We made it back yesterday evening. It was a wonderful trip. I thank God for the blessing of safety on the entire trip, hassle-free security and crossings, and absolutely fabulous visits with old friends. We stayed up late so many nights to talk that I need a vacation of napping to catch up on my rest! First we went to Philadelphia. My friend there has nearly grown children and when we met they were in K and 3 grades! I can't believe how old everyone else gets while I stay so young. J.D. has a dog and the boys had fun playing with her. They also enjoyed the hot tub outside in the evenings. We spent the first afternoon looking over the little suburb we lived in when the boys were born. They got to see where the apartment was, the train station, park, their first library...#1 said he would like to live there again. As for tourism we saw: Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Christ's Church (where Washington, Franklin, and others went to church), Franklin's grave, the mint, Washington Square- a memorial to Revolutionary soldiers, Betsy Ross's house, a museum on Franklin and the Franklin Institute. We ate the local Philly Cheesesteaks (#1 liked them a lot) and water ices and gelattis (which everyone loved). We left there to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for a morning. Highlights there were riding the ferry across the harbor, going up in the pedastal of Lady Liberty to "look up her dress" ( you can no longer go all of the way up in her), and imagining what it would be like to arrive as an immigrant at Ellis Island. One account of a Russian was that they only knew uniforms as something to fear and they did not speak the language. So when they arrived to uniformed doctors, train attendants, workers, police, etc. they feared everyone and wondered what they had gotten into. We looked for family names on the wall, and found some common surnames, but our people have been here since the Revolutionary War so we don't imagine being related to them. Then we moved on to Canada. That was all in one day- leave Philly, go to Liberty Island, drive to Canada- a long day to be sure. We had no trouble crossing the border and very little trouble finding our friends. MapQuest is great! My friends have 2 more children since last we met and the first 2 are quite grown up, so we had a lot of catching up to do. The kids hit it off right away and that made the visit even more enjoyable. #2 had planned to pack his snow boots for Canada, but was glad he didn't when it was a heat index of 112 degrees! Highlights were: Niagara Falls and riding the Maid of the Mist (which is much more a rainstorm than a mist!), watching huge ships go through the Welland Canal lock and dam, and riding an antique carousel for 5 cents a ride. Yes, I said 5 cents a ride! We even got to go put our feet in Lake Ontario. Very Cold! We wanted to do Canadian things as we had done Philadelphia things so my friend introduced us to the culture too. They eat fries from stands like we get ice cream or hot dogs, she sent home their candies which we will try today as a family, and maple syrup. Canada is the world's largest producer of maple syrup. Then we dropped by WV to see the grandparents and then headed home. Both boys picked up a bug on the way home so I guess they were vacationed out. They were able to tell the grandparents a lot of what they did and learned, as well as the fun they had, so I think it was a great vacation and experience. Now back to work getting this place in shape!