The Franklin Institute

Our last day of vacation was spent in Philly, the city of Brotherly Love. It really is a nice city. As far as historical cities to visit, it is #2, in my opinion. Only second to Boston, which is amazing.
Anyway, we spent the entire day at a science museum called the Franklin Institute. It is a hands-on museum targeted towards children, although Dave and I learned plenty of stuff, too! The downside, for me, was that it was very well air-conditioned and I was FREEZING the entire time in my t-shirt and shorts. I actually had goose bumps for about 5 hours straight, I think. Having goose bumps for that long is exhausting!

On the way into the museum, they had a guy making balloon animals, or whatever you wanted him to make. Sam got a spear.




Caleb got a, um, well...it's a "hat".







And Peter got a sword. Here he is throwing it up into the air.
Personally, I think it looks strangely like something other than a sword. But this is a G-rated blog so we won't go into that.









But I have to say, what IS it with little boys and their phallic symbols?!

p.s. Keep in mind that this was on the way INTO the museum. They had to carry (or wear) these things for the entire day!

Jersey Shore

Oi! I can't seem to get my feet back on the ground now that we're back from vacation. I've got everything washed (a.k.a. sand removal) but still have some bags yet to be unpacked. Ugh. I have just been too busy lounging by the pool all week to get anything done around here. Yeah, you heard right. Lounging by the pool. And I'm not even kidding. The kids beg me to take them to the town pool EVERY DAY. I don't actually mind taking them; it's just that I can't get anything done at home when I'm sitting by the pool all day. I know, I know. It's a hard life!

OK, so here are some pictures of the Jersey Shore. It was wonderful! Actually, the drive there wasn't great since everyone from NY, CT, PA, and NJ were headed there. But once we got there it was terrific. The condo we rented was squeaky clean and just right for us. We were right on the beach and had a small swimming pool right outside our door. The above picture was taken on the morning of July 4th. It started out sprinkly but then cleared up to become the most beautiful day ever. What you can't see in the picture is just a smidgeon above the top of Sam's head is where we saw many many dolphins swimming by. They weren't much further out than the swimmers were and they would sometimes flip up completely out of the water! It was a real treat to be able to watch them.
So right after I took the above picture, I switched to video mode to tape the kids playing around on the beach. Then the weirdest thing happened. All these guys that were running on the beach just dropped down right in front of me. See for yourself:

I'm assuming it was some sort of boot camp something or other. I caught a few of them cheating and wanted to yell at them to drop and give me 50 more...but I was on vacation and was SO trying to relax and let go...
During the video, Peter brings me the first of many many many shells that we HAD to bring home and that are still sitting untouched in a bucket in our garage almost a week later.
Caleb caught several live critters but knew he wouldn't be able to keep them. I think he knew they'd be much happier in their natural environment anyway.After a wonderful day at the beach, we ate giant ice-cream cones (after a healthy, nutritious dinner of course) and then stood in the rain waiting for 4th of July fireworks that never happened. That's OK, there's always next year. On the 5th, we headed back inland and stayed at a hotel near Philadelphia. We saw the movie Wall-E
which was really good and somewhat thought-provoking. I've noticed kid's movies nowadays are often slightly thought-provoking. When I was a kid, Disney movies mostly centered around the thought, "Gee, what would I do if my mother died?" Helloooo, you know what I'm talkin' about. Bambi. Cinderella, Snow White. Scary stuff. Anyway, it was a great movie and gave us some time out of the sun. I'll post about the next part of our trip REAL soon. I gotta go lounge by the pool again...

And the answer is...

So that you won't have to spend your holiday weekend wondering incessantly about what's in the package from China, I will tell you now. They are duck feet. Chicken feet is a good guess and in fact, Grandpa told us they were chicken feet but the package says in English on the back: pot-stewed duck paws. And if you play with the feet (still inside the package of course) and look closely, they are clearly webbed like a duck's. The description on the back reads:

Fresh duck paws are used as raw material and stewed with spice and bittern through the cooking of Sichuan dish. It is good in color, smell and taste. With tasty flavor and tender quality, it is a good leisure food for the old and the young.
Ingredients: duck paws, refined salt, rock candy, white granulated sugar, gourmet powder, flavoring, sodium nitrite, sorbic acid, trace amounts of bird flu.

OK, so I added that last part about the bird flu. But let me tell ya, these suckers feel SLIMY. No way, no how, am I opening this package! Incidentally, this company has a website if you are interested in any of their other "delicacies". They make more than just candied duck feet!

We are off to the "shore" for the holiday weekend so I am busy packing and trying to remember everything that I will eventually forget to bring with us. We are renting a beachfront condo that is furnished but we have to bring linens, toilet paper, etc. I'm making a nice list for Dave so that I can blame him if I forget anything! Nice, huh. Happy 4th of July everybody! Here's a fun activity for the kids.