

We saw a concert at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.  It was a "POPS goes to Hollywood" concert and it was so much fun.  Music from great movies but my favorite was a medley they did from the movie The Incredibles!

We ended our time in Philadelphia walking around South Philly's 9th Street Italian Market.  It's a fun outdoor market with lots of fruits and veggies and lots of Italians;)

Had to try a famous cheesesteak "wit wiz" at Pat's in South Philly.  I thought it was delicious but Hyrum didn't like the cheese wiz.

Don't mess with the Italians in Philly:)

What a great city to explore!  I loved the history and culture of Philadelphia.  You can tell the people here are proud to be from this city and their roots go deep in the communities.  I loved learning about American history and seeing the actual buildings that stood witness to so many great moments.  I loved all the fun shows we could see and the yummy food we ate.  Mostly I'm just glad to spend a few days with my husband relaxing!  Hyrum flew back to Portland after our trip but I went on to spend a few weeks in Europe...but that's for another post:)

Back to School!

Julian with his 5th grade teacher, Ms. Rider

This was the first year Julian didn't want me to bring his schultüte to the school so I had a bunch of little gifts for him on the table when he got home...he was pretty excited:)

The twins didn't start school on the same day as Julian so I took them to the Nike store and their favorite German restaurant for lunch on their last day of summer vacation

First day of 10th grade for Emerson

First day of 10th grade for Townsend

What else happened in August?

We came home from our trip to Australia to find that our garden had gone "Jurassic Park" on us!  Giant, dinosaur sized zucchini!!

I spent a week at Camp Kilowan with our Stake Young Women for girls camp.  This was my 3rd year attending girls camp.  I love being with all the girls.  We have silly times and spiritual times and lots of laughing all week long!

I somehow managed to get my van stuck in the forest at girls camp.  It was high centered so the back left wheel wasn't even touching the ground anymore...luckily one of the men had a big truck and towed me out.  Lesson learned, don't go up and down those steep hills at camp without 4 wheel drive!

I was in charge of "Service" at camp and one of the days I had the girls paint these great rocks to hide around their neighborhoods or school to brighten someones day.  I think they all had a wonderful time with this activity.  There was so much variety and creativity!

Hyrum took the boys on a hike to Mirror Lake while I was at camp

Some nice end of summer wild flowers on the hike

Our family spent 3 nights camping on the Oregon Coast at Cape Lookout.  We had amazing weather the whole time.

On our hike to Lookout Point

At the end of the hike with a great view of the Pacific Ocean

My friend Sabrina (from Germany) joined our family on our camping adventure.  She was in Portland to visit her sister but I stole her for a few days to come camping with us.  We took a little trip into town for some Tillamook ice cream...the boys wanted to stay back at camp on their iPads...what is wrong with  my kids???

Emerson and Julian enjoying the beach.  The both actually got in the ocean and played in the waves for about 20 minutes.  The water is too cold for me but they looked like they were having fun jumping in the waves

We buried Julian in the sand:)

The entrance to the "Secret Cave" in Oceanside along the Oregon Coast.  Many years ago a hotel blasted this tunnel so their guests could get from one beach to the other because during high tide you couldn't walk around the rocks to get to the beach on the other side.

Coming out of the cave on the other side.

Having fun at the beach in Oceanside

Climbing on the rocks at Oceanside

My little rock climbers

I think Julian was channeling his inner "Lion King" in this shot:)

Hyrum and the boys worked together to gather driftwood to build this "shelter".  I told them they should apply to be on "Survivor"

We rented some ATV's and had a fun couple hours driving around Sandlake Dunes

It took a while for Julian to get comfortable riding around.  He didn't like going up and down the hilly sand dunes but really enjoyed his time racing around the flats.

Emerson, Me and Townsend on our ATV's...this was just minutes before my accident.  I was a little too sure of myself and tried to go up a dune that was way too steep.  The ATV tipped over backwards onto me and then rolled over me.  It was a pretty scary incident and I don't remember much except I remember thinking, "I'm glad I have a helmet on!" as I heard the ATV crunch over my helmet.  It took me a moment to catch my breathe but I was able to ride back to the van.  When we got home the next day I went into Urgent Care for an x-ray because I was finding it really hard to breathe or walk or talk or lay down...everything hurt.  Luckily the x-ray showed just some bruising and maybe a cracked rib or two but nothing was broken.  I'm so glad it was me and not one of my kids...I just need to be super careful if I ever go out on an ATV again...those things are dangerous!

Hyrum took this photo right after the accident.  I was covered in sand from being rolled by the ATV.  I can see the pain in my eyes even though I'm smiling

I took Emerson and a bunch of his friends to Sauvie Island.  This is a summer tradition and one I'm glad we could squeeze in even though we spent most of our summer in Australia!

We took a family bike ride around downtown Portland.  I was worried it would be hard to ride with all the cars and traffic but there was a great little bike trail loop that we took all the way out to Oaks Park in Sellwood

We stopped at Camp 18 for some lunch on our way out to Seside Oregon for a little adventure over Labor Day Weekend

Julian and Daddy skipping rocks at Camp 18

Walking along the beach at Seaside

Julian played for a while in this "hot tub" that someone had dug into the beach

Family photo in Seaside

Hyrum took Julian to Goodwill and bought a super cheap CD player and a CD.  He showed Julian how it worked and the played the CD for Julian.  Then Julian had lots of fun using a sledgehammer to  destroy the CD player.  This is one of his favorite activities...destroying electronics to open them up and see all the wires and guts on the inside:)