P H I L A D E L P H I A
After all of our unpacking we had to go do something fun with Jeff's mom before she left.

We went to Independence Hall. 

It was humbling seeing these places. It was a nice reminder of what the founders of this country went through and the sacrifices that were made. We're pretty lucky to live in the U.S.

Only one of us wanted to take this picture. 

We went to reading market and ate a philly cheese steak sandwich...it was amazing.

We saw Benjamin Franklin's grave. Apparently throwing a penny onto his grave brings you luck. Annually he makes about $750 from visitors who need a little bit of luck. 

We went to Valley Forge. I think this was my favorite. It was beautiful!

George Washington's quarters during the war.

N E W  Y O R K  C I T Y 

Luckily my Aunt Glynis lives about 2 hours away from NYC. She was nice enough to watch Garrett for us so Jeff and I could spend a day in the city. We drove into New York, which was a terrible idea. We spent an hour and a half trying to find a parking spot. Finally Jeff gave up and we ended up paying $37 to leave our car in a paid lot.

 We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The statue is beautiful and another great reminder of freedom.  

 We walked around the city looking at everything and loved taking the subway, because of the air conditioning. Jeff has never been to New York City and I was there for only 6 hours when I was 12....which doesn't really count, so it was pretty awesome that we got to go together. We were in awe at all the random stuff the city has to offer. 

 We went to the 9/11 memorial. It was so hot and humid, but when I was standing there thinking about that September morning I got chills. 

 We went to Lombardi's pizza. It was delicious.

 We walked around Greenwich village.

We got tickets to Les Miserables, and it was amazing. 

After the show Jeff and I went to Juniors and got some cheesecake and then walked over to the empire state building. Apparently it's open until 2am, and since it was only midnight we figured we had to see the city all lit up. It was so pretty. We could have spent hours up there. Sorry for all the pictures - my phone didn't really do it justice. 

We ate our cheesecake and enjoyed the view. It was a great way to end our long day.