Moshulu

Yesterday we decided to try out Moshulu, a restaurant that is on a boat on the Delaware River.

(The sun was right in Zack's eyes in that picture)

We don't eat at fancy restaurants very often, and we pretty much never do unless we have some kind of coupon or deal. That was the case this time, and it made it pretty affordable.

We started with some delicious bread and some samples of different soups. I got the chicken

and Zack got the duck.

It was delicious and the setting was really fun. We probably will never go there again because it is what it is (fancy, pricey, small portions, etc), but we enjoyed the experience. Yum!

Natalie and Robert

Natalie and Robert were my first real friends here in Philly. At a time when I was lonely, homesick, and frustrated with the way life was going, they stepped into our lives and became our besties. We have so much in common with them, including our tendency to lean left politically (some of us are leaning more than others :D), our love of Philly, and our ability to be entertained for hours by youtube videos of cats. So we were so sad when they moved away to Seattle about a year ago.

So, of course we were thrilled when they came back to visit Philly last month. And we were especially thrilled when they wanted to spend time with us while they were here!

I'm embarrassed by how few pictures I took while they were here. I guess I just had too much fun. I took a couple days off work and it was perfect. We enjoyed the weather (which cooperated nicely the entire time they were here), reminisced, enjoyed Philly, ate at places that I would never usually eat at (and yes Natalie, they were excellent. You win), played croquet several times, played our usual mini golf course (here's a reminder of the scores, just in case the boys forgot),

lamented that Naked Chocolate was closed, ate a ton, and just had an all around good time.

Here are a couple of the photos that I did get.

Masonic Temple Tour

Mini golf

Thanks a million guys. We hope it's not long before we get to do this again. We miss you.

A baby shower

Michelle's baby is due within a few weeks here, and we are all getting really excited. Oliver will make an adorable big brother.

Since Michelle is such an awesome friend, I decided to throw her a baby shower. I was really stressed about the whole thing, mostly because I was afraid no one would come. We do live in the city after all, and many of the suburban folks think our neighborhood is scary and dangerous.

*This is the part where I mention that we live in a gorgeous, affluent neighborhood. We could probably not afford to live here if we weren't renters. Houses in this area often sell from a half million to over a million dollars. But it's not a suburb...*

I worked hard to plan a nice shower. I sent the invites plenty in advance. I picked a theme that wasn't too over-the-top feminine, because Michelle isn't really into all that. I went with a jungle animals theme. I made a diaper cake.

I bought enough food for a lot of people.

I baked (a rare occurrence).

The day of the shower came.... and no one came. I shouldn't say no one. I think 4 people showed up. And we had a good time chatting and eating and watching Michelle open gifts. It was nice. But it would've been nicer if more people had come. *sigh* Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Botanical Gardens Day

In honor of National Botanical Gardens day, we were able to get free admission to the Japanese House in Fairmount Park.

Here's a little blurb off their website about what it is:

Shofuso Japanese House and Garden is a traditional-style Japanese house and nationally-ranked garden in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park that reflects the history of Japanese culture in Philadelphia, from the 1876 Centennial Exposition to the installation of its contemporary paintings in 2007.

Shofuso was built in Japan in 1953 using traditional techniques and materials and exhibited in the courtyard at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was moved to Philadelphia in 1958, to the site of several previous Japanese structures dating to the 1876 Centennial Exposition. In 2007, internationally renowned artist Hiroshi Senju, inspired by our waterfall, donated 20 murals to Shofuso. A viewing garden with koi pond and island, a tea garden, and a courtyard garden comprise the 17th century-style Japanese walled and fenced garden of this historic site and museum.

Since it's so close, we've been meaning to get there for quite some time, but never have. We're glad we finally did. It was a gorgeous day and the house and gardens we just amazing. Partake of some pictures:

The Becks went with us, and Oliver particularly loved the koi fish. We got some fish food and fed the fish. I wish I'd gotten some pictures of Oliver doing that because it was just adorable.

Now we can cross the Japanese House off our list of things still to do in Philadelphia.

Birthday boy

Zack had a birthday not too long ago. Mostly it was a pretty low key day as we both had to go to work. When we got home, he opened his presents.

Here he is with the present from me. He already knew that it was a Nook Color since he was there when I bought it. So no surprises there.

But he wasn't sure what his mom and dad got him.

It was a case for his Nook, plus a controller for the Playstation and a video game. His sisters also sent him a video game. How spoiled!

We went to a fancy dinner at Ruth's Chris steakhouse. We thought we would do quite well price-wise since we had previously bought one of those group-buying vouchers, but it was still quite expensive. But yummy. We won't be frequenting there or anything. We'll stick with the cheaper stuff. It was fun to get to do that once though.

We polished off the evening with cookies

and games with the Becks.

The next day, we went and watched the Phillies beat the Nationals.

It was a little cool outside for my tastes, but we still had a very nice time.

Oh, and I should mention that my husband is mega awesome.

A night with the girls

I know, I know, my blogging is not nearly frequent enough. I intend to do better.

So, way back when General Conference happened, we decided to have a girls' night while the boys went to Priesthood session. They even took Oliver with them, so we were able to have a nice dinner without kids in tow. We went to a favorite of mine, Maggiano's, and ate a ton of pasta and some delicious desserts. Check them out:

Is your moth watering yet?

This is the picture we were able to get of all of us.

And our attempt to do a jumping picture, which we failed at. This is our best one.

You ladies are the best.

Spring in Philly

In more recent happenings, spring is in full swing here in Philadelphia and we are LOVING it. It does rain a lot, but that makes for gorgeous greenery. The trees are on the tail end of blooming and the leaves are starting to come in. I wish I had taken some pictures but unfortunately, I didn't.

Since it has been nicer, we have been getting out more. A while back, we decided to go play a round of croquet at a nearby park with the Becks. We set up near the playground, thinking that Oliver could maybe play there while we played croquet. The park was packed with people tired of being stuck indoors all winter and wanting to get out and enjoy some great weather. That included a number of little kids who were quite fascinated with our game of croquet and wanted to join in. It was chaotic. It's a wonder that we got through the game and that all of our croquet equipment made it back home with us. It was pretty funny though. I especially liked when we were leaving and one little boy asked if we could come back next week. A couple days back, we got an actual (not invaded by tons of children) game of croquet in on the rooftop deck of our building. I love croquet weather!

Despite having lived here for 3+ months, my friend Brittany had not seen really anything in Philadelphia, and since she was about to leave for the summer, we had to go on a little walking tour of Philly. We took Michelle and Oliver with us and headed into Old City. We saw a lot of historic sites, played the delightful Philly themed mini golf course that I adore so much, ate lunch at Reading Terminal Market, and polished it off with amazing deserts from Naked Chocolate Cafe. Then we went home and watched National Treasure to see some of the places that we had visited that day. Yay for a girls' (and Oliver) day!

Spring also means... BASEBALL. We haven't been to a game (yet... we have tickets for Thursday), but we are definitely keeping up with our Phils. Gotta love it.

I wish I had something more exciting to talk about but we're just living life one day at a time, grateful for all our blessings.