Philly Bucket List Fun!

The City of Brotherly Love.

We have another bittersweet goodbye in our near future. We are leaving Philly in a few short days. We have loved the adventure of living in Philadelphia, but in a way we are ready to move on to the next stage of life. It's been a fun experience, living in a place that we never thought we would live, trying things we never thought we'd try. We had a few items left on our Philly bucket list, so we have spent the month of July trying to cross everything off the list. I think we've done a pretty good job. We will leave here with a lot of great memories! Here is what the last month has looked like...

Lots of beautiful, sunny days and time spent at the park.

Caterpillar.

Funny story:

Kylie chased a squirrel up a tree. 

Then she said, "He's smiling at me. I can see his teeth."

Needless to say, I made her slowly back away from what I believe was a rabid squirrel! :)

A trip to our favorite orchard!

Linvilla!

Visiting some of our favorite restaurants for the last time.

 Han Dynasty.

Honey's!

Federal Donuts.

This was what Kylie handed me when she was done.

She said that she didn't want to eat the crust! :)

A little indoor fun when it's too hot.

Dancing at Olivia's birthday party!

The Color Run!

Two trips to the zoo with our friends!

 Teddy and Kylie.

Holly, Natalie, Kylie, and Brooks.

A fun day at Ocean City.

 The highly recommended Manco and Manco Pizza.

A James Taylor concert for me and Jon!

An exciting day at Sesame Place!

Next stop...

Happy Birthday, America!

Life is getting hectic around here again as we prepare to move and try to cram everything on our Philly bucket list in the last few weeks. This is why the 4th of July post is a bit late. We did have a wonderful weekend. On Friday, the 4th, we stayed in Philly. Our thinking was, "What better place to celebrate America's birthday than the birthplace of America?!" There were a ton of free events around the city, but Hurricane Arthur ruined our plans to check some of those events out. We did make it to the parade, which was a little odd and disappointing for the adults, but the kids seemed to enjoy it. That night we went over to Joe and Catherine's for a grill-out and to watch the fireworks in their town of Collingswood, NJ. Those were not disappointing!

On Saturday, we drove up to New York City for one last visit with the Griffiths and all THREE of their girls! We had a fun day visiting Central Park, and eating some yummy New York bagels! We also had dinner at Cilantro, which is one of Jon's favorite restaurants from when he rotated there in medical school! It was great to see them, and hard to say good-bye knowing we won't be able to visit them as frequently as we did this year!

Sunday we spent the day on the Jersey Shore at Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. Our friends have a shore house there. Having a shore house is a lot like having a lake cabin in the midwest. It seems like a ton of people have one, and half of Philly is at the shore every weekend! It was beautiful and relaxing to hang out on the beach for a couple of hours. I am still hoping to get back there one more time before we leave! Needless to say, we were all exhausted after that fun, fast-paced weekend, but it was so worth it!

Happy 4th of July from the Barlow Patriots!

Hurricane Arthur gave us a little rain on the morning of the 4th.

I am hoping that is the first and last hurricane we ever experience!

Horse and carriage in the parade.

Revolutionary War soldiers in the parade.

Fireworks in Collingswood, NJ!

Picnic in Central Park with the Griffiths.

Kylie and Ella playing in the sand.

Making giant bubbles!

Kylie, Brooks, and Ellasen jumping on the couch.

Kylie and Ella watching Frozen during "quiet" time.

The Jersey Shore!

Kylie LOVED the beach and ocean!

Brooks was exhausted.

He fell asleep immediately after we got in the car.

Jon was jealous!