Philly walkabout

After a well-rested night and a very lazy morning, we got ready for brunch at the famed 9th street Italian Market.

First stop was Sabrina's, a well reviewed establishment located on 910 Christian Street... it was madness.. it was about 10am when we arrived and there was a huge crowd of at least 20+ people in line! Just the thing for foodies so we decided that it could be well worth the wait. Of course, we had a good look at the food being served and oh my, they were very hearty and indeed delectable!! We left our names at the registry and got a card. The wait should be about an hour or so they say. So we decided to explore a little to while away the time.

At the start of 9th street, we saw this sign. The whole street was flanked by streets of definite Italian spellings and really, indefinite meanings.

Di Bruno Brothers was really packed but I had to go in for a peek. It was an eye-opener indeed.. with loads of handmade pasta in shapes and sizes that I had never seen before.  (ok so I had seen some in Culina's back in Singapore)...

The below, I believe, was huge slabs of cheese.

Jars and jars of capers and pickles and peppers.

And then we decided to take a morning coffee break and chanced upon this little nondescript cafe. Which had the most amazing chocolate croissant. Thin crusts of crumbling pastry that is crisp yet suitably moistened with choc filling that wasn't too overtly caramelized. It was heavenly. Literally 'eyes-lit-up-after-first-bite' kinda reaction from the both of us.

Never to spoil an excellent first impression, we were disciplined not to order extras...

Sharing gelato.

 

Finally! Found a pic of that marvelous cafe...

And so, the young one was captivated by the flurry of waitstaff fussing around a leaking aircon unit that was right above the doorway. It was as fascinating watching her so enthralled with something so simple and mundane. The daddy just looked bored and of course, I bet he was thinking why a simple task required more than 1 person to execute - as always lovingly in character.

And so we headed back to Sabrina's. I'm obviously not a good photographer but like all things nicely vintage-d.

Best-tasting salad I'd tried since coming to the USA!
We cabbed it to the Museum of Art - here we were admiring the view from the top of the hill where it housed the Phladephia Museum of Art. K checked out a wedding reception at one of the foot hills.

And we moved on to the Philadelphia Museum of the Art, there was a Renoir exhibition which we were tempted. However entrance fees were madness, I would prefer seeing a collection of Impressionists paintings versus a particular artist and the day was beautiful so we skipped it, choosing instead to gallivant on the steps of the museum, ala Rocky Plus, I haven't done much reading on Renoir so the visit may not stick in my head.

Here, lil K attempted to climb up the infamous Rocky steps.

Spent but satisfied.

Little children soaked wet from jumping into the fountains across the road - running rampant up the rocky steps screaming and laughing.

Here we took a picture together with the sculpture of Sylvester Stallone in his portrayal of Rocky. But Kaylen at 2 months 8 months got really scared and started clinging to me like clingwrap.

Just Paul taking a break....And then lil K joins the daddy on the steps. See her cheeky expression!

We moved on to a notable restaurant in Chinatown since Philalphia's was supposed to be pretty decent. Well, more decent that what we had tried in Dallas really.

Accolades adorned the entrance. Oh well, to their credit, most of them were recent ones from the '00s.

Lil K still munching on her fortune cookie after dinner. Dinner was alright - dingy interior, cheesy fittings like red lanterns, dynastic paintings and old wooden carved partitions. The crowd is a mixture of cushy folks of various races. Food and price-wise I would say, equivalent to Singapore's Crystal Jade fare at double the price? ;)

I am glad that in many ways while Paul and I are so different, we do share the same beliefs on how our holidays should be like - i.e. free and easy, taking our time in taking in the sights, ensuring a good mix of good restaurant and street fare alike, skipping touristy attractions that just take too much time away from enjoying the vibe of the places we visit. Oh yes, we do believe in reading up a little about the history of the place as well just so we can impress each other with little useless snippets of information now and then!

Sesame Place = so fake, I loved it!

We started off bright and early... in our happening Nissan Cube in lovely chocolate... small & niffy.. it was fun and plastic-ky!

 Sesame Place at Langhorne, just 30 minutes north of Philadelphia.

 I got excited looking at the Elmo flowerbeds... Paul just rolled his eyes... It seems this is MY childhood place, more so than both Kaylen & Paul combined. Entry to the park was amazing. It was bright and cheery and everything looked like on set (minus the hot and sunny weather)...

