Taking O to the City of Brotherly Love

Roby, Owen and I recently returned from our first family trip to Philadelphia! Roby had not been home in so long that this was the first time he met our nearly two-year-old niece Anngelina. Thankfully, we had a long visit and were able to pack in much needed quality time with Roby's family, my Mom, brother Jason and Melinda. We were thrilled to finally be able to introduce Owen to family members and friends who had yet to meet him.

The night we arrived, our cousin Binoy threw a housewarming party, where he showed off his snazzy, newly decorated condo and fed us gourmet appetizers! It turned into quite the memorable party, especially when, for a dare during a game, my brother danced to Hindi music...he busted out "the lawnmower," although I don't suppose you'll ever find that move in a Bollywood film :) Roby was happy to see all his friends in the same spot, a luxury rarely afforded since he left Philly for CA six years ago.

The following day we spent the morning celebrating Mother's Day with my Mom, Jason and Mel at their place and then visited with Roby's Mom and his side of the family. One evening we got together with friends for dinner and drinks at the Continental in Mid-town...we had a great time with everyone and our kooky waitress made the night all the more fun and interesting! We also attended Jason's graduation from Temple Law School and a surprise get-together for him at a local joint. We're proud of you Jase! Congratulations!

The low point of our trip was me catching a nasty viral infection and ending up in the hospital on an IV drip...fun fun. I just love needles! We were so thankful that our nephew Alex got over the virus and that Owen never caught it. While I was knocked out for the day, Roby, Abbey and Dooney introduced Owen to his first Philly cheesesteak at Pat's! He seemed to be more interested in the birds flying around the area at the time, but, oh trust us, he WILL learn the joys of real cheesesteaks in the future! (I personally was bent on eating a real hoagie...ok, so i ended up having 5 by the end of the trip, but i can't help it...nothing here comes close!)

It was lovely getting to spend so much time with family, including Roby's brother Rony and sister-in-law Rani, who brought their girls over several times, and his sister Renu and brother-in-law Alex who live in Philly also. Our niece Isabel and nephew Alex are so big now we can hardly believe it! It was fun seeing all the cousins together, and, of course, it was a challenge trying to get a picture of all of them together. We decided on the one I posted, blew it up, framed it and presented it to Pappa at his little birthday celebration. Pappa and Mummy adore their grandchildren for sure!

It was also wonderful for my Mom to have a lot of Owen time, since it has been several months since she has seen him. We hung out at Jason's place and also visited a local park, where Owen was fascinated with the ducks and geese! (Lately we have been into bird watching here at the house since our backyard is teeming with brightly colored, interesting kinds. We even have a red-headed woodpecker that keeps pecking at our roof and a lightpost. It appears that Owen has also taken an interest in our feathered friends!) We meandered along the pathways and were able to take some awesome outdoor shots of Owen with his Nana and aunt and uncle!

We were sad to leave, but so thankful for the memorable times we shared with our friends and family in Illadelph!