West Philadelphia, Born and Raised

We've been spending most of our days recently in Philly on the playground, chilling out max and relaxing all cool. Maybe even shooting some b-ball outside of the school. Not well, but we tried.

We cannot even begin to say how much fun this trip was. Mike, Harriett, and Beth Donovan opened up their home to us as adopted kids and let us stay here for three days. And what a home it is! Eastern Pennsylvania is still very colonial and the houses all show it. They live on Valley Forge mountaint which is the Deer Tick capital of the US. I made Charity check me for ticks nightly. The good thing about having so many deer ticks is that you have so much Lyme disease. Wait, no, you have lots of deer. Everywhere. And they're not afraid of you even slightly. We counted 21 deer on the 2 mile drive home in their neighborhood. But the deer were camera shy, so no pics, sorry.

We took the Harriet VIP tour of Philadelphia which included stops in all of the most important places. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Pat's House of Cheesesteaks. Oh man, I miss mexican food, but I can wait longer if I keep finding stuff like this. I promise to keep putting my first bite of anything new on the blog. Charity liked the cheesesteaks so much that she woke up at 3am that night and relived them through horrible hearburn. She's better now and will stick to salads.

Having been to DC, we both think that Philadelphia has way more history and culture. It really stirred a lot of gratitude in me for what a great country we have and how amazing God's providence is to have brought it together. It also made me remember how many random facts about the Revolutionary War I learned as a kid. We even finished it off tonight with dinner at the City Tavern. This is a 200+ year old restaurant that the founding fathers used to hang out at after a hard days work in the Continental Congress. They dress in colonial attire, serve colonial era food, and have beer based on the original recipes that people like Washington and Jefferson used. Rumor has it that after a few pints, THIS is where the plan for the Constitution really happened. The place was very cool, but I did catch one colonial servant girl listening to Kanye West on her iPod. I promised not to tell.

Charity also got a shopping tour from Harriett at King of Prussia mall which is the second biggest mall in America. She is now prepared for New York, so look for those pictures in a weeks to see what she bought . While the girls shopped, I wandered around Valley Forge with a camera and a healthy fear of ticks. It was well worth any ticks I may have gotten. Ticks. (I hate them, sorry, I get all twitchy). Anyway, it was beautiful and I'll post some of them once I get the film (yes, I still own and use a film camera) developed.

By far the most amazing experience of all was a trip to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I think there might be paintings or something in there, but it's home to some of the most famous steps in the world. These steps.

The steps from Rocky. Charity made it all the way up in heels with no problem. I was too busy trying to fake a facial droop for my Rocky statue look alike. But I found something even better. The Italian Stallion himself.

I asked Harriet who comes down to the city all the time and she says she has never seen this guy before in her life. He was just hanging out by the steps and I wanted a picture. He said, "Aaayyyoohhyyeeahhh! Welcome tah Philly!" I almost hugged him. He was nice enough to do the first picture, but then floored me when he agreed to do the Rocky-Apollo picture from the end of Rocky II. For the second time this trip, I cried a little. We still have no idea who he was. Some say he was a angel. A big, greasy, I-Talian tank of an angel.

The Donovans were amazing to us and such a blessing. They really encouraged us while we stayed with them and it was very refreshing to have Godly people speak into our lives while we're out here. Thanks guys. Up next is my last week of work and then off to Maine to visit Charity's family. Maybe we'll be able to sleep when we get back to Tucson.
On a technical note, we changed the blog so that you don't have to log in or be a member to post comments (sorry, for hassle Gramma L). Hopefully, we'll get more posts from back home now. Right?

Love,Aaron and Charity

PS (Brittany, your room is safe.)