Phun in Philly and elsewhere

Happy 4th of July! I'm embarrassingly slow on posting, but there's a good reason: we have bid farewell to our old, crash-prone DMU laptop as our main family computer. It was too full to download even one more pic, and posting was so slow it was painful. The beast has been replaced by an iMac. wahoo! It's a lovely piece of machinery. Resident friends, your husbands qualify for the student discount promo that runs through the end of the month, so take advantage! It was our graduation present to ourselves. And worth every penny so far.

On with the post: We went with our friends the Yorgasons to the parade in Philadelphia, the birthplace of Independence. We thought it fitting, being only an hour away, and it was memorable. I was moved to tears three times during the day, and I'm not a cryer. The first time I teared up was during the parade. I know, so silly, but it was a great parade. What was most moving to me was the diversity of groups represented. There were groups from all over the world, *big* groups, from so many countries. I got to thinking about how we're all immigrants to this country somewhere on our family lines, that most if not all of our families have sacrificed for this country in some way, and that we owe those family members a tremendous debt. I love the "melting pot" of the US. I'm grateful to be here. We're hoping to take full advantage of being so close to the historical sites while we're living east. I'll be sure to post our future adventures! Here's Scotty strutting his flag:
James' version of Uncle Sam, sans hat:
James turning suddenly un-patriotic:
Benjamin: "Hey, look! You can be cool like me!" Scotty: "Really?" Scotty: "I'm cool now."Lisa and I didn't plan the matching plaid shirts. I thought they were pretty cute together. Must have been a somber part of the parade...
After the parade we went to an all-you-can-eat ice cream tasting. Note the tower of cups. It was fun, but *super* crowded, and we all had tummy aches afterwards (surprise). Had to do it once.By the time we got to the spot we reserved for fireworks, we were all exhausted. In hindsight, we probably should have called it quits then, but we all stuck it out. We all felt like James looked:And this hadn't happened since he was less than 6 weeks old (he likes to be in his BED):

He woke up for a few of the fireworks, but Annie and Scotty (the whole reason we were there) both crashed before they started. (sigh) I ended up enjoying the fireworks more than usual, though. Philly had prepared audio clips of my favoritehistorical figures who fought for various freedoms. It was well choreographed with the fireworks, above the art museum on Benjamin Franklin Blvd. Even with the exhastion we all felt the next day, I'm glad we went.

A few weeks later we went to visit my brother Ben again in MD. We tried a picnic at a state park which was inconveniently (for us, not for James) muddy, with no grass.

This is his I-like-to-eat-dirt-but-don't-want-my-knees-to-touch-it crawl:

Here's uncle Ben and the boys (James sans mud and clothes) on the Swinging Bridge at Patapsco State Park:

Uncle Ben taking Scott on a little hike:

And finally, a trip to what used to be the Enchanted Forest. It's now converted into a little playground/petting zoo. Very fun.
Scott refused to pose, but *loved* this boat. It was in a little pond with frogs all around the edges. Every little kid that came by while we were there was forced to call him "Captain Scott."
That's all for now. More pics to come. Miss you all and wish you were closer.