Last week, Thursday
thru late Saturday night, we were in the city of brotherly love.
Yes
sirre, we went to Philadelphia. We left early Thursday morning, which was when I discovered that attending seminary every morning has changed my
can'tsleepinthecar disability. Now I have no problem catching
Z's in a moving vehicle. Got to the city around twelve, and went to the mint, liberty bell, independence hall, various statues, and carpenters hall all in quick
succession. Then we walked to china town and got dinner. Back at the hotel we realized that Elias, who was literally forced to bring a pair of jeans besides the ugly orange sweatpants with the hole in the knee, had accidently brought Satchels jeans, much to my deep chagrin. So, all three days in Philadelphia, Elias made a teenage boy fashion statement wherever he went. Valley Forge? Orange sweatpants. Art museum where ladies wore black dresses and high heels? Orange sweatpants. Liberty bell? Orange sweatpants and tee shirt. Ikea? Orange sweatpants. I think the only person really annoyed by this was me. Later, after the mental stress, I think it was kind of funny. Kind of. On the second day we spent the morning in the sunny beautiful fifty degree air at Valley Forge. Which, is not a small happy field, oh no, its a
honking eight thousand acre national park. May I stress the word
honking. Anyway, it was awesome, and we saw just about every place anyone who fought in the revolution laid down their heads at night.
In the afternoon we went to the Philadelphia Art Museum, and saw the works of Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, and other famous people. Some random lady told me I looked like the girl from the painting called "Girl With the Pearl Earring" Which I think was supposed to be a compliment. I will now take on the role of avid critic and advertiser. That night we went to the
awesomest Indian
restaurant ever, called
Tiffin, and stuffed ourselves full of
naan,
aloo gobi,
chana masala, and other hot stuff. I am sure unlike avid critics I have spelled every single one of those names wrong, but if you are worthy enough to know what I am talking about, then you won't have a problem.
Atticus's blue eyes charmed yet another employee, and he got a free MANGO SMOOTHIE.
That days quote is probably the many rap songs that Satchel, Elias, and
Atticus made up on the way back to the hotel. You can't believe the things giddy, full of food, wired boys can come up with late at night. "We do our
rappy, and it sounds all sappy..." The rest of them are not fit to post. They all have to do with disgusting little boy humor. Which for the life of me I will never understand why bodily functons are so hysterically funny.
The final day was my birthday. I am now a fifteen year old. That morning we went to the Delaware river, and walked in a complete circle to get to Betsy
Ross's house. We also went to the love statue, and the square with all the sculptures of game pieces. We also went to Reading Terminal Market, which cemented my belief that Philadelphia is my favorite city, much higher on the rating system then NYC. We also bought
souvenirs, and I got a hat and sunglasses, Atty got a mug, and Satchel got a
Beatles poster. Elias is another story. At first he wanted these red sunglasses with lines of plastic across the lenses. Mom told him to get something that people would take him seriously in, which must of gone in one ear and out the other, because the next thing he found was a self inflating whoopee cushion. Then mom said why spend money on something that makes noises you already can make. Anyway, he eventually found a lamp at
Ikea that he liked, and my much relieved mother happily got that instead.
That afternoon, we went to
IKEA, which in case anybody was wondering, is the best store on the entire planet. I got cool new bedroom stuff, like a mirror that shows above my neck (alas, my five feet, seven inches has shot above the height of my mirror, and you will never know how hard it is to put on mascara, or lotion, when you have to bend
wayyyyyyyy over to see your eyes:) As we drove out of the city mom told us to say goodbye to Philadelphia, which the boys took way to seriously because they spent the next twenty minutes singing
Goodbyyyyyyyyyyyyye Philadelphiaaaaaaaaaa,
Goodbyyyyyyyyye.
Goodbyyyyyyyyyye.
Goodbyyyyyyyyyye,
Philadelphiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa in voices that are worthy of the opera. We drove to our friends the Carpenters which is an understatement, because we drove past it about five times before we called, and they came out and waved to us. After a yummy dinner, and birthday brownies, we got back in the car and drove home. We got to our house around two thirty in the morning, slept in, dad went to church meetings, we drove over, Elias realized he had to play prelude on the organ, Satchel gave a scripture in primary, and dad taught a class.
Goodbyyyyyyyye Vacationnnnnnnn Goodbyyyyyyyyyye.
Pictures to come soon.
