Philadelphia -- May 9, 2014

My parents came out to PA and visited our little family!  It was so much fun to have them.  We wish all family could come and visit with us.

To say that we did a lot of sight seeing and traveling while my parents were visiting is an understatement.  We went everywhere!  Unfortunately, just before my parents came I got sick with a nasty head cold that eventually traveled down to my chest.  So I didn't wear much make-up as my eyes were watering on occasion.  Not to mention, I was just too tired to put make-up on.  Luckily, I started feeling better a few days after they arrived.

Our first stop during their visit was in Philadelphia.  Mom and Dad took a red-eye flight into Philly (bless their hearts), and then we picked them up at the airport.

My parents lived in Philadelphia when they were first married as they were attending school, so our first sight seeing adventure was to drive by their old house where they lived.  It was fun to listen to them reminisce about their memories of that house.  I can somewhat relate now that we no longer live in our Iowa home.  I hope we can one day drive by our Iowa home 30 years from now with Hannah.

We also drove by their former church building their ward met in.  It is no longer owned or associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It looked like a really neat building as it was not the average layout for an LDS chapel.

We then headed over to the dental school, and toured the building.  There have been many changes and additions since my Dad was there, but it was still fun to see.  I liked the gargoyles on the building.  I only took one picture inside the building.  There were several dental students working on patients, and I didn't want to violate any HIPPA confidentiality.  Gotta love HIPPA.

After touring the dental school, we went and got some Philly cheese steak sandwiches at Pat's King of Steaks.  I have never had a Philly cheese steak before, but I've been interested in eating at least one in my lifetime. I was holding out for the true experience of eating a true Philly cheese steak sandwich in Philadelphia. Honestly, it was pretty good.  Very, very greasy and definitely not weight watcher friendly, but it is something you do at least once in your life.

While we were trying to get to the restaurant that made the Philly cheese steaks, we ran into a MAJOR traffic jam, and got completely barricaded by the cops.  There were several white vans and large crowds everywhere.  I saw a woman wearing a red, white and blue dress being photographed, but I couldn't make out who it was.  Since we were stuck in traffic, my Mom and Dad decided to get out of the car and walk to the restaurant to order and pick up the sandwiches.  Of course, once they got out of the car traffic started moving.  Go figure.  I had Nathan park a little ways away, and I ended up meeting my parents on foot to help navigate them back to the car.  When I met up with my parents, my Mom informed me of what all the commotion was about.  It turns out that Wendy Williams (pictured below and photo courtesy gettyimages.co.uk) was hanging around the same place we were trying to go for lunch.  All I could think of was "I'm glad it wasn't Oprah.  We would have been stuck there all day!"

After a very filling lunch, we drove over to Independence Hall.  We could not tour the hall as there were no more tours for the day (bummer), but we were able to walk around the grounds. We also got to see the Liberty Bell as well, which was pretty cool.

After Independence Hall, we drove down the Italian Market, saw all the fresh produce and raw meat hanging from the butchers ceilings.  We also stopped at a place called Isgros that was by the Italian market. Apparently, they make world famous Cannoli's.  So, we ordered four and they were very yummy!

We then drove around downtown Philadelphia.  One building that we saw was City Hall.  It was in a round about so I took picture from the front and the back.

We also drove by the Philadelphia Temple.  It's under construction, but it was neat for my parents to see this.  This temple is located right downtown, and it is going to be a fantastic addition to Philadelphia. I'm excited for it's completion in 2016.

We also drove by the Rodin Museum and saw the famous statue "The Thinker."  Sorry it's not a great photo.  I took it as we were driving by.

By this time it was starting to get late and we were getting tired (especially my parents) so we drove to the hotel and got checked in.  We still needed to eat dinner though so we headed down a few blocks to a place called Saladworks.  Since we stuffed our stomachs with greasy and unhealthy food throughout the day, we decided we needed some produce for dinner, and salads won that vote.  Ironically, after we ate dinner, my parents and Nathan ordered malts from a diner a few blocks down the way for dessert. So much four healthy eating.

After eating dinner (and for some, dessert) we arrived back at the hotel and my Mom surprised Hannah with some play jewelry (3 necklaces, 3 bracelets, and 3 rings).  You can tell by Hannah's expression how elated she was at her surprise present.  It was really, really adorable.