Happy Birthday to me!

October 8 was my 31st birthday. I had a fun day with the kids. Gianna enjoys any opportunity to have cake and sing, so she loved our small cake on Friday evening. But the main event for my birthday was yet to come. After 3 years of mediocre birthday-celebrating, we decided (I wanted) to go all out this year. Nonna and Pop-pop came up for the weekend so that Doug and I could go to Philadelphia for the day on Saturday. Our plan was mainly to eat our way through the city. And let me tell you, Philadelphia is delicious. (Yeah, yeah, it's historic too, but we didn't really focus on that part.)

So we started by walking through the Italian markets and got ourselves a slice of pizza from a bakery. It was fabulous! Then, approximately 1 hour after our pizza "breakfast" we shared a cheesesteak. It was my first genuine Philly cheesesteak and it did not disappoint! Then we walked back up through the market and got some dessert at a pastry shop. Delicious cookies! At this point we finally took a break from all the eating and did a ton of walking through the historic area. We didn't have time or a plan to really see anything, but it was a gorgeous day, so it was nice to walk around. By the time we were done, it was time to see the Jersey Boys matinee. What a fantastic show! After the show we had dinner at Morimoto. I'm a huge fan of Food Network, but never had that much of an interest in Chef Morimoto, but since the restaurant is here, why not give it a try? It was certainly a unique experience. I can't even really tell you what I ate because there were so many bizarre things, but it was all delicious! All in all, we had a marvelous time!

The kids had a good time too. Nonna and Pop-pop are so much fun! They took them to the farm for pumpkin picking and just general fun. Nonna took some great pictures. Maybe I'll get a chance to post some here sometime. But here's Gianna making and hanging a bird-feeder with Nonna, an activity she truly loved! And here's Mark trying on Nonna's glasses, much to everyone's amusement.

Unfortunately, Mark gave them a bit of a hard time in the evening when he decided he missed his mommy to much to eat anything. He's been very clingy since then. Hopefully it will be a short mommy-obsessed phase. Maybe he's just emotionally fragile since his physical world has changed dramatically. Just after Nonna and Pop-pop left, he has really taken off walking. He can really get anywhere either by using his bizarro crawl (see video) or, as of this week, by walking. This is very difficult for Gianna. It's way too easy for him to mess up her stuff. And he is always SUPER interested in what she is doing. Hope she adjusts fast!