Birthday Weekend

Happy 5th Birthday Mason!!!

We had such a fun time planning Mason's pirate party.  

If you know me at all, you know I can beat a theme to death.  

Some plans changed as we saw the temps climb into the 100's this week.  

All activities got moved inside the house.  

This made for some close quarters on our pirate adventure.  

  

We decorated treasure chests.

Then we went on a hunt for buried treasure.

Consulting the map for location of the "X".

Everyone had to walk the plank.
Watch out for the crocodiles in the water below.

 

Story time.

Thanks Ken for bringing Felix to teach our
jr mateys all about parrots.

Finally, it's cake time.

This friendly pirate was a hit and check out my tattoo.

Favorite Foto Friday!

Love this clock at Marymount University - our new weekend hangout for summer basketball league.  We are enjoying exploring Arlington as well.  So many cool places with shopping and restaurants in our "backyard" that we haven't seen yet.  Oh yeah, and there's that historical stuff too.

Gone fishin'

We had a fun-packed 4th from sun-up to sundown.
Michael took Mason fishing early in the morning. He caught two little fishies and was delighted.

The City of Brotherly Love

A few months ago, I toured Philadelphia with my mom and her friend, Doris.  I knew then that I wanted to go back with my family.  It was fun to take them back and see other things in this beautiful town that's not necessarily historic to the 1700's.  The girls have seen the Independence Hall buildings and such on school class trips and Michael played chaperone on each trip.

Our hotel was next to the ball park and after breakfast we headed into the historic district. Goals on this day were to see the Liberty Bell (Mason's request) and eat lunch at Reading Terminal Market.

 We jumped on a double decker bus tour and saw the sites of this beautiful city.

 Grabbed lunch at RTM and took it to Love Park to eat. The kids played in the fountain and we climbed on huge game pieces. There were pieces from chess, Sorry, Monopoly and very large dominos.

Betsy Ross House

We got back on the next bus and finished the tour.  Saw beautiful architecture, many sculptures and murals, fountains and several wedding parties. This is a town built on the religious freedoms rooted in the Quaker traditions.  We saw Betsy Ross' house and Ben Franklin's gravesite.   There is still so much to experience in Philadelphia that we began discussing what we would do on our next trip back.  Mason did see the Liberty Bell through the glass window.  The line wrapped around the building and the exhibit would have closed before we had our turn.  That will be our first stop next trip.

Very talented gentleman taking requests on
the hammered dulcimer.
We could have listened for much longer.

Favorite Foto Friday!