Making up for lost time...

Hannah investigates some packaging we got in the mail the other day.

Some pics, including a few pics from the Spring Break trip and our amazing meal at DeLorenzo's...

cheers!

it's been so long...

Pictures!!! of the last month...

Here's part of the last month's recap:

Hallo!!  I am writing from the passenger seat with about 2 more hours of driving to go until we reach home.  It's been quite a month and we've neglected the blog in a heinous way – my apologies.  I suppose we should work backwards…

SPRRRRIIIIINNNNGGG BRRREEEEEEAAAAAAK!!!

Dan, Hannah and I left last week to drive to Bethlehem, PA –where Dan's family lives.  We were going to surprise Jen (Dan's older sister) and her kids Maddie and Willie since they can't get enough of Uncle Danny.  We were successful in surprising them, and as an added bonus they got Hannah and me as well.  Hannah proved to win best supporting actor in this trip – with the kids warming up the Hannah like butter on toast.  We spent most of the week relaxing at his parent's house.  Hannah enjoyed her days sleeping in the middle of the sunrays in the living room as well as outside in the expansive backyard.  Dan and I got to catch up on a lot of TV – which is one of our favorite things to do during vacations…Dan showed me around his old stomping grounds, and we explored some new restaurants and local brews.  We cooked a yummy meal of pork tenderloin with mango salsa, jalepeno cornbread, and roasted brussel sprouts and grilled zucchini on a beautiful Sunday evening while sipping some Good People beers we brought up from the Deep South.  Dan and I were ready for a chilly Spring Break but were super lucky with the weather for the most part…sun, warm 60-70 temps – so nice.  Dan, Caroline (the middle sis), and I drove into Philly on a fine east coast day.  Dan hadn't been to Philly in quite some time, and I was a newbie.  Caroline drove us into the city (only about an hour n a half!) and we started the morning off right by comparing two philly cheese steak standbys – Pat's and Geno's.  They are conveniently located across the street from each other just south of downtown Philly.  Dan had told me how there is a correct way and an incorrect way to order a cheese steak – if you want onions, you say "wit" as in "with onions"…you do NOT however say "with onions" lest you wish to be castigated by the person taking your order – which, at both joints, were large surly philly men…we got both our cheese steaks "wit whiz" which is with onions and cheese whiz, the standard – so delicious.   We unanimously agreed that Geno's had our #1 vote out of the two places – for their bun, placement of cheese (below the meat where it would mingle with the meat juice and permeate each bite of the bun), and onions which were larger and tastier.  Not that we would ever shun a Pat's cheese steak from our mouths – hardly!  After that double whammie we continued what would later be deemed the start of the death march through Philly.  We walked about 2+ miles to the Mutter Museum after my navigation took a few missteps – thankfully it was a beautiful day and we got plenty of some local color.  I think the long walk was good to settle our stomachs before entering the Mutter, because it ain't for the queasy!  The Mutter Museum associated with the College of Physicians and houses some of the strangest human oddities you can possibly think of….I think Dan and I must have read about the museum separately – and it sounded interesting….from now on I think we will refer to our lives as "B.M." and "A.M." – "Before Mutter", and "After Mutter"…because after to check out that museum, things just are not the same.  There were loads of skulls on display with various anomalies and wounds (gunshot to the head being the mildest), bones of gunshot wounds from the civil war, parts of Einstein's brain, a woman (aka, The Soap Lady) who had been naturally mummified due to the correct conditions of humidity and her own fat content (soaponification), and strange skin disorders – a leg of someone who had elephantitis, various weird tumor like protusions, as well another disorder whose name I forget but is described as "a six inch horn growing out of her forehead," this woman also had a horn growing out of her hand…we were all unsure at what point you decide that a two inch horn on your forehead is not cause to go to the doctor, let alone a six inch horn, but hey, perhaps she made some money with a traveling circus.    Leather made out of human skin, amputation kits and birthing tools from the civil war  – the word "wow" comes to mind.  This was all on the top floor of the Mutter, and little did we know this floor was the just the Minor leagues…  On the bottom floor was where the scary stuff was.  Let's just say there were babies in jars people…actual babies, in actual jars – they were medical jars, not leftover spaghetti jars…The highlight was **SPOILER ALERT** a 7-foot colon of a man who died with 40 pounds of poo in his body…That is right – as a child he would not poo for over a month.  He was a regular-sized man aside from this ridiculous belly where his colon continued to grow.  Apparently he had malfunctioning nerves on his colon to tell him he needed to do his business (google image Mutter colon if you dare). 

After that highlight we all needed a drink to lighten the mood – we walked down to 13^th street where we got a table outside with some tasty margaritas with chips n salsa at El Vez.  It was a brightly colored Mexican joint that was a great resting place.  We made it up to Reading terminal which was similar to Pike Place Market in Seattle, except with a lot more food vendors.  We got some ice cream at Bassett's, a brew at Molly Malloy's, and then walked over to 9^th and Filbert, which is made infamous by reality TV's Parking Wars…we continued the loop over towards Penn's Landing and stumbled a great section of town off of South street where we sat for a drink to people watch.  Just as South street was getting hoppin' we exited the city, super content in our day of exploring Philly.

We left Friday morning after a wonderful week relaxing in PA - thanks to the family for hanging out with us and making the trip super fun!   It was great to meet the rest of the family and introduce Hannah to them.  We had some amazing food and great laughs over the week...

We stopped in Blacksburg, VA to visit Virginia Tech and see what the hubbub that Corianne had been spoutin' about her alma mater, a very cool place indeed.  After exploring the campus a bit on foot with Hannah, we relaxed in the sun at The Cellar and shared a pita pizza (Hawaiian pizzas are always made better by the addition of bacon) then headed to Radford, VA where the closest La Quinta Inn was located.  We spent the night relaxing with some TV (I told you we loved it during vacations) and a quick dip in the whirlpool that came with the room – no more standard rooms left for the night…Hannah slept like a rock.  Next day we drove into Knoxville, TN for a lunch and quick drive around tour of the city - turns out Knoxville is pretty darn cool!!!  The sunsphere is not the only draw of Knoxville (thank you to The Simpsons for introducing us to that American landmark) - the downtown was an awesome market that reminds me of the ones we would stumbled upon in Spain...

...to be continued...