Here Comes A New Shelmet

Since the July 4th holiday fell on a Wednesday this year, we didn't make plans to go anywhere or do anything. Luckily, another family in the neighborhood was going to the local fireworks show, so we decided to tag along with them for the evening. The light wasn't good for pictures, but the fireworks were pretty amazing! We found out later that Zoe's cousins would be down at the beach house for the holiday weekend. Packing into the car, we got down there at a reasonable hour on Friday, with just enough time for the kids to enjoy a quick ride down the promenade. After that all of the kids, big and small, wanted to play some games in the arcade. Skee ball was a favored activity where lots of tickets were won, but somehow Uncle Joe managed to pull in the biggest haul on another machine. The next day there was lots to do, mainly at the beach. All of the kids really enjoyed running around and played well with one another. They were really good at bocce, Henry an

Zoe had a dentist appointment today, and with my modified work schedule I was able to take her downtown a little early. The main reason was to bring her to Dilworth Park so that she could experience the giant fountain that bubbles up from under the ground. When we first got there, she wasn't very impressed, walking past the small bubbling waters. I was trying to explain to Zoe that the waters shoot up fairly high, and it's pretty cool. I'm not sure if whether or not she believed me, but when they shot up she was certainly caught by surprise. Once she got used to it, she really enjoyed running around between the water. She also did a really good job of staying dry.. mostly. We made it to the dentist on time and everything worked great. Flickr has some more pictures of the fountain play.

We purchased a deal for the Philly Rock Gym so that the family could give rock climbing a try. Since the offer allowed for four people, we opted to take Zoe's friend Maya with us. For our initial outing the girls started with the easiest walls, which did not pose much difficulty to climb. After the easy walls it was time to move on to another part of the gym with more challenging climbs. This involved the face wall climb, as well as climbs that went across the wall instead of straight up. About an hour of climbing left the girls were sweaty and tired, but they still wanted to climb. Thankfully there were some handholds on the giant PRG initials, so they were able to climb up, on, and through them while we tried to leave. Even though this was only our first trip here, I doubt it will be our last. There are more pictures on Flickr of the girls climbing around, be sure to take a look.