vacation

2023 Summer Family Vacation — Part 2, A Few Days in Philly

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After our quick trip in NY, it was off to our hotel in Philly! We had plans to be there four nights and do a mix of some historic stuff, patriotic stuff, food stuff, and plenty of walking around. Here’s a little about what our week entailed:

HOT weather. I’m talking about hot. I went for a run one day and it was feels like 100+ degrees early in the morning! I can’t imagine how hot it really was later in the day.

The kids (and B) were troopers and we still got in plenty of walking each day. We visited The Liberty Bell, saw where the Declaration of Independence was signed and even saw what was left of George Washington’s early home.

We saw the city’s Fourth of July Parade.

We went to their Fourth of July festival! Philly did it big – they had a huge party downtown with tons of food vendors, a free concert and fireworks. The concert included Ludacris and Demi Lovato and we may have kept the kids up a little too late just so we could participate in some of the festivities.

We checked out Reading Terminal Market on more than one occasion. FW enjoyed a real Philly cheesesteak! I was partial to the cookies.

We (per usual) got in plenty of hotel pool time – each day we let the kids burn some energy in the water.

We also got in some good museum time. We checked out the Franklin Institute and the kids had a blast running around and interacting with all the exhibits.

Another day, we went to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. They also had a lot of fun things for the kids to do, including several dino exhibits and a room with small animals and bugs for the kids to touch.

We visited Chinatown, and stopped for a sweet drink.

I also was able to get in two runs, which isn’t always easy when traveling with the family. Luckily, B was able to take the kiddos two different mornings while I got to go running. One of the days I ran up the famous Rocky steps at the Art Museum!

We even got in two side trips to see friends, including our friend Mitch from Boston College. He and his wife Becca have two kids, so we were able to join them for dinner one night and our kids loved playing with their kids and playing with their outdoor water equipment.

On the way back, we stopped in Lancaster to meet up with my friend and former coworker, Wendy. She showed us around the cute downtown, we enjoyed lunch at a crepe restaurant, some post-lunch candy shopping at the fun Swedish candy shop, and some book purchases at their kid bookstore.

As always, it was a bummer when the trip ended. We didn’t cross off nearly everything on our list, so I hope we can come back soon!

Weekly Run Down: Vacation, continued

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This week continued our summer vacation. Last week, we were in Upstate NY with my parents (full recap here) and I still managed to get in a few runs. Some mornings, they would watch the kiddos while I went out on a run, taking in the oh so familiar scenes from where I grew up.

But on Monday, we said goodbye to my parents and headed to part two of our vacation, Philadelphia. It was just B and me and the kids in a hotel room, so I knew I wouldn’t get to sneak out for a run every day. But I was lucky enough to still get in some miles – and lots of steps just from walking! Here’s what the week looked like:

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2023 Summer Family Vacation — Part 1, Upstate NY

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We just got back from our summer family vacation! We spent a few days in Upstate NY and a few days in Philly and it was great to have time off from work and time for us to spend as a family.

In NY, we had tons of fun spending time with my family and friends. Here are some of the highlights:

Spending time with my parents. We stayed with them and it was nice to join them for meals, on walks with Sweetie, reading with the kiddos and just doing normal everyday activities.

Going to Huck Finns playland – formerly Hoffman’s playland, a kiddo amusement park I used to go to growing up. The kids LOVED it!

Getting ice cream with my parents. There’s a local ice cream shop we used to go to, and it’s always fun taking the kids there.

Enjoying pedis with my momma. I don’t spend nearly enough time with her – and it’s mostly when the kids are around, so it’s such a treat to get alone time with her.

Seeing my friends from high school. We went to a local science museum and met up with one of my friends, Lauren, and her family one day. I hadn’t seen Lauren in many years (they live in Vermont) and it was great to see her and her girls!

We also met at a playground with my best friends Jane and Melissa for a picnic and playdate. I’ve never met her kids, which was unbelievable – I started crying when I saw them I was so emotional about the experience! It was so much fun to watch the kids hang out while we got to catch up.

I got in a girls night with my friends- we met up at a taco bar, did a mezcal tasting, and then went to a bar in Troy. We used to do girls weekends every year after college, but then with COVID and then kids, they stopped. We hadn’t all been together since 2019, and I missed them so much!

We also took a side day trip to Connecticut to spend a day at a local lake with my good family friends. The kids had so much fun swimming in the lake, playing tennis and running around the area. And I loved seeing family I hadn’t seen in many years.

It was a great trip, but of course felt too short. We left Monday afternoon to get on the road to the rest of our trip … Philly!

Let the vacation begin!

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

This week started our summer vacation. The kiddos have been home for a month, but this week B and I both took off some time to start a family trip. We packed up the car and headed out to Albany late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning.

With vacation comes late nights, fun times — but not as regular running, at least for me. It’s hard for me to get out and leave the little ones when I’m traveling, especially since they get up so early.

Still, this past week was a good week and I got in daily runs and core exercises before we hit the road. Here’s what the week looked like:

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Last Week of Summertime

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This week was our last week of summertime. School starts next week, along with early mornings, earlier (hopefully) nights and a change in our routine. So, this week I tried to take advantage of sleeping in a few last times and get in some good runs. I’ve really been enjoying getting out there and watching the sunrise at the end of my runs, but with the days getting shorter and having to get up earlier, I know that time is limited. I’ll have to start a countdown until next spring/summer when it starts again!

Here’s what the week looked like – including some of my sunrises:

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Long Weekend in Upstate New York

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This week was a little out of whack, workout wise. But for good reason – I was in Upstate New York visiting my family! It was the first time we’d been out there since GM was born, and only the second time since 2020 (thanks, pandemic). That’s why I didn’t get in a long run, or even every day of DR exercises. But I got in some runs with new scenery, some long walks, and – most importantly – some great family time.

Here’s what the week looked like:

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Back on the Treadmill

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This week, for the first time in weeks, I ran on the treadmill. Not just once, but TWICE!

Why? We had some SERIOUS thunderstorms. And as much as I don’t reallllllly mind running in the rain, thunder and lightning scare me. So when I woke up two days in a row to t-storms, I opted to keep up my running streak and hop on the treadmill. 

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Running Streak Day 177

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I’ve set it before, and I’ll say it again. I don’t love fall, mostly because it makes me think of winter. And, I love WARM days and WARM weather.  I love long days of sunlight. That said, I do love fall running and this week we had some great weather, and I saw some beautiful foliage.  

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Running With A Little Cold

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It’s October, and that means that fall is here, and unfortunately, it also means that I got my first cold of the season.

And yes, it was just a cold — with my parents coming into town for the long weekend and us seeing B’s parents regularly (his mom is high-risk and has a compromised immune system), I decided to get tested for COVID. It was a simple, pretty painless process, and within 24 hours I found out it truly was just a cold. Yay!  

But the cold, combined with my plantar fasciitis, has left my mileage not being as high as it has been the past few weeks. 

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October, Here We Come

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Does anyone else feel like they blinked and September came and went? Maybe it’s because Labor Day was so late … maybe it’s because of the pandemic? Or maybe because I hate winter and know it’s coming … but I feel like September was gone before it even started. 

And with that, the cooler weathers have come! We haven’t (thankfully) hit freezing yet, but I know that’s what’s coming soon. And while I don’t love this weather for hanging out, I do love it for running! I’m at 163 days of the running streak and my September total mileage was 158.26 miles. Not quite as high as the past few months, but with my foot slowing me down, I’ll take it.

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