Philadelphia, again... this means business!

The week after the beach Andy had a diabetes conference in Philadelphia, PA... so we headed back for our second stay in the city of brotherly love in 2013.
What better place to find brotherly love than an "Old Ale House," McGillin's to be specific. We dropped in for dinner.  Andy's coworker Albert attended the same conference so we got to hang out together.
We got carded... I've never been carded before, not because I look so mature, but because I've never been to a bar. Melissa didn't have her ID with her, but they decided she might be over 21 (the week of her 31st birthday).
Albert enjoying the cool stuff on the walls and the general happy noise that surrounded us.


 Albert and Andy spent 7-8 hour days in the conference so Melissa decided to go spend a day and a night at Jordan and Amanda's house (Andy's older brother and sister-in-law). She spent her time playing with the kids and they even made a visit to The Please Touch Museum.






 
 
 

With Melissa away for the night Andy and Albert made the obvious choice for two married dudes on an evening free of their families... we visited an art museum and went for sushi.



 The diabetes educators conference held a 5K run to benefit diabetes research and Andy and Albert entered.  This was Andy's first ever organized "race" and would commence promptly at 5:30 AM, so to prepare we hit the mean streets of Philly at night and got a cheesesteak twice the size of Melissa's hand.
 
 
Before the race:

The Start/Finish line, Andy made it (32:47):

And ready to pass out on the bus ride back to the hotel. I was not the fastest runner... by far, but I completed and that is something I wouldn't have been able to do a year earlier before I made the decision to be healthier.

After the race we took the day off the conference (which had been mostly a big disappointment anyway) and did some site-seeing. 


The longest line I've ever seen at a public place... look a poorly forged bell!

There is a tomb of the unknown in Philadelphia which commemorates those lost in the Revolutionary War.  None of us had ever heard of it; it is in a simple park, no guards, no lines of people, just a stand-alone monument.  It was an amazing place, the air was full of beauty, sorrow for the lost and respect for their sacrifice.  These are the unknown who freed our land and we are grateful that we were able pay our respects.
 
We decided to spend our last night with Jordan and Amanda.  They were throwing a surprise party for one of their neighborhood friends that night.  Melissa didn't say anything until the last moment... but her birthday was the next day.  So Amanda surprised her with the most wonderful of gifts, a birthday bratwurst!

 
Getting to see this part of our family twice in a year was awesome... the kids really started to open up and let us know that they loved us. It is great strengthening our family bonds.  Even if the love comes in the form of Speed Hugs, so fast the camera can hardly keep up.
 

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