From Snow to Sun and Back Again

The cold weather has kept us inside a lot, which has meant lots of having fun & goofing off while playing with Chase. A couple of weeks ago, we were supposed to spend the Saturday on a family outing. With no ideas of what to do, we took the advice of a family friend & drove up to Boyd's Bear Country in Pennsylvania. Its this huge barn that is set up with Boyd's Bear brand stuffed animals in all sorts of different & fun displays. We just walked around, took pictures & bought Chase the cutest stuffed hedgehog that he just loves.

The next night, it started to snow. We got enough snow over the night (Sunday night) that Jeff's work was closed for the day. Again, we stayed mostly inside & played with Chase . . . well, at least Jeff did. I got to spend the day putting our taxes together . . . at least they're done now! We also ventured outside for some pictures & video of Chase in the snow.

By the end of the week, it had warmed up and all the snow melted by Saturday. We decided to take advantage of the warm weather (who knows if it would come again before the end of the month or not?). So, we drove to Pennsylvania again, but this time to Philadelphia. We got a little lost coming into downtown, but ended up finding our way back . . . using the scenic route which involved an extra $4 toll to cross the Ben Franklin bridge. We stopped by the Reading Terminal Market - but it was too busy & crowded to be able to stop & eat with having Chase in the stroller. So, we headed on to the historical sites. We saw the Liberty Bell and headed to Independence Hall (just across the street). By the time we reached our tour time for Independence Hall, Chase was soooo ready for a nap. Tired & cranky and not falling asleep, so we missed out on the tour & headed home instead. Guess we'll have to make another trip another time.

Just playing . . . all cooped up inside during the cold weather. Chase brought over this ring, stuck it in my mouth & then bit the other side -- makes you wonder what they think about when they come up with funny stuff like that.

Don't know what this is exactly . . . just Chase being Chase!

Chase & his hedgehog from Boyd's Bear Country.

The 4 story high Boyd's Bear Country barn.

More playing inside while its snowing outside. Chase has been quite fascinated with his tongue lately & all that it can do!

The view of the snow from Chase's bedroom window.

Chase tries to balance in the snow.

Doing pretty well!

Ooops; lost that balance after all!

Play the above video to see Chase's first experience with snow.

Jeff & Chase in front of the Liberty Bell.

Independence Hall

Chase has that same heavy, furrowed brow that his dad gets!

Play the above video to see Chase playing outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. He's a little bit of a chatterbox here and still trying to figure out how to walk in those new shoes.