Philadelphia

We decided to ride Septa up to Philadelphia for the day.  It was HOT and of course our train was an hour late, but we still had a lot of fun.  We visited the Academy of Natural Sciences and had a nice lunch in the city.

 

Patiently waiting for her train

Oh no!

My camera battery died right after these pictures which was as soon as we arrived at the museum.  Bummer!

In one of her moods

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

We had such a fun 4th of July!  Sure, we skipped out on the fireworks, but who needs them?  Our dog is terrified of them, and who knows what the reaction would be from Matty and Gracie?  We figured we could buy ourselves another year before we had to sit in traffic in order to sweat and get eaten by bugs!  The kids are getting big so fast - we will probably enjoy the fireworks in a year or two.  But there is no need to rush them! :)

So instead, we went to a super fun BBQ at Nanny & Pa's house!  We had great food, lots of laughs, and we even ended the day with some fireworks of our own.

Brady is proud to be an American where he can get all you can eat treats!



American Cuties!



Despite what you may think, they don't really love getting their picture taken!  haha!  They will thank me one day... maybe!

Cleanin' up

Ever wonder what happens when you add hand soap to the dishwasher?

Good thing the workin' man was there!

Lovin' on Nanny & Pa



I love how Matty is protecting his lil sis here!



Aw... sibling love....

Until they are beating each other with their glow sticks.  Sigh....

Gettin' around in her cast.  Nothing can stop this girl!

Roadtrip to Connecticut

Last weekend we took a little roadtrip up to Connecticut to visit our good friends, Jim, Bethany, and Bella.  They had a big 4th of July Gala on Saturday, so we stayed in a hotel on Friday night so we weren't in the way of the party prep. 

The kids had a great time in the hotel - it was like a little adventure to them.  They went swimming in a nice pool and went to breakfast at the hotel restaurant in their jammies!  Gracie was a little confused and kept calling the hotel her "beach house."  Ha!  She thought she was at the beach.  She kept asking us, "What are all these people doing in my beach house?!"

While in CT, we even got to meet up with a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in over 2 years.  It was such a great little adventure for our little family!

Playing "babies" on the bed in our hotel

The Armstrong's 4th of July Gala was such a great time.  They definitely went above and beyond, and everything was perfect.  They had amazing food, very tasty drinks, lots of activities for the kids, and fireworks. 

Playing Baggo

We felt so special with a parking space to call our own

There were lots of very nice, well-behaved kids to play with!

I love this picture.  Gracie has a strut and a look on her face that says, "Bring It!"  She was upset that there was no purple ball with the croquet set, so she went and found her own :)

Phone Picture Dump

Gracie Girl and Matty are some wild and crazy kids!  They are into rough-housing, and I must say a million times a week, "someone's going to end up getting hurt!"  Ha!  This is one line that I definitely remember my mom saying often during my childhood! 

And someone always does get hurt...  Poor Gracie ended up in A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital ER after Matty landed on her foot.  She could not put any weight on it.

She's very good at being spoiled!

The doctor did not think there was a fracture, but sent Gracie home with a boot to wear while she waited for an appointment with Orthopedics.

Sporting her boot!

Matty is very proud of the tomatoes that he grew at Grandma's house!

Official 4th of July cupcake tester

We stopped at a rest stop on our way to CT.  The kids had Burger King for the first time.  They were less than impressed with the food (Yuck - I agree!), but they loved their crowns!

BFF - aka TROUBLE

Crazy bonfire in CT

This is what the minivan looked like when we arrived home from CT.  I'm still cleaning up fishies.

The morning after returning from CT, we had an appointment with Orthopedics at A.I.  The doctor was certain that Gracie had a small fracture and ordered a cast.  She was pleased with the color options!

Despite her broken foot, girlfriend can still bust a move!

The working man and his supervisor

Just a silly pic

My sweet boy who starts his first summer camp next week!