So as you can tell by the look on KJ's face, she's lovin' it...Yes, that's McDonald's slogan, as you know. We're all lovin' it right now as we got a phone call today from the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House that they had a room available for us tonight. That means a whole bunch of things:
1. Some great meals...there are many great things about this place but this was one of our (well, my) highlights.
2. The boys got to come back to the place they grew to love and play at with the air hockey, toys, etc.
3. We got to spend some time seeing some more familiar faces from our (Shawna's continuous) 2 month stay here where we were treated so well and got to develop relationships with and witness families that were going through similar if not much more extreme medical
situations than we were. In our few short hours here today and this evening we were able to catch up with the family from Allendale that we were here in the fall with as well as have some conversation with a fetal surgery mother from Idaho who is at 34 weeks tomorrow and doing really well!! She also has a 5 and 3 year old with her so we could relate quite well with her. Shawna also ran into a mother from North Carolina that was out here in the fall with her daughter who has a rare eye cancer that she got to know pretty well. We are staying in the room right next to the room we stayed in last fall and the boys remember being here just like it was yesterday. I can't wait to get up early tomorrow morning and make my early morning walk to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a quick chat with the security guard who I hope is the same as it was last fall. He became quite a good buddy to shoot the breeze with at 5:30am!!
We've spent much of the past two days touring around Philly and hitting some of our favorite places. Yesterday we were able to get right to the heart of downtown and see the Liberty Bell and hop on the city double deck bus tour. The weather was perfect...mid-80's and sunny (I THINK I could now give the bus tour and I KNOW Shawna could give it, seeing that we've taken it so many times now). It reminded me what I want to do with my retirement....be a guide on the bus tour. Talking about history and making bad jokes for hours on end....what a life (my students would likely tell you that's already what I do). It is pretty bad when we recognize the tour guides and people collecting tickets and they also look at us with that look of "haven't you done this before?") We also know that it's been a highlight etched in the memories of our boys when Peyton quickly pointed out to me the bushes at the beginning of the bus tour that he peed in last fall!!
We were able to stop at the Redding Terminal Market for some morning treats and let the boys get out and run around a bit. We saw many of the city sites that we think are really cool and will one day actually get out and go through (once the kiddos are a bit older or we can actually tour the city without them). Most people, when asked what the one thing they did when they visited Philly was, will say run up the Rocky Steps....we still have yet to do that....which may be due to the fact that 99% of Shawna's time spent here she was in a wheel chair or the fact that our daughter has Spina Bifida....maybe I'll wait until she can do it!! Myles and I did do our best to celebrate with Rocky, though.
We spent the afternoon going to the aquarium on the New Jersey side of the Deleware River that was another highlight of our fall trips to Philly. We risked afternoon meltdowns but having bought the city pass (which includes entrance to the bus tour, the aquarium or the zoo, and a few museums....yes we're Dutch = shoot, Shawna quickly reminded me to fill up the van with gas today just before we left New Jersey as gas prices were only $1.91 there - remember, no or little gas tax which equals worse roads than Michigan). It was a good decision as the boys loved seeing tons of sea/water exhibits with tons of different animals ranging from massive sea turtles to hammer head sharks while getting the chance to pet sting rays.
We knew the weather report for today was not going to be great so we thought we'd save the museum/inside site seeing for this morning and afternoon. After packing up our stuff from the Cherry Hill Holiday Inn Express (I feel like I've mentioned that enough times that I should get some sort of advertising fee from them). For any of you who have spent any time with our boys at our house over the past year or so you probably have picked up on their infatuation of sorts with dinosaurs. Well, their is a Museum of Natural Sciences that has a few exhibits all about dinosaurs with a life size t-rex and triceratops outside that move that caught the boys eye yesterday on the bus tour so we had no choice but to go there first thing in the morning. After experiencing what big city driving is like (going up to the 6th floor of a parking garage to find that there were no spaces available, almost getting stuck behind a moving truck in a back alley (see pic below) as it almost got stuck, we finally found a parking spot and made our way to the museum.
After this dinosaur exhibits, I think Peyton now has another career choice to go along with being a food trucker chef man or a zamboni driver....an anthropologist! That's more like it, young man....not that I wouldn't be thrilled to tell people in the future that my son was a zamboni driver or a food trucker chef man as we had Philly Cheese Steaks for lunch from a food trucker chef man and they were delicious.
We made our last stop at the Franklin Institute which is a museum focused on kids (probably more in the late elementary-high school range) a little older than ours, so we didn't stay long as we had just received confirmation that we'd be able to shack up in the Ronald McDonald House for the night and wanted to make our way over (we packed up from Cherry Hill crossing our fingers we wouldn't be going back, although we do love it there). The boys really liked the sports exhibit where there are lots of interactive activities that break down sports-specific actions scientifically....especially the small two-lane track that they raced on about 30 times (one, because they loved doing it, and two, so that they'd get worn out and hopefully take great afternoon rests....which didn't happen!!).
As you can see in the pic above, both boys were worn out and couldn't walk the few short blocks back to the van and without the double stroller with us, they had to adapt (one of the great lessons they've had to learn over the course of 10 months...Choose Joy, right?....adapt the best you can to the situation you're put in, like being able to take advantage of Dad when Mom was in Philly by getting him to serve chips and cheese in the bathtub).
So we all are about to shut our eyes in our beds in the Ronald McDonald House, just a few short steps from the room we spent so many nights in this fall and another place that we will never forget for making our time in Philly so special and memorable. It's great to now have Kierstyn be able to enjoy it with us as well. Tomorrow we head to CHOP to do their Spina Bifida Clinic and meet with lots of the medical team that took such wonderful care of us. We are excited, to say the least. Here are a few links to news articles about the Fetal Surgery Reunion that we attended on Sunday as well as the Fetal Surgery Reunion video that was made with a quick pic from each of the fetal surgery kids that attended...it's pretty cool. Enjoy!
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphias-20th-annual-fetal-surgery-family-reunion-gathers-families-from-across-the-us-300290325.html
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/06/26/chop-fetal-surgery-family-reunion/
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/CHOP-Hosts-20th-Annual-Family-Reunion_Philadelphia-384460381.html
Here's the video:
https://www.facebook.com/TheCenterforFetalDiagnosisandTreatmentatCHOP/videos/1211229942253070/
CHOOSING JOY, Ronald McDonald House Style
-Jeff
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