Winter Wonderland

This has been our first Christmas here in PA and John and I tried to take in as many sights that we could around our area.
Our first stop was Longwood Gardens, to those that don't know, it is an old du Pont estate that has been turned into 1,000 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows with indoor conservatories and displays. It was very chilly, but we warmed up with some hot chocolate and took in the sights! Of course cameras never really do it justice!
 

Taken from where they normally have their fountain display

John for some reason LOVED this poinsettia tree! haha

Children's Tree Conservatory

Wreath made out of all herbs: Sage, Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, and Thyme!

 

Outdoor Railroad Display



Freezing, so we went inside to enjoy the Upper Darby High School Choir sing carols, they were AMAZING! (and I made John sit from row with me..lol)

The next night, John and I went to see the Kennett Square Symphony Children's Choir concert at West Chester University, it was so cute!

John got home from work on Christmas morning at 4am, so he slept for most of the morning and then we had a great Christmas day (opened presents, Nelson staple Christmas breakfast, dinner with Ham and all the fixings and lots of desserts!) Our close friends, Lori and Sam, kindly invited John and I over Christmas evening since they knew he was working and didn't want me to end up being by myself on Christmas. Luckily John was able to go over for about an hour and have dessert before heading back to work that night! Here are a few pics from the Kotzens/Griggs (Sam's parents were in town from England and they had a lot of English family traditions that we took part in..fun times!).

Lori's mom Sharon and Sam's dad Mel with John (Hats= one of the traditions...too cute!)

Griggs Family

 Lor enjoying our gift to Ellarose more than she did! haha

The end to a great Christmas Season! 

O' Baltimore O' Baltimore

Sorry for the lack of blogging but our computer has been tied up for 3 weeks with John's studying on the internet!! For the past say 7 years, I have been going to Baltimore, Maryland countless times for John's Coast Guard testing or Pilot training. Sometimes we are only there for an hour others times over 2 weeks.


Baltimore's old U.S Customs House where the Coast Guard now is and where we go for John's testing/Training.

During that time, I must entertain myself (so sad) for at times 8 hours out of the day in the city by myself. This past week, John had to take a two day test to receive his highest license yet, a Masters License, so I had two days to get my regular Baltimore fix in of a few of my favorite things.
This time we decided to try new lodging in the city and found a bed and breakfast (we are now obsessed with them, this probably being our 8th or so B & B all over the country), called the 1840 Carrollton Inn in the Little Italy section near the Inner Harbor. It was right near downtown but so relaxing and full of history.

Forgot to take a pic outside, so this one is from the internet.



Our Room..The Patriots Room

I seriously felt like I needed to get my Gone With The Wind dress on and my ladies in waiting. It was an amazing place that really catered to us (well they should of..we were the only guests since it was during the week and I got 40% off!). Breakfast was amazing! Room had a fireplace, four poster canapy bed and a HUGE soaking tub. And each person that has stayed in the room writes in the journal on the nightstand about why they are there, where they ate, and what they did! Loved it!

 

We of course ate our hearts out in Little Italy.. Margarita pizza for lunch at Isabellas Brick Oven Pizza. Dinner at Amiccis Italian and Cannolis at Vaccaros!!

Spent my days at my favorite places that I will share with you (its my routine now when I come to Baltimore, although John and I threw in a little tour at the top of the World Trade Center of Baltimore since we had never been).  Oh....and he PASSED! So I guess, it was a successful trip all around! haha



This is where I ALWAYS start my morning, LOVE this Barnes and Noble! I get my startbucks inside and catch up on my People Mag. and one other gossip magazine before I head out for the day!

This is my second stop of the day..Filene's basement..its almost like an organized Last Chance!
Then I just cruise the Inner Harbor which is one of our favorite places...

Can't skip The Gallery, the 5 story mall!

Here are some of our pictures from 26 stories up in the World Trade Center Baltimore