our new home: philadelphia

well we have been here for a month and a 1/2 and are finally feeling like our new apartment and city is home

we’ve had a lot of fun exploring our surroundings

and experiencing life in a city…

which sometimes means:

bad smells

walking home in the rain

trash everywhere

seeing all sorts of groups (or gangs as we like to call them) our favorites have been the bmx bike gang, the rollerblading gang, and the moms who work out around their strollers gang

crazy people, doing crazy things, like the man riding a bike drinking a beer carrying a weed wacker

crazy, impatient drivers

worrying about missing one turn and ending up in a sketchy place (has happened to many times to count)

trying to figure out how to get all of your groceries to the apartment in one trip

driving 30 minutes to get to the clean grocery store

but it also means:

beautiful morning runs along the schuylkill river

being in places where so many important things for this country happened, it’s a city of first’s

making new and amazing friends

never running out of delicious places to eat

walking the streets of a city and enjoying the diversity of the people

having so many museums and galleries and places to see

appreciating my religion more, and being able to interact with some of the most amazing and humble members of this gospel

drives through the most beautiful tree covered highways

opportunities we’d never dreamed of

and we must have a few pictures of our neighborhood, including our wonderfully small apartment

 

{the library}

 

{city hall}

 

{art museum}

 

{franklin institute}
 

{view from the Schuylkill}

  

{boathouse row}
 

{my favorite view}
  

{max bought the picture of above the bed in russia. it traveled from russia to bermuda to utah to pennsylvania}

     

(view from the balcony}

 

{had to include max's first day of school picture} 

{these pictures are not from my neighbor hood but it's only a few blocks away..gotta love north philly}