Winter Vacation

We took a little winter vacation to spend New Years with Grandma and Grandpa in North Carolina. The weather was beautiful and it is so peaceful where they live. We even managed to fit in a date-night in Charlotte!

It's Christmas Time in the City

This weekend we went downtown to visit the Christmas Village in Love Park. It has been quite cold here, but everyone still enjoyed some outdoor time. Plus, they had a heated tent full of hand-made German ornaments ("Don't touch anything! Do you realize how much that costs!") Toasted almonds. Pretzels. The girls lingered at the table full of Russian dolls. We picked up a few gifts, and then headed over to the holiday show at the Comcast Center, just a couple of blocks away. These are both fun, free family activities (until you start buying things, of course) which are open until Christmas.

Weekend

The weather was beautiful this weekend! We went on a walk along the Wissahickon, baked cinnamon buns, and watched The Two Towers with the girls. That reminds me I have to get started on their costumes for Halloween. How in the world do you make a Frodo costume?
We also made pizza and went out for the Fall For The Arts Festival in Chestnut Hill. I didn't buy anything, but left with my head full of crafty ideas. I may not get around to doing them any time soon, but that's ok.

Birthday Bowling

Someone is turning 3 tomorrow, and today we had a one-guest party with aunt Suzy visiting from New York City. The original plan was to go apple-picking, but the weather didn't look too promising so we went bowling instead. Great idea!

We did a lot of bowling over the summer, through the Kids Bowl Free program, which lets kids go bowling for free all summer long! Sarasvati just started bowling without bumpers, and Dave asked me to mention his new personal best of 177, including his first ever turkey (triple strike)!

And the birthday boy? He had a blast bowling, but spent most of the time sitting on a chair, looking through a toy magnifying glass.

Corn Maze!

On Tuesday we headed out to visit Cherry Crest Farm in Lancaster. It is an "adventure farm" with a huge corn maze, a petting zoo, and lots of other activities. We have been there a couple of times before and it's always been great fun! This week they had home-school week (reduced admission!) with some extra activities, like a butter-making workshop for the kids. It rained in the morning, but since it was the only day that worked for us we packed up our rain coats and went anyway. Luckily, the weather eased up and it turned out to quite a nice day!

The maze is huge. It took us almost two hours to complete it, with just a little bit of help from the staff. Unfortunately, some of the corn had been damaged by hurricane Irene, but it wasn't too bad.

In the maze.

Goat kisses!

Rubber duck race!