Mom and Dad come to PA!

My parents came up from Tennessee for the weekend. We had such a great time and I am SO glad they came! It meant a lot to Jake and I that they came up to spend time with us. We had a FULL weekend - they arrived on Friday morning and left on Monday morning.

On Friday, we went out to lunch and then spent the afternoon hanging out at our house. Mom made a graham cracker pie - Dad's favorite dessert - and I made oven-fried chicken, mac n' cheese, steamed broccoli and maple roasted parsnips for dinner. After dinner we headed over to Bethlehem to catch a show at Lehigh University. We saw The Little Foxes - it was a cute play!

Saturday morning started with homemade sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. We needed to fill our tummies for a day of walking at Longwood Gardens. I wasn't sure how the day would turn out...I mean, we were visiting a garden in PA in the middle of February...but it was absolutely wonderful! They have awesome fountains, indoor & outdoor gardens, the historic Du Pont house, tree houses, and lots more...we practically spent the whole day in the conservatories. All of the orchids and beautiful arrangements made me excited for Spring!

 

After touring the gardens all day we had a nice dinner in West Chester and headed home for some homemade ice cream!

On Sunday we got up early to head into New York City! We got to Battery Park just in time for the 9 a.m. ferry to the Statue of Liberty!

 

Ellis Island was a neat experience. I had no idea that the book of signatures as portrayed in the movie Hitch was just made up for movies and Hollywood...it never really existed!

We stood in a long line to see the 9/11 memorial. It's hard to describe what it felt like to be at Ground Zero for the first time...I can't even imagine what that terrible day could have been like. The picture below shows the memorial where the south tower stood.

After a delicious dinner at Becco, we headed to Time Square. We finished the day off with a broadway show - Godspell. It was great!