November was a busy busy month!

Before and after Isabella's "birthday week," we took several trips - near and far~

Mid-November, we went on a farm tour.  It has been awhile since we've done one, but we wanted to go to this one because this tour was on a portion of the farm that we have been buying fruit and veggies from through our CSA membership all summer.  The farmer, Mitch, provided hay-rides along the back of this tractor.  We got to wander around some of the fields and pick some carrots as well.  Obviously Isabella is too young to take it all in (although she has eaten a lot of the veggies from the CSA as mushed up baby-food).  But - the real reason to cram in a visit on an already busy weekend - to expose Mercer to the farm.  He was mostly interested in the tractor and running. 






















The third week of November, I had a conference for work... the same conference I was at in California when Isabella was born.  This year, the conference was held in Philadelphia, PA -- only about 1 1/2 hours from Todd's sister, Tonia.  All of us packed up and hopped on a plane (Isabella's first trip.)  Tonia and Rose Marie met us at the airport, we all went to lunch, checked into a hotel, then they took the kids back to her house so that Todd could go to the conference too. 

It's always good to go to the conference, get new information about the green building industry, but also being able to share the experience with Todd (who could also use the continuing education credits) was pretty cool!  It consisted of some long days and nights (one evening, 
Hillary Clinton addressed our group about the importance of energy conservation in buildings).











Here are some goofy "public art" pictures I subjected Todd into posing for / I posed for just outside the conference center.  It was 7:30 am.  There was no one around that we knew (hopefully!)

The highlight our trip does not really have anything to do with the conference or our work.  Exploring the  Barnes Family art collection inside of these monolithic walls was fantastic!  Barnes collected pieces for close to 40 years -- amassing the largest collection of Renoir paintings, a great number of Matisse drawings and paintings, as well as others by Picasso, Van Gogh, and Cezanne.  He even collected antiquities and mixed them into his more modern collection.  I had not seen paintings by Soutine in person - someone who one of our favorite (living) painters studied under.  I was not familiar with Prendergast, but was really drawn to his work.   The collection rivaled some of the famous museums we visited in France.... but it's relatively close to home.  I'm SOOO glad we made time to visit!  Thanks to Tonia for letting us miss our first train and catch a later train so we could finish walking the museum (as if she had a choice!!)    http://www.barnesfoundation.org/collections/art-collection/about-collection

We went to the 30th Street station and tried to figure out how to make it to NJ.  The place was bustling... there was no clear place to buy the tickets we needed.  We had to ask someone at a different train system's ticket window, then buy them from a machine.  Thankfully the woman at the ticket window said "you will not know which track to go to until 10 minutes before the train is to take off; watch that board"  It was one of those boards that clicks as the numbers turn over.  The air was full of sounds of passengers talking, people making announcements over the intercom, and the constant clicking of the train board.  We are happy that we did not have to navigate this crazy "system" with the kids in tow.  If we had to do it again, we would be fine, but glad we did this our first time solo!!)

Mercer and Isabella both gave us great receptions once we met back up with them, although Isabella had grown pretty fond of Tonia and seemed a little torn who to go to!  Both kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.  Isabella loved terrorizing the dogs as well.  

Tonia and Rose Marie found a solution for containing her~  put her in a giant Rubbermaid tub so she could look at the dog while contained! 

Both of Todd's brothers came -- bringing two more of Mercer and Isabella's cousins (9 of the 10 were present).  One of Todd's cousins came for the weekend too.  It was quite a reunion under the one roof. While everyone was gathered together, we celebrated Rose Marie's birthday.  I think she's only 39 years old.  (or that's what she was "holding" at a few years ago~)

We had a great time with everyone, but once we made it back home - we realized that it was nice to put our heads on our own pillows.  We were only at home for a couple of days before it was time to leave again and head to Florida. 

We go to my dad's every other Thanksgiving. For many of the family members down there, this was the first time they were seeing / meeting Isabella (aside from dad and Charlie, of course). 

The family gathered on Thanksgiving day, but one was asked to leave.  My step-brother, Brad, was "not behaving" according to Mercer "and he had to go."  A little life lesson for the 5 year old:  behave or you are asked to leave!

One thing that was great, however:  Mercer making cookies with his cousin, Kaitlin.  He actually stayed engaged and helped through the whole process (I think because she let him eat chocolate chips throughout the prep work).  It was cute to watch her with him! 

Also it was really sweet to watch my other step-brother, Freddy, hold / sway / dance around the living room with baby Isabella.  He really loved her!  Charlie enjoyed dressing Isabella up.  (She DOES love jewelry) 

In fact, the day after Thanksgiving, we took Mercer to Universal Studios - Islands of Adventure theme park.  Dad and Charlie watched Isabella.  First thing they did... broke out a stash of costume jewelry!  Oh boy!!

We visited the LEGO theme park when we were down in Orlando 2 years ago -- when Mercer was 3 years old.  Charlie graciously offered to watch the baby so we could take Mercer to a theme park this year as well (and not have to drag the baby around everywhere).  Good call!  She would have enjoyed the people watching, however, she would not have enjoyed sitting around while everyone else got to go on rides.  The weather actually was a bit chilly and there were some babies there that were not adequately prepped for cool Florida weather / seemed miserable.  Next time we are down there, we will take Isabella to a park.  (I imagine Disney will be in our future at some point?)

 

Todd and I thoroughly enjoyed the cool 4D roller coasters with a lot of computer-animated scenes and bursts of flames / real warmth during explosions.  We thought the Spider Man ride was a lot of fun and Mercer seemed to like it.  As soon as he got off, he puffed out his chest and yelled "that was awesome!"  We waited in line for a Harry Potter ride because Mercer was just the exact height as the board said you had to be to get in... but we lost sight of how young he is for his height!  Once we boarded and started to ride, both Todd and I realized that it was too much for the poor little guy.  Again - we thought it was great - but there were some things that we were afraid of was going to be scary.  As soon as he got off of that 4D ride, he stormed off saying "Why did you take me on that ride?!"  We should not have taken him.  For future reference -- we need to research the theme parks + rides BEFORE we go!  He admitted, too, that the Spider Man ride was a little scary. 

We made it over to the Dr. Seuss area which he liked the best.  Agreed... it was cute and MUCH more his speed.  He likes super heroes and rough-and-tumble boy stuff, but it is heart-warming to know that deep down inside, he's still a Mickey Mouse club-house / Dr. Seuss kid!  There were a couple of things that he wanted to do over-and-over again in the Dr. Seuss area. 

It was a LONG day, but we made the most of it.  We are grateful that we had the opportunity to spend the time with him and just "let go" and play all day!!