A Visit to the City of Brotherly Love

Ron, Grant and I traveled to Philadelphia last Saturday to visit my sister, Beverly and to attend our friends, Ronica and Patrick's wedding! This was Grant's fifth trip by plane and FINALLY he was able to travel with his Daddy, I was also grateful for the help on the plane with our little wiggle worm!

We have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and Philadelphia is such an exciting city full of history, we were excited for all the city had in store for us!

We were lovingly greeted upon arriving at the airport by the "Tew Crew," full of hugs and smiles. My Mom and Dad decided last week that they would also visit Beverly while we were there so we could enjoy being together as a family and of course, they were dying to see Grant once again. Beverly had not seen Grant since Christmas when he was four months, he had grown leaps and bounds from their last encounter.
Our first stop in Philadelphia was Pat's King of Steaks. The home of the first and original Philly Steak and Cheese Steak. Ron saw this business featured on either the Travel Channel or Food network a while back and ever since he's been obsessed with seeing what all the hype was about for himself. Let me tell you, Pat, did not dissapoint. Our Cheese Steaks were amazing! This place is open 24/7 and they have a never ending line wrapped around the building. It was definitely worth the wait!

If you know Ron, you know he is a huge history buff. The next day he had a historic site-seeing itinerary lined up for the "Tew Crew." We visited the Liberty Bell, The National Constitution Center, Ben Franklin's Grave and Betsy Ross' home and gravesite. It was an awesome day and the weather cooperated perfectly all weekend.

We did take some time out from our day to enjoy the local park...

Grant loves his Auntie Beverly!

That night Ron and I attended our great friend's, Ronica and Patrick's wedding in downtown Philly at the Downtown Club. The ceremony and reception were held in the same banquet room on the eleventh floor overlooking the Philladelphia skyline with a cocktail hour inbetween. Their wedding was amazing, Ronica is the former "Miss Philadelphia" and the highlight of the evening was when she serenaded Patrick with "At Last." Patrick and Ron are Marine Corps buds and their friendship has lasted past their Marine Corps careers, Patrick just graduated with his MBA from Harvard and he was actually was a reader at our wedding!

We also got to meet up with several of our old, good Marine Corps friends that we had not seen in two years. It was wonderful seeing all of these great folks!

Our last day in the city was spent doing all the last minute scenic stops and taking my Dad out for a Father's Day lunch. We were busy, busy, busy and on the go

but we did take some time out to enjoy the view.

Thank you to my wonderful sister for opening up your home to us during our stay and driving us all over the city! We had such a great time visiting your part of the world and hope to make it back up there very soon!

And for the highlight of our trip, look who I just happened to run into during our layover in the Charlotte airport?! Fate, I tell you! It had been too long, Monica was on her way home from a Nascar race in the Poconos. I love you Mons!

(*please excuse my very tired, no makeup face. Grant had been completely unmanageable on our previous flight and I was purely worn out!)