Explanation

Anyone reading this in Google Reader, stop! Stop now! Because you are going to have to go to my actual blog to view this amazing video I posted at the top of my blog. I was trying to get it up before Christmas, but alas, my lack of technical skills would not allow it. This is my sis, the singer. She has always been a naturally good singer but lately she has started taking voice lessons and really increasing her vocal range. . .as evidenced in this video.

So please watch. She is amazing. (More amazing than this video shows, because for some reason the sound quality on this is horrible. Watch this, but then imagine it 50 times better, because that is how good she is in real life)

And please watch all the way through. The best part is the extremely high Mariah Carey note she hits near the end.

Did You Catch Us Yet?

. . . or are we changing states too fast for you?

Historic Philadelphia

Warning: Captions are extraordinarily short because I'm tired of blogging so much.

We ended the trip by visiting downtown Philadelphia! Here's what Ayisha would look like if she were money.

Me and Constance, the Constitution cow.

Being in the same room as the Liberty Bell was almost a spiritual experience. I had goosebumps the whole time we were near it. Ayisha and I both drool over history involving the founding of America, which is why we decided that would be a perfect way to end our trip.

Standing outside the National Constitution Center.

Benjamin Franklin's grave.

A strange apparition we saw outside the cemetery gate.

Mimicking this statue which is dedicated to the signers of the Declaration.

Ayisha looking philosophical.

Independence Hall. If you've seen National Treasure. . .this is where they look out from the tower where the Liberty Bell used to hang, and then climbed down and removed the brick to find the special glasses.

The room were the Constitution and Declaration were signed. That main chair in the back is the actual chair that George Washington sat in when he presided over the conference, his famous "rising sun" chair.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

This is how I looked the whole time we were back east - stressed and anxiously clutching the steering wheel! Eastern drivers are crazy!

Back to the Babies. . .

We had thought about going to the Statue of Liberty this day, but woke up to a chilly wind. So we abandoned our other plans and went back to visit our friends!


I just want to point out that in this picture I'm wearing a really cute scarf/glove set that Mike's mom got me for Christmas last year. But I couldn't find the matching hat when I was packing! I was so mad.







I wish this picture had turned out better. Ayisha spent most of the day holding little miss smiley-pants. . .






. . .and I rebonded with The Little One by watching funny music videos she likes on youtube. I love that she still does the 2-finger slurp.







And nothing's better to end a chilly day than warm lava cake! Yum!

N.Y.C.

Yesterday we went to NYC. We had to wake up at 5am to catch the Greyhound into the city. Fortunately, we got on the bus without any hiccups.

Then we had to navigate the tricky subway system. For 2 girls who had never travelled on the subway on our own before, I'd have to say we did really well! This is me proudly standing by our destination after our successful trip.

Our main goal was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were so happy as we walked up and saw the beautiful building!

After which we were immediately disappointed by this sign:

Apparantly the Met is closed on Mondays. Who knew?? (Also, pardon the goofy red earmuff- there was a chilly wind and it was hurting my ears!)

This is another model-esque picture of Ayisha that I took in Central Park. Isn't she beautiful!

We could have easily spent all day in Central Park! There were so many little hidden treasures that we had a fun time discovering - like this beautiful fountain with lotus flowers and lilypads in it.

We even indulged a little and went to the Central Park Zoo.

My favorite part of zoos is always the sea lions. They're just so cute!

The sleeping polar bears were pretty adorable too. Who knew you could find a polar bear in the middle of Central Park?

Eventually we decided to leave Central Park in search of food. We went to Ellen's Stardust Diner, where I had been last time I went to NYC. All the waiters are out of work actors and they take turns singing and entertaining. Dinner AND a show! This was our waiter, Jonathon. Isn't he a hunk?? He also had the best singing voice by far.

Ayisha had the good fortune to have him cuddle up next to her during a song. I only wish I had snapped the picture with his eyes open. . .

Next we went further into Times Square to walk off our delicious meals, and walked into the Hershey store, where we found a little bit of heaven. . .

I couldn't resist a mouthful of this special mixture.

Doesn't this look like the best corner of Times Square??

Lady Liberty?? So that's why she's green. . .

The MnM shop is right across from the Hershey shop. Ayisha was a little freaked out by their "promotional character of the day" (Big Blue in the background). Apparantly so are a lot of kids - I saw a toddler cry when he tried to say hi to her.

The MnM shop had all kind of fun mixes!

We had a machine scan us to tell us what color MnM we are. Ayisha is Orange.

This is the results of mine. If it's true, then I do a LOT of good in this world. :)

In the Toys 'R' Us store they had an indoor ferris wheel! Ironically we ended up on the MnM car.

There were all kinds of fun things in the giant multi-level store - like this image of Superman saving the Daily Planet from a runaway semi.

Finally, after a long day of walking, we headed back to the Subway and home (to the hotel) to bed.

One of the reasons for our trip

How is it possible that this is like the only picture I took while visiting some of our favorite friends?? We went to church with Stef and Neal and then spent the day with them (thank you for feeding us!) We played a very long game of Ticket to Ride (I actually had to go look up what the game is actually called - we always just call it "Trains"!) before we decided to get back to our hotel before it got too dark. Ayisha thought Stef and her mom were just hilarious, which was good. Also, I can't believe how big little miss blue-eyes and her sister have gotten just in the last couple months!

Washington D.C. (and some other pictures too)

I love the view from airplane windows. I think the clouds look like waves!

This does NOT say that we have 53 minutes to get to our tram to catch our connection.
It says we have 53 SECONDS.

I get a little paranoid about germs and hotels. (I mean, have you read the stats???)
Here I am, starting at the front door within the first 10 seconds of entering our room. I wouldn't let Ayisha touch anything until I had disinfected the entire room.

After a VERY long day of waking up early to catch our plane, running to catch our connection, trying to navigate the streets of Philadelphia to get to our hotel in New Jersey (Eastern drivers are CRAZY!) and getting lost about 16 times in the process, we were FAMISHED from not eating all day. Fortunately our hotel gave us complimentary cookies!

The view on our drives have been BEAUTIFUL! I remember thinking in August that the greenery in New Jersey was "lush" - really thick, tall, and gorgeous. Now in November, all the leaves are changing and it is just as stunning!

REALLY foggy in Maryland! This is a view from the bridge we crossed - you can see the railing along the bottom of the pic.

Ayisha and I were able to successfully navigate the metro system!

The Smithsonian castle in Washington D.C.

We visited the Air and Space Museum. We could have EASILY spent all day there. It was fascinating! Plus there were all these interactive things to play with.

Here I am, standing in front of Washington monument. Don't you love my new, red, wool, side-button, J.Crew coat? I do! Unfortunately I didn't get to show it off much - but fortunately that was because it was so warm in D.C. that Ayisha and I both ended up taking our jackets off! It was a gorgeous day! I would have never guessed it was November.

This backdrop of the WWII memorial is completely filled with golden stars. I figured they represented those who gave their lives but I wanted to know more about it, so I looked it up when we got back to the hotel. Here's what I found out:

"The Memorial's Freedom Wall includes 4,000 gold stars. Each star represents over 1,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve worldwide freedom - over 400,000 Americans in all."

I really like this view of Washington Monument from Memorial Plaza.

This kid was like, the Duck Whisperer or something. They kept following him around! This is the pool between Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial - the one that Steve Carrell walked into in Get Smart.

I thought this was pretty cool. The sign says "Congratulations President Obama." There was a big board set up so that people could write support messages.

Standing in front of Lincoln Memorial.

Ayisha and I - wasn't it a beautiful day???

This guy was making a rubbing of one of his relative's names that was on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. For some reason I was really touched by this.

Ayisha took this photo - I just love the way it came out! I love how the branches really pop out in the foreground.

Ayisha also took this picture, which I think turned out really pretty. The security around the White House was thick!

I love this picture I took of Ayisha in DC. I think she looks like a model!