Heidi and Auntie Jennifer

Daddy got in big trouble for this one.
Look Gingham - a baby!

Do not under any circumstances let this "cute" little face fool you. She is brewing something big.
This is my favorite picture ever! What a little snoozer.

Ok guys...getting bored here!

This was my chance to be an auntie for the first time and I wanted to make it as easy for the new family as I could. Here are some pictures of my amazing little niece and the new mommy and daddy! We had such a good time and I found out that yes, my brother CAN take care of another human being afterall...and does a pretty darn good job. I was proud of them both. My sister is a natural and really enjoys being a mommy. I even had to remind her to eat - and yes, that requires letting the baby go for a few minutes!

Here are a few highlights from our trip to Vegas. We had a wonderful time.









The hotel we stayed at was the Stratosphere.
We road in a gondola with at the Venetian and were serenaded by a gondolier.

We were chauffeured back to our hotel by a limousine after we bought a time share.







We walked through the gardens at the Flamingo, it was beautiful.









Dad almost fell out of the tower at the Stratosphere!


Drooling.







Celebrating!









He gets all the girls!

We're grandparents now and celebrating our 30th anniversary.

My Apartment - far overdue

I've been promising pictures of my apartment but it just hasn't been a priority and when it was, then my camera wasn't working! These are from different times, but should give you the gist of what it looks like. The apartment I live in used to be an old Victorian mansion and has since been turned into 6 small apartments. Mine is a good sized one bedroom and I believe they all are one bedrooms but the ones on the front of the apartment are even smaller than mine. I'm in the back of the apartment and am facing a courtyard type backyard where my neighbors from different buildings and backdoor porches occasionally have parties. Sound carries a lot here! But most of the time it is dead silent save for the occasional trolley horn when someone is parked on the tracks. By the way, most of these pictures are how the apartment was before I moved in, mine is decorated much differently. I wasn't abel to get those pics off my digital camera

Springtime in Philly

I've been looking around admiring all the signs of spring in the city and tried to capture every instance I see! Enjoy...

New Years Day

Well it looks like I will be able to get my pictures off my phone now, so I'll be using that instead of my digital camera.

I've been in Philly two years and this is my third New Years, but the first year I actually made it to the parade. Wow, what an experience! It is the strangest concept. Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange. This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year. Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution. Prizes were offered by merchants in the late 1800’s. January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city. More history here http://www.phila.gov/recreation/mummers/Mummers_History.html

I was almost abducted by one of them! There were so many of them and it was the livliest and strangest parade I think I've been to. The music was great, people were dancing in the street, and luckily the cold weather kept out the riff raff so I got a good view of the whole thing! They were even selling hand warmers. I hadn't seen those since Nodak!