Memorial Day Weekend

I did a blog post about our weekend over at rowHOME! Check it out.

Stephanie

Mountain Lake

If you didn’t know, we were away in lovely Virginia this past weekend. We stayed at a little place called Mountain Lake. It is a gorgeous lake setting…when the lake is there. It is a little empty right now due to some odd natural causes. If it looks slightly familiar, it’s also where they filmed part of Dirty Dancing. It is not nearly as mid-century resort glam as Kellerman’s, but how could it be? Being the Dirty Dancing geek that I am, I enjoyed every moment. I think we all enjoyed ourselves. We didn’t get to spend nearly enough time just hanging out and exploring the area. Although, we did have enough time to imagine a Mountain Lake family reunion for the Ohio State / Virginia Tech game in September 2015. Oh yes, we will be back!

Most importantly, we were there celebrating one momentous occasion! Uncle Charlie graduated from Virginia Tech. Congrats Graduate, and best wishes!

Last, but not least, you will notice David and Estelle snagged 5 tadpoles from a sad looking puddle at the lake bed. David calls them the Mountain Lakers, since there are 5, and that is how many on a basketball team…or so I am told. They are cute little buggers, and growing everyday, but what will we do when they are bonafide toads/frogs? We will most definitely set them free in a pond, but it will be a great science lesson for the toddler to watch them grow until then.

Stephanie

Tractor

Annie and Papa found an oldie but goodie during Estelle’s visit last weekend! You can watch the video here. She is not quite tall enough to really master the pedals, yet.

Stephanie

NYC Day Trip

This past Saturday, we woke up early, and hopped on a Megabus for a day trip in NYC.

After walking in circles trying to find MTA cards, our first stop was Joe Fresh for some mom shopping. I scored two pairs of bright cropped jeans and a top for $80! I mostly wanted to check out their kid’s clothing, but Joe Fresh kid stuff is only available in their New Jersey location. Boo. While I was shopping, David and Estelle bought Upper East Side-priced Swedish Fish and spotted some Barbapapa wares in the store across the street. The Barbapapa boxes were cool, but too big to carry around all day.

Next we stopped to eat hot dogs, and then walked across Central Park towards the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater.

The show was funny, and the kids got a marionette demonstration at the end.

We weren’t done yet! Off to Brooklyn Bridge Park to ride Jane’s Carousel, and to meet up with Danny. The last time we saw Danny was three years ago when we were sending him off to work in China! Estelle fell asleep on the subway ride, and her nap continued in the park.

We had a quick snack in Brooklyn, hopped on the subway, and made our way to the bus back home via a walk through Times Square.

Stephanie

Birthday Weekend

A little delayed, but better late than never.

Balloons!

Donut breakfast, waiting for the train, wearing my new shoes (that are a tad too big, for now)!

A quick visit to see the horses…

Some carousel action (at Carousel Gardens Nursery in Newtown, PA)

The fun continues at Carousel Gardens, with a farm animal train ride, even Moe the Pug got to ride!

Present time at Annie & Papa’s house, a Hunter Pence Phillies shirt (he’s number 3)!

Cake and ice cream

The ‘burbs have some deluxe swings, even mom fits in this one…

Taxi ride to S. Philly from the train station, it’s a short ride, but long enough to fall asleep…I was worn out by all the fun.

A Birthday Weekend – told by Estelle (via Stephanie)

 

 

Easter Eggs 2012

I think this was Avo’s first time dying eggs. The Saturday morning sunlight added quite the effect! Click each image to enlarge.

Happy Spring!

Stephanie

Flower Girl

Lots more photos from Titi & Rocky’s wedding to come I’m sure, but here’s some amateur video of the flower girls coming down the aisle.

Day w/ Daddy

Some photos from last Saturday, when Dad and Stell bounced around the city while Mom wrapped up last minute shopping before Titi’s wedding.  It was a whirlwind day, from Dad’s office to the Free Library, to Rittenhouse Square for hot dogs in the park, down Walnut Street for Easter eggs and her first baseball glove.  All in all, a great day.

 

On this episode of Hoarders…

If you remember from this previous post, our dear Grandmom passed away this past October. We lost a lot when we lost Grandmom. The house in which Grandmom lived was designed by Harry Parker for Osborn Feaster in the 1920s, and has been in the family since then. It’s unfortunate that the family must sell it, but not many of us Feasters are in a position to buy a house in that location. For us, it would involve a move to the ‘burbs, adding a car to our family, tripling our commute times, and moving into a house that needs numerous updates…not very convenient or affordable. Although I never met Grandpop (Donald Feaster), he and Charlotte certainly left behind an amazing house full of interesting objects. Going through and cleaning out the house has been hard work for everyone, some people more than others. I personally feel like I know Charlotte, Don, and many other family members a little better after pouring over photos, letters, books, etc.

We’ve slowly been bringing home treasures from Grandmom’s house, but this past Sunday we brought home quite the load plus a new Ikea mattress for Miss E! When we use Philly Car Share and there isn’t a parking spot on our street, we basically have to put on our hazards, unload, dump, and return the car in record time. This is the scene we came home to, and I had to document the chaos!

I thought you might want to take a closer look at just a handful of our favorites that we are looking forward to incorporating into our home. They will serve as daily reminders of Grandpop, Grandmom, and their house.

The following gold framed paintings will go in E’s purple room. She picked out her favorite buttons from Grandmom’s, and put them in an old jar…buttons and stuffed animals, that’s all she wanted.

The little ladies below are portraits of English Duchesses. Hopefully, you’ll be seeing them again once we get to hanging stuff up in E’s room.

Tiny doll and tiny doll cup!

French & Co. train case and framed salmon advertisements. Final locations TBD.

The Chevy glass…there was only one! It’s now the designated Jack & Coke glass.

No home is complete without an old glass bed urinal! Don’t worry, I have no intention of serving anything from it. Just consider it a conversation piece.

That does not even come close to covering all of our newly acquired and much loved heirlooms. Bonus gift…a little vintage Phillies find from Papa & Annie’s garage!

Stephanie

The Philly List

I was walking around our old neighborhood the other day by myself, when I realized that Estelle doesn’t really get to see much of the city we call home. That got me thinking about all the fun things we need to do with our little gal. We have so much we want to do this spring and summer, I thought it would be nice to write it down! I also really like the notes app on my iPad, so I kept my list pretty simple. Stay tuned for follow-up posts as we slowly cross things off of our list. Do you all have any fun adventures planned in your neck of the woods?

Stephanie