A Philly Fourth

Even though I've lived in Philly for just about two years, this was my first Fourth of July spent in the city. Last year, my family came to visit and we spent the fourth in New York City and watched the fireworks over the Hudson with thousands of others. That was an adventure! This year, we did things a little differently. We celebrated the holiday with one of Nick's best friends visiting from Minneapolis and a Phillies' game with some friends. Did we watch any fireworks? The answer is no, but that was ok by us!

Aaron came to town the evening of July 2. We played it lowkey that night, as I was giving a final. We grilled and hung out at the house. July 3 we were a bit more ambitious, since Nick had the day off of work. We did our favorite things with out of town guests. First a trip to the Comcast Center:

Mesmerizing! Here are the two old friends, friends for twenty years:
Next we caught the Phlash (a trolley that runs around to all of the city's major sites) and went to Reading Terminal Market for a snack of cinnamon-sugar covered pretzels. YUM. Then off to Independence Park, where there was a stage set up for an evening concert, a big Lincoln commemoration festival, and of course Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It was a gorgeous day and I had just been, so Nick and Aaron went to see the Liberty Bell while I enjoyed the afternoon.

Tickets to Independence Hall weren't available, as they rarely are on weekends, but we looked at the outside:
We finished up Friday by heading to Lolita, a fantastic pseudo-Mexican restaurant that Nick and I discovered one Restaurant Week. We headed home after that, played some games, and went to bed. We got up fairly early on the fourth, I made one of my favorite breakfasts for everyone, and then we hung out until it was time to take Aaron to the airport for his early afternoon flight.

After dropping Aaron off, we headed to the sports complex area for some tailgating before the late afternoon Phillies game with our friend Parker, his girlfriend Brandi, and his sisters Caroline and Abby and their significant others Scott and John.

Getting the grill ready for hotdogs:
We played some improvised frisbee games. Here's what it felt like to lose, as modeled by Caroline and Scott:
Winning, on the other hand, is awesome! A victorious Brandi and Nick:
Parker and I were also victorious, but I don't have any photos of that.

We had standing room only tickets for the game, so we found a perch and settled in.

It was a really great game. The Phillies won and we had a great time with our friends. We made our way back home, cutting up through the city and even through the area where thousands and thousands of people were gathered for a concert by The Roots and Sheryl Crow. It was fun to see the crowds, but we were tired and just headed home. We mostly relaxed on Sunday since we'd been so busy on our three-day weekend, but we did have to get ready for various things for the next week. Nick had a performance review (which was yesterday) to get ready for and my new class started the next day. It was a great weekend and makes us eager for Labor Day so we can have another great three-day weekend.