Ellen's 10 year old trip: Philly & NY

 Daniel has planned to take both of the girls to the destination of their choice when they turn 10. Since Ellen turned 10 during the school year last year they waited until this summer to take the time off and head to her choice city--New York. On the way they stopped in Philadelphia to stay with uncle Dave and get a tour of the Historic District.

 

Besides being an amazing town for historical reasons, Ellen loved how easy it was to get vegan food! Here she is enjoying her pizza.

 This was one of her favorite spots. It was a giant (ginormous in her words) mural using all different kinds of material. This is just the outside. Apparently you can walk all through the inside.

 I'm not sure where they were in the picture below. It was one of the first banks or other governments buildings.

 Dave and Daniel out of the rain for a minute. They said they walked all over downtown and were exhausted by the end of the day.

 The oldest continuous residential street in America.

Below is a picture of the the GRINDCORE HOUSE partially owned and operated by Uncle Dave. The shop is an island in a sea of otherwise largely residential streets of row houses. The coffee shop houses a radical library, hosts art shows, musical concerts, and is the only all vegan coffee shop that we know of.

Below is a mere sampling of a whilrwind tour that Dave took Daniel and Ellen on. Dave has done quite extensive research into the historical aspects of Philadelphia including colonial history, printing history, and radical history.

Self-explanatory

Liberty Hall

The stone that shelters the shell that sheltered the soul of Benjamin Franklin.

A monument to the Irish who came to Philadelphia during the potato famine.

Play Gym days

This picture is from a week or so ago, but it's such a great shot of her sweet face. She's already outgrown her 0-3 month clothes. Now is the fun part because we have tons of 3-6 months dresses and outfits that the girls will choose from every day as they take turns dressing her.

This is what we call her hipster hair. It's kinda like a mohawk here and most days it just stands up and sticks out. Doesn't really matter if I try to comb it down with my fingers because with every nap she wakes up with a new do.

She loves her bath.

She really loves this play gym thingy that we got from Daddy Bill and Nana. She will lay and look up at the toys. One of us is usually under their looking up at the toys with her. This time I caught the whole family under the play gym.

 

Even our dog Blue loves to be close to her.

I've started my Mommy & Me Dance Class at our studio on Thursday mornings. This is what we look like for class. Katherine gets in this spot and doesn't make a peep for the entire 30 minute class. It's pretty cute. She usually ends up sucking on the top of the bjorn by her chin and drooling down the front of it.

 

 Here's a few cuties from my class.