I Wish They All Could Be California Girls

Yay! Diana is here from California!!! Diana is one of our closest friends from CA and she's here for a work/play visit. More later on the events, but here are a couple of photos taken at the Italian Market last weekend.Diana in front of a very cool spice shop - smelled amazing!!! (The shop, not Diana...)

Our Big Cheese Nola standing next to a VERY big cheese (provolone). Who knew they made cheese that big? Not me!

Today we went to the Adventure Aquarium with the kids. They had a FANTASTIC time, especially Aubry!

Diana is petting the juvenile sharks - Aubry loved to watch, but was very hesitant about petting them herself. They feel like fine grit sandpaper!

Aubry was fascinated by the spiny lobster tank. Nola was more interested in Aubry (and moving on to the next thing!)

Jellyfish are always fun to watch. Declan spent quite a few minutes trying to grab them - so cute!

MY favorite thing in the aquarium was the hippo tank. Those things are HUGE and they were right next to us. I've never seen anything quite like it. Declan got a little spooked when a hippo swam past him (about 4" away) and needed to be held for the rest of the viewing.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. It's so nice to go on vacation in your own city.

The Philly skyline is in the distance.