O-H-I-O

Anytime there is a holiday or just a 3 day weekend we take serious advantage! So for the Valentines/President's Day weekend we headed to see friends in Columbus Ohio. Home of THE Ohio State....but even more important...home to Chris & Rebecca Testa! We flew in late on Thursday night - after a short 5 HOUR delay out of Newark. The weekend was WONDERFUL! It exceeded my expectations :) We basically just hung out and caught up on life. It had been a full 18 months since we left Phoenix together. Hard to believe so much has happened in that time. The BEST and BIGGEST change....the addition of Shayden Joseph! Such a cute and sweet little guy! We really enjoyed loving on him and he really enjoyed Chris' growling entertainment :) To top off the weekend we got another trip to Sonic & lunch at Abuelos. Columbus gets 2 thumbs up from us! The Zoo was great too. Here is to not letting 18 months go by before we get to see our friends again!

Thanks for all the fun and hospitality Testa's! We love you guys!

The City of Brotherly LOVE

In a effort to take advantage of living in the NE - we have been trying to cram in as many sights as possible while we are here. So Saturday we ventured out just a an hour & a half southwest of here to see the city of brotherly love - PHILADELPHIA! We got up bright and early, picked up our friends Jeff & Cindy and hit the road. Our tour started at the Liberty Bell & Independence Hall. It was amazing to see where our country officially started. Independence Hall was the setting for so much of America's history. It reminded Chris & I alot of Williamsburg, Va. The Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution were both written and voted on in these rooms. Rooms that at one time were lived in by British soldiers and walls that were peed on by them - literally! I would not make this stuff up on my own :) For lunch we scoped out a good Philly Cheesesteak joint. Evidently its really hard to go wrong because we were given multiple suggestions. The sandwiches were really good - even with the cheese whiz! After lunch we walked around Christ Church, Betsy Ross' house & the Christ Church burial ground where Benjamin Franklin and his wife are buried. Then the search began for ROCKY! We made the short drive through downtown to the Museum of Art and there he was, just hanging out at the bottom of the steps he used to run. Chris was loving it! He and Jeff even mildly attempted a reinactment. The video of Chris is below. After finding Rocky we went in search of CHEESECAKE!!! Unfortunately it seems that Philadephia has overlooked its own namesake - Philadelphia Cream Cheese. We could not find cheesecake anywhere in downtown. We asked multiple locals and all of them suggested diners outside the city. Chris says he is going to write the mayor. Perhaps he can post about how that turns out later. Anyway, all in all a very good trip and something we can check off the list!

To hear the sound on the video you have to pause the blog music on the bottom right. Enjoy!

SUPERBOWL TIME

This year we celebrated the Superbowl with Jeff & Cindy. Just a small carb-free party! We cheered on the Cardinals. They played so well. We also all enjoyed the 3-D additions to the commercials. Good times were had by all :)

Happy Birthday Mason!

Today is Mason's 4th Birthday and so we are celebrating - even from a distance! It has been a joy to watch Mason grow over the past few years. He is turning into a little boy so quickly. Mason is a clear leader, especially on the playground, its seems he is the life of the party! He has such a cute way with words. I will never forget when he introduced Chris & I to his little sister Madison....we walked out the door and he looked up and said "This is my beautiful Madison". So sweet! He is definitely a great big brother! These pictures capture just a few of our memories with Mason. We hope you have a wonderful birthday and hope to see you soon!