Christmastime 2012 in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has a lot to offer at Christmastime.  Josh and I were scheduled to begin a Christmas visit with David's family Sunday December 9th.  We packed as much Christmas fun as we could into our time in Philadelphia.  

We visited the Dicken's Village at the Philadelphia Macy's.  It's fun to walkthrough the scenes of the Christmas Carol.

A cute scene from the Dicken's Village.

We also visited the Franklin Institute to view their Maillardet Automaton that they demonstrate just a handful of times a year.  Thanksgiving weekend they operated the automaton.  It was built in the late-1700s and can draw 4 pictures and write 3 poems.  It is amazing to think about this advanced technology existing so long ago!

Philadelphia as a fabulous Christmas Market set up in Love Park.  There they have wonderful food vendors and all sorts of beautiful craft and art stalls.

Josh and David enjoying some German pastries in the Christmas Market.

Ornaments at the Kathe Wohlfahrt store at the Christmas Market.  I bought beautiful Christmas ornaments from the Kathe Wohlfahrt store in Rothenburg, Germany when I was 16 that I will always treasure.

Josh hanging out on the Monopoly hat at Game Piece Plaza in front of City Hall.

We went to see the lights and music show at Macy's, a very sweet and fun tradition.

One beautiful December day (sunny and in the 60s!) Josh and I went to Morris Arboretum to see their garden railway decorated for the holidays.  They have models of Philadelphia landmarks decked out for Christmas.

Independence Hall

The entry gates of the Philadelphia Zoo.

Josh and I loved watching the trains zoom around the darling Christmas scenes.

After our visit to Morris Arboretum we drove to nearby Germantown Avenue to get a treat from Bredenbeck's Bakery.  Germantown Avenue is lined with darling boutiques, cafes, and shops that were all beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Cute shops along Germantown Avenue.

Josh eating his cookie from the bakery in front of a toy store.

Trying out the toy store's xylophone.

Before we left for our time out west, we opened up our gifts from my family at our home.  A great start to our Christmas.

November 2012

We started the month with our ward's service project.  We cleaned up a filthy empty lot that had accumulated an impressive amount of trash including several old TVs, mattresses, and computers.  Our bishop described it aptly as an "unnatural disaster."

Josh looked great in the Mormon Helping Hands vest.  We didn't let Josh do any cleaning but he was a great little cheerleader and mascot of sorts during the cleanup. 

Towards the end of the morning we had collected all of this garbage from the lot!  Yuck.  Happily, the lot has stayed clean since our ward cleaned it up.

Since Josh was getting so good at feeding himself his cereal for breakfast, I often would take that time while he was eating in the morning to quickly get changed and ready for the day.  One morning I came down from getting ready to find Josh perched on the table eating cereal out of the box!  

We visited the Perelman Building of the Museum of Art for our first time.  Here is some clothing from a fashion exhibit that was displayed there.

We made it to the halfway mark of the pregnancy with a belly to show for it!  I was feeling pretty great by this point.  Thank heaven!

Another day Josh and I spent a fun morning exploring the city on our bike.  Our first stop was at Federal Donuts to try their signature treats.  Delicious.

We then went to Liberty Place to see some of the beautiful gingerbread houses that are modeled after the Fairmount Park Mansions.  They were all darling and made me excited for the upcoming Christmas season.

Another awesome gingerbread house.

After viewing the gingerbread homes we stopped in Rittenhouse Square for a snack.

It was a gorgeous late-Autumn day.  I was so glad we were able to be out on our bike together on such a beautiful day!

When we got home from our fun outing I ran upstairs to use the restroom, when I came back down I found Josh on the couch like this!  It had been a fun but exhausting morning!  :)

We had our anatomy ultrasound and found out we were having another boy!  We were thrilled!

Josh's favorite museum in Philadelphia is the Franklin Institute.  We went at least weekly to the Franklin Institute but often were there 2 or 3 times in a week.  Josh loves numbers and could spend quite a while putting these magnetic numbers in order.  The numbers and board are actually part of a brainteaser demonstration.

Josh in the Train Factory at the Franklin Institute.

Testing different shaped wheels to see which go down the track the best.

Thanksgiving was fabulous.  We started the morning riding our bikes down to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to watch the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade (the oldest Thanksgiving Parade in our nation).  It was a great parade with lots of marching bands from around the country, floats, and giant character balloons.

The weather was perfect that day and after we had seen enough of the parade we played at a nearby park for a bit.

We then got back on our bikes to enjoy the gorgeous weather some more!  We had Thanksgiving dinner with some Law School friends.  It was a fabulous holiday!