Family Photos from Easter

When we were in Canada for Easter, Andrew's mother hired a photographer to take photos of the family, as it's now a rare occasion that we are all together.
Of course, the idea of having a photo of all of the grandkids smiling and looking straight at the camera is something all grandparents would like to have. Unfortunately for John and Penny, they DID NOT get that at all!! Ha ha. Between Charlie trying to run to me, Austin deathly afraid of the camera, and Gaby not looking impressed, I am sure Penny is still dreaming of "the perfect photo" of the grandkids. Ahh, maybe some year.....
Before we moved back to Finland, we got the CD of the photos. Here are a few of the favs:

Last Stop: Philadelphia!!

There was so much history in Philadelphia, it was really cool to walk through the small area of downtown Philly and experience the area that basically created the country of the United States. We were fortunate enough to do a tour of Independence Hall, which is the building where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were created. We stood in the famous Assembly Room where the Declaration was signed and saw the chair where George Washington sat!
We also got to see the Liberty Bell, which was neat. Andrew had been to the area a couple of years ago for a business trip and bought her a Liberty Bell figurine from the airport. Now I got to see the real thing!
For lunch, we went to the market and had a Philly Cheesesteak. There were a few booths selling them, but I went to the one that had the longest lineup (well, it was the only one that had a lineup) because I figured that must be the best one. There was a newspaper clipping on the booth that showed Barack Obama having a cheesesteak from there, so I figured if it's good enough for the President, it's good enough for us. And it didn't disappoint, it was delicious!
Andrew wanted to challenge his photography skills by going to the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is no longer operated as a penitentiary but was one of the largest and most modern facilities of its time. Andrew got some fantastic shots while I took the kids to the Boathouse Row and playground. We walked to the outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the famous stairs of the Rocky movie was filmed. There is a Rocky statue outside as well. Of course Andrew had to run up the stairs with the kids singing the famous song, it was cool.
There is a trail you can follow through historic Philadelphia to see most of the main highlights. We did see the Benjamin Franklin grave site, finishing off with the amazing City Hall and the LOVE Park.
The historic part of Philadelphia is quite small, which was good for us because we only had a day and a half in Philly, I think, before we drove back to Boston. We got to see all of the main attractions and learn a lot about the history of the US.
This concludes our 10 day road trip around the northeast part of the US. It was busy, but wow, we did get to see a lot of things and create some great memories with our kids. We are so blessed that they are such good travelers. I am happy we managed to get Andrew out of the Harvard lab for a week and have some quality time just the four of us.

 Independence Hall

 

 The Assembly Room

 

 The Liberty Bell

 

Cheesesteaks!!

 

 Penitentiary

 

The corridors of the Penitentiary

 

 My big strong family

 

 The oldest residential street in the USA

 

 Philadelphia City Hall

 

LOVE park

Conleys Visit the Capital!!!

From New York City, we drove to Washington DC to spend a few days at the country's capital. We actually got an apartment in Virginia, which was only three subway stops to the center of Washington DC. and it was beautiful!

One day we went to Arlington National Cemetery, which is the largest burial ground in the country. It was amazing to see all of the white tombstones all perfectly in their rows and very emotional to be able to visualize how many soldiers have died in combat.

Last year we watched the TV series about the Kennedys, so it was actually neat to be able to visit the gravesite of President John F. Kennedy. From the hills of the cemetery, you can see the Pentagon too.

Another day we spent at the National Zoo, which was a fantastic place to spend the day with the kids. They loved it. Was great to see the Giant Pandas, which just a few weeks ago had a new baby cub. Unfortunately we were a few months too early!

For anybody who has studied a map of downtown Washington, most of the tourist sites are located along the National Mall, which is a very long strip of green space lined with the attractions. This includes the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. Only a couple of blocks from the National Mall is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House!

We visited all of the memorials, and for me it was exciting to see the Lincoln Memorial and see the giant statue of Abe Lincoln. We also had a great time at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, which housed a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Hope Diamond. Andrew pointed out that the diamond is estimated to be worth 250 million dollars and was only guarded by one guard. Ha ha.

On our drive to Philadelphia, we stopped by the Iwo Jima Memorial and also visited Gravelly Point Park, which is adjacent to the airport. You can sit on the picnic tables and watch the planes fly right over your head and land on the strip behind you. It was a really cool experience.

I think Washington was really nice, although it was HOT! It was handy that all of the major attractions are so close together and can easily walk between them. The only unfortunate thing is that you never have enough time to see everything, the Smithsonian museums alone would take you weeks to fully go through them and appreciate what they have to offer.

Memorials, monuments, and museums. Washington was packed with beauty and fun. A great stop on our road trip! Too bad we were too busy for a lunch with the Obamas, but hey, maybe next time.

 

New York New York!!!!

Andrew and I have always had the motto that we should try to see as much as we can when we travel to new places. We both would hate if we visited a place and didn't get to see ALL of the major tourist attractions. I hate regretting anything.
We are very lucky that the kids are so resilient, they are used to our crazy ways and as long as Maddy has her scooter, she can keep up with us :)
We stayed in Queens, as the prices in Manhattan were beyond insane, and took the subway in every morning to the city. It was only 4 or 5 metro stops to Grand Central so it wasn't a big deal.
Our first day we spent the morning meeting up with my good friend Dimple with her husband and little guy Kingston. We hung out at Madison Square Park by the Flatiron Building and also had a nice lunch at the famous Shake Shack! This place is insane, the lineups are unreal but people come every day and wait in line. There is actually a website where you can get a live stream to check out how long the lines are.
I think we had four full days in New York, and I have to admit that we basically crossed everything off our list. We saw Penn Station, Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, United Nations Headquarters, Brooklyn Bridge, the new World Trade Center (in construction), Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, Battery Park, Staten Island, the Statue of Liberty (also still under repair from the hurricane), Rockefeller Center, Trump Tower, Central Park, the zoo, and FAO Schwarz and the stores along Fifth Avenue.
We spent one full day at the Central Park and it was really fun. Of course I took the kids to the zoo. I think my favourite part was the penguins!
We spent one day in Brooklyn, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and hung out on the other side at some parks. We also visited the famous toy store FAO Schwarz, where Maddy spent a couple of hours picking out a toy.
I think our experience would have been quite different if we didn't have the kids with us. Of course it's fun when Maddy sees pictures of the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty and yell "I've been there before!", but it would have been fun to experience some of the restaurants or see a show on Broadway. I believe Andrew and I will definitely make a point of going back someday.
New York, you were fun, you were crazy (particularly some of the folk we saw on the subway), you were loud, you were bright, and you were crowded. It's a totally different life. Happy to cross it off my list!!!!
Until next time.

 

 

 

Conley USA Road Trip - Stop #1 Martha's Vineyard

So we had 10 days to go on a road trip through the eastern part of the US. Our first destination was Martha's Vineyard, a beautiful island south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. We stopped by Plymouth on our way, and got to visit the Plymouth Rock! The town of Plymouth is quite small but had a nice (chilly) beach and we hiked up to Burial Hill to see the old cemetery. Very quaint.

From Plymouth we drove to Wood's Hole, where we hopped on a ferry boat to Martha's Vineyard. There are three towns on the island, we stayed at a small beach motel in Vineyard Haven. We rented bikes and cruised about 30km around a part of the island. We saw beautiful beaches, lighthouses, and the cute little towns of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown.

The lighthouses and the water were spectacular. What a glorious place!

In Oak Bluffs we toured through the gingerbread cottages and the kids got to ride the oldest carousel in the United States. We also saw the bridge where they filmed part of the Jaws movie. The kids had a great time riding in the Burley, poor Andrew had to pull them around the island along with all of the camera equipment. Good practice for his cycling races!

Maddy's favourite part was collecting seashells. She went nuts over seashells!! We now have a very stinky bag of her favourites (trust me, she had to narrow it down a lot!).

Overall, I think Martha's Vineyard was a great stop on our road trip. And we have the bag of dead sea creatures to prove it ;)