The Royal Treatment

A night out on the town is a rare occurrence indeed, so when Jon finally agrees to take me on a date in downtown Philly it is especially exciting!

I clipped this little blurb out of Rachael Ray's magazine--"The 50 Best Burgers" (one for each state)-- probably over a year ago and have had it hanging on my bulletin board ever since, just waiting for the day when we could go check it out. As you can imagine, I've been thinking a lot about the supposed best burger in Pennsylvania and when we finally tried it, it would have a lot to live up to!

Well Friends, it surpassed expectations!! It was AMAZING!! We got the Angus Burger (or the "Royal") which was loaded with lots of yummy toppings, especially this delicious smoked gouda, so I can officially say, it probably is the best burger in Pennsylvania.

It was located slightly off South Street in this funky little off-the-beaten-path bar. I wasn't sure what to expect because when I hear "bar" I think smoky and lots of drunk people, but we actually had great service and the food was really fairly priced. We even indulged in dessert, which is also rare, but we thought it was fitting as it may be our last date night for at least a year.:)

Here it is: "The Royal Tavern." Highly recommended for anyone looking for a great burger you can't find anywhere else!!

And here's my great date. Isn't he cute??

MARTHA!!

It happened! It really happened! I've been waiting all year for my chance to get to go to NYC and be a part of the Martha Stewart studio audience. When a group of girls from my ward went last November but Jon didn't want to take the day off to babysit, we made a deal that as soon as he was done in clinic and I got tickets, I'd be free to go. And my day finally arrived!!

My friend Calli (who hadn't been either) and I woke up at 4 a.m. so we could leave by 5 a.m. and beat morning traffic on the turnpike to NYC. We made it smooth sailing until the Lincoln Tunnel which was predictably backed-up, but otherwise the morning went like clockwork, getting us to Martha's studio in Chelsea by 8 a.m.

They herded us into their waiting room and then started taking people back to the studio group by group, until we were in the second to last group left. We thought for sure we'd be high up in the back row, but instead we got the surprise of our lives when they sat us SMACK in the front row on the floor, not even 5 feet away from Martha herself!


The backs of our heads got on TV twice when they were zooming in to Martha, but otherwise we were too close to be seen since we were sitting right next to the cameras and teleprompters. It was awesome being that close up though!

Martha had Joan Rivers in the first couple of segments (who accidentally made some comments about how she thinks get-rich-quick-schemes get you landed in prison, whoops! That was awkward!), made some tea towels and PJ pants and gave the audience a really nice Rowenta iron, a $20 gift card to JoAnn's (although she initially announced it as a $100 gift card), and then some gardening shears and gloves from a Mother's Day gardening basket she was assembling. Then we got to stay an extra 30 minutes to film 2 more segments with Emma Thompson to be used at a later date (May 25th).

I thought Martha herself seemed very down to earth and low key. She sort of just walked onto set and started talking to her staff in the beginning, and thanked the audience afterward. It was a bit different from Rachael Ray when I saw her show-- who struck me as being a bit of a diva and yelled at her staff a lot.

After the show we ended up having to haul all of our loot in these big "Martha" bags through the subway (I thought they'd give us vouchers or something), so after having been up since 4 a.m. and all that walking and waiting, we were STARVING!! We were trying to find this little pub in Greenwich Village, and on the way we got offered a slice of free pizza, and how could we resist?


It was a good thing we had that pizza because it took us another 45 minutes to find this place-- "A Salt and Battery," which was featured on "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay for the best fish 'n' chips on the East Coast. I'm no expert, but thought they were pretty good. We also had to indulge in the Deep Fried Mars Bar, which was also featured on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." I know, I know. Enough Food Network!!

After lunch we had a LOT of calories to burn off, so what better way to burn 'em off than by walking over to Canal Street and shopping for knock off bags?? Yes! We had a blast haggling for bags and jewelry down in Chinatown, and when all was said and done and that dang Rowenta iron started feeling like it weighed 50 lbs., we headed back up the subway and home. It was a great, GREAT day!!

Virginia is for Lovers, part 2

Since Jonathan has been dying to back pack here all year long, first we had to survive the 4 1/2 hour car ride down to Richmond, VA with a very grumpy baby:

Okay, well, maybe he wasn't TOO grumpy, but he did like playing "Peekaboo" with mommy and Lucy. This was his turn.:)

To break up the drive a bit, we decided to stop in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania to check out the Civil War history there. Because it's about halfway between Washington DC (the Union capital) and Richmond (the Confederate capital) it saw quite a bit of fighting. This was a house caught in the middle of one of the battles, and it said there wasn't a spot on any wall of the house where you could fit 2 hands without there being a bullet hole.

The Confederates had dug in along this "Sunken Road" and basically mowed down the Union army as they came along, killing over 12,000, while they only lost 5,000 soldiers.

There was a neat story about the "Angel of Marye's Heights" (Joseph B. Kirkland) who was a Confederate sergeant, but was so disturbed by the cries of the wounded Union troops for water that despite venturing into the thick of a battle that was still raging, delivered water to as many soldiers as he could.

And in honor of Lucy's Grandpa Cardon, we had to stop at Stonewall Jackson's shrine. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville and died 8 days later, which was a huge blow to the Confederate army. Though off the beaten path, we though we'd pay homage to one of the greatest Generals of all time---even if he was fighting on the wrong side.

Once we finally made it to Sarah and Devin's house in Richmond, Jon headed off early the next morning for his rendevous with Shenandoah. The kids and I headed with Sarah and Eva to the Richmond Children's Museum to play. It was a GREAT museum with lots of fun hands-on exhibits for the kids.

After the museum we brought the kids back home for naps and since the tour isn't exactly kid-friendly, I got to head off on my own little mission to see Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello in Charlotesville, VA.


What's weird is that I remember writing a report on Thomas Jefferson in 3rd grade and including lots of information about his revolutionary home Monticello (with its Lewis and Clark map room, dumbwaiter, plantation, etc.) but I didn't put anything about how he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Go figure. Anyway, from his hilltop home you get a gorgeous view looking into the Shenandoah Valley that's killer! It was a beautiful day!


Thursday we took the kids again and headed to the Richmond Botanical Gardens. Sarah had all kinds of great connections and got us in free! It was BEAUTIFUL with all the flowers and water and fountains, and they had some really neat things for kids to do. Which was good because within 5 minutes of being there Lucy nosedived right into the tulips breaking about 20 of them.

They had the neatest "Pinwheel Garden" that Zach was fascinated by. When the wind blew it was this mass of shimmering silver, and he couldn't stay away!

We finally got the kids settled into this enormous sandbox situated under some shady trees. It was good for about an hour of uninterrupted, peaceful play time. Now that's priceless!!

Mountain Man Jon got home late Thursday night from his backpacking excursion, so we were able to shift plans a bit and hit Busch Gardens on Friday instