DC delights

Our darling friends Brittany and Kade are living in DC for the summer. We decided to go down there for a little trip to the temple yesterday, and they were kind enough to meet up with us for that, and then go to the National Zoo with us afterward.

We really had a great time. The weather was so nice. It was pretty warm out, but not too humid, and especially near the end of our time there, we got some good cloud cover that cooled things down a bit.

We saw a ton of animals, of course, including elephants,

lions,

gorillas,

and the panda.

Who doesn't love pandas? One of the highlights of the day was the tiger, who was growling while we were over in that area.

I didn't take any pictures of Brittany and Kade on our camera. I'll have to get her to email me some of theirs. But with their help, I think we got more pictures of Zack and I together than we usually get in a year. :) All in all, a fun outing with excellent company.

Ward Picnic

Just a couple weeks ago, we had our ward picnic at a park in southwest Philly. It was pretty much what you'd expect. Tons of potluck food. Kids running around. Missionaries enjoying some basketball. We had a pretty good time. The mayor showed up. Not to our party, but to another party/event that was going on in the park. We listened to him give a little speech about how education is important. It kinda awesome to just sorta stumble upon an appearance by the mayor like that.

But I took this really cute picture of Oliver and another little boy in the ward. Love it. Thought I'd share.

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.