Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp

About a mile or two down the road from us is Lehigh University. Each year it hosts the Philadelphia Eagles training camp for about three weeks starting at the end of July. The public is allowed to come and watch most of the practices and in addition to that they have a kids area with some inflatable slides and such. We didn't have a whole lot going on yesterday so we decided to check it out. Tomorrow all the veterans or the big name people arrive so I thought it would be best to go when the crowds wouldn't be as big. John-David has to work almost every day for the next three weeks so it was just me and the kids who went out for this adventure.
I really had no idea what I was doing but we found a spot on the bleachers that was pretty much right in front of the players. The offense and the defense were scrimmaging against each other so it was like we were watching a game. Now I have seen quite a few football games in my life time and I know the basics of the game but this was meant to be a dad/son bonding time. Jackson was asking me all sorts of questions and I was doing my best to answer but I think all the men around me were wondering where this kid's dad was because his mom should not be explaining football to him. I agree.
Jackson really enjoyed watching the practice but unfortunately his sisters weren't as interested. As soon as the meager offering of a snack I brought ran out so did the interest of his sisters.
This is a picture of a bunch of men that I don't know the names of that make a lot of money playing football.
I decided we better leave the bleachers before a real melt down begun from Kelsey. However trying to remove Jackson from the practice started a meltdown from him.
He was still mad about leaving at this point.
I can see why they have the training camps here. It is such a beautiful area that is so green. Down the street from Lehigh University is the Saucon Valley Country Club that hosted one of the LPGA 's tournaments a few weeks ago. But with the green comes a lot of rain to make it that way.
The play area was also free, my kind of activity:) Jackson didn't stay mad long once he saw the big slide. Even Kelsey got to go down it.
The bounce house was under the slide. This was Kelsey's favorite. The slide was a little steppe for her liking.



This was the tackling obstacle course. Jackson and Jocelyn loved it. Jackson loved tackling the obstacles. We could use one of these at our house.

We had a fun time at the training camp but I think that we are still Buckeye fans(their gear is a whole lot cheaper). We haven't joined the Philadelphia Eagles band wagon yet although Jackson got an Eagle Stamp on his hand and he says he is never going to wash it off. So far he has been successful in keeping it. But I think we'll bring along our dad next year.

Anniversary Trip to Philadelphia

For our anniversary this year we took a day trip to Philadelphia. Richard and Jenny watched our kids so we could actually go on a date! We went through Chinatown, which we did on our honeymoon in San Fransisco, on our way to Reading Terminal Market.

Reading Terminal Market to an eclectic grouping of shops from Amish to Mexican selling anything from food to shirts. They just happen to be having an ice cream tasting festival which was very fitting for the two biggest ice cream fans. After enjoying some ice cream and lunch, we wandered over to the city building. It's a massive building in the middle of the street. We then drove to the historical part of town where Independence Hall was located. While we waited for our tour to start we went and took a picture with the Liberty Bell. The cracks still there:)


Here is Independence Hall.Here is a court room used back in the day. Notice the cage like box in the right hand corner. That was where the accused stood the whole time during trial. I guess they were trying to get you use to prison.


This is where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. Nothing in the room is original expect the chair found at the main front desk. I would imagine this was used for the chairman of the committee. It's pictured close up below. In a separate building there is a display of a copy of the Declaration of Independence but during peak visiting months like the summer they actually display an original. There are very few originals left so it was cool to see the real deal. We couldn't take a picture of it so just imagine it.

After the tour we walked to Washington park and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was quite an interesting park. There were some homeless people, families with children, sunbathers in bikinis and students studying. A good people watching park I guess. We have some friends moving to Philadelphia next year and on our way back to Jenny and Richard's we saw a few places downtown that Barbara and Jared might like. What do you think Barb, it's not far from Wills?

Dad's First Paycheck

Jacobsburg Park

A few weeks ago after dad had been on call, I convinced him to take us to a park. We brought a grill and cooked up some hamburgers, and then roasted some marshmallows. It sort of felt like we were in the mountains but the picnic areas were mowed and the bathrooms were flush. Those amenities were pretty nice. The kids really were into the marshmallow roasting, especially Kelsey.

Tour of Bethlehem

A few weeks ago we decided to explore downtown Bethlehem to pass the time until dad got home. We discovered it was a pretty fun, quaint place with lots of history. This building apparently is one of the oldest buildings in Bethlehem. I believe it was built during the 1740's. Bethlehem was established by some members of the Moravian Church during that time period.
This is the Moravian Star that you see on everything. They even have a big one on the hill that is lit at night. I would like one to hang from our door but apparently they are not cheap. Maybe for Christmas.

This is the sign for the Moravian Book Shop (as if you couldn't figure it out for yourself). I guess this is suppose to be the oldest book store in the U.S..

The bookstore takes up a good portion of the block and had some neat things inside. We only saw some of them because I was worried about my kids breaking something:)
Due to the fact this is "The Christmas City" they sell Christmas decorations year round. These photos are for Kaicie. There is another shop in town that's pretty big called the Christmas shop. I have yet to make it there but it also sells decorations year round.
We didn't look at the stuff too long because they had some very beautiful glass decorations.
According to a brochure we got when we moved here, Bethlehem has more historical buildings than colonial Williamsburg, VA. We decided to check out the little village of them just down the hill past the one in the picture. Before we headed down we saw some buildings next to this one that looked interesting. Jackson of course spotted St. Luke's Hospital in the distance. You can't really see it very well through the haze but it's the grouping of red buildings on the hill. Jackson can spot any billboard, building, ambulance or sign for St. Luke's anywhere. He's a big fan of "his dad's hospital".


This is the Moravian Church.
This the Bethlehem Hotel which is also very old but really fancy now. We had a new resident function there and it was very nice. I don't think we'll be staying there anytime soon.
There are a bunch of buildings like this one just down the hill. They are all original buildings from the 1700's.
Here is another view of St. Luke's. Come and visit us we'll give you a tour of the whole city...maybe even St. Luke's.

Sew Easy

Last week my sister-in-law Jenny made some super easy and cute skirts for my girls. They were so easy that I thought I would try one myself. Now I haven't sewn a ton and if it requires much more than a straight stitch I am in trouble. But these skirts were that easy and didn't require more than a straight stitch. I made one for Jocelyn and then one for Kelsey the following day. I actually could make them in one afternoon which is my kind of project. The girls wore them to Jocelyn's dance class today and one of the other moms asked me if they were a certain designer's skirt. I was pretty impressed with myself to get my skirts mistaken for some fancy skirt. Maybe I'll start making all my girls clothes....... I could just make this skirt in a bunch of different colors:) Now I just have to figure out how to make boy shorts. Jackson didn't want to be left out of the fun and asked for a pair of shorts to match the girls, in the same floral print. He said he would wear them when gardening in the yard so he would match the flowers. I think he is needing a little more time hanging out with boys. I think all the estrogen he is with all day long is getting to him.