Philly with Auntie Sabrina & Gamma

We got back from Christmas late on Saturday the 27th. After a 10+ hour drive in the car, we went straight to bed, got up the next morning, and got back in the car to drive to Philly. It is only 90 minutes to center city, but the thought of being in the car for another 3 hours round-trip was enough to make us all want to squirm out of our seatbelts. Meera, especially, was not thrilled with the idea! But it was well worth it; we had a great day with Auntie Sabrina and Gamma. We met them in Chinatown for dim sum. Kyle and Owen truly love being in any big city (I wonder where they get that???!!!? - ha!).

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Braydon and I love dim sum, but for everyone else it was a first. The food was great and the experience was lots of fun for all. Owen's favorite dish was the pork dumplings (Braydon agreed). Kyle's favorite was the broccoli rabe (Meera too-- we let her gnaw on a piece and it occupied her for at least half our lunch). Gamma and Sabrina both liked the stir-fried noodles the best. My favorite was the eggplant. The fried tofu and the shrimp were other favorites too. K & O, especially, liked playing with the shrimp as well as eating them (since they were cooked whole with the heads still on).
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We had to get Kyle a smoothie after dim sum. We had never brought the boys to Chinatown in Philadelphia before, but have brought them to Chinatown in NYC several times. Kyle remembered that after lunch the last time we were in Chinatown, NYC we had bought smoothies on the street. He loves smoothies -- they are one of his all time favorites. And smoothies seem extra good in Chinatown no matter what city you're in. Owen had to have one too. They both chose strawberry. I love this picture of Sabrina with the boys.
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After Chinatown we went to Sabrina's beautiful apartment. She had bought a gingerbread house making kit to do with K & O. It was the perfect afternoon activity. And, as Sabrina called it, the perfect "challenge" for an Auntie to do with these two wild nephews (!!!). In the end they did manage to build quite a nice gingerbread house (and Owen managed to eat quite a large amount of icing).
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Aunt and niece love-fest.

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Braydon, Gamma, Owen, Kyle before we headed home. Gamma gave the boys a puppet theater for Christmas. They love it.