We started off with the Elmo Fish ride... she was a little apprehensive at first but got a hang of it... this is Kaylen's first time at an amusement park (not counting carousel rides @ resorts and shopping centres)..

 Then took a ride on Grover's World Twirl in the colorful themed teacups!

 We quickly went for the timed Elmo's World Live showtimes... where we were introduced to Mr. Noodle and Dorothy proper. She also tried the imaginery piano and was really amused.. that it didn't work.

 Then it was time for Rock Around the Block Parade! According to the Sesame Plc website, this parade debuted in 1997 and will officially retire on 31 Oct, 2010. Luckily we caught it then because we really thought it was joyous and fun for the little children with its loud music and colorful, bigger than ever imagined characters!

 'Oh boy, oh boy! It's Telly Monster!

 Big Bird - obviously.

 And then we took a break for lunch. I probably got the order all wrong (haha, since this happened in June and my update is in Sept.. ) We got a keepsake for her - the Elmo plate. Food was alright and wasn't as exorbitant as we had expected. Just USD9 or twice the usual price of kid's meal you find at one of those chain restaurants (eg. TGIFs, Chilli's, Chick-A-Fils) outside the park.

 Tummy tums tums all filled up and ready to go...

 Queuing up for a photo opportunity..

 With our favourite Cookie Monster 'Om nom nom nom nom'!

 At the grocer's.

 

Check out her balancing act upon entry to the bouncy inflatable!

 

The happy fall..

Spent but satisfied.

 

 At the gift shop.. haha but she was a good girl - we already had a big bird soft toy at home (still unpacked in one of the many boxes in the garage) so we got some lil souvenirs and headed out... Am rather proud of her that she didn't bug us to get her things. Perhaps not at her age @ 2yo 8 mths and hopefully in the near future? *cross fingers*

 Finally, a family pic!

With Abby Caddaby! Not my most favourite characters but oh yeah, might as well

since she was in our way out.. ;p

Just a quick overview of the place... Doesn't look big but we didn't even get to cover the wet park!

Tiring day indeed.. Kaylen slept all the way back to the hotel and I think I did too... too much excitement for one day.. We headed back to the hotel, had a long bath and went to Chilli's - just a stone's throw away - for dinner. Shortly after we returned to the room - I think just about then, I realised I didn't bring my camera charger, spare camera battery NOR a travel adapter for my iphone. Paul rolls his eyes at me and went out to the convenience store yet again to get the latter since it serves dual purpose of making me contactable & getting the photos taken.

I think times like these - these occasional mental lapses - (which is rare) allows him the chance to be able to rescue the damsel in distress, which of course, makes him pretty happy. LOL *my blog, my opinions - so there!*

My pride and joy

As I put my lil one to bed after the usual hoolabooha of nighttime shower, milkfeed, storytime, brushing of teeth and final pee-run, I kissed her goodnight and said "I love you, Kaylen".

She replied with such maturity and absolute sure-rity (is there such a word?) in her still childish, girly voice, "I lurb u too, mummy". With that, she hugged her doggy softtoy and snuggled up in her blanket.

I laid down next to her and felt my heart swelling up and absolutely brimming with happiness. I thought about our trip today to the halfprice bookstore after making the decision to remove all stories about princesses falling in love with princes and awaiting salvation or marriage. She made a new friend and shared a book with her. Suddenly she tapped her friend and pointed at me. "That's MY mummy." She grinned her toothy smile and went back to her book.

This is the first time I am having such a strong feeling of pride for this little one. For sure, I had experienced more moments of realization of the lil one's burgeoning capacity to experience life and connecting with her as a mother and playmate since spending nearly all of my waking hours with her since our move to Dallas. I have never laughed nor danced nor made so much funny faces in my life compared to this period of being a full-time mummy.

Seven months later and the culmination of love and sacrifice has come to this milestone for me as a mother.

Of course who is to say that if I were still working full-time and may not hv spent such time with her but she will most definitely say these words to me?

But for me, I'm happy to have taken this step and even if I were to lament about my lack of opportunities or the "could have", "would have" after I head back to work, I would like to come back to this post and remind myself that nothing in life could have, would have, been as happy as this feeling I felt today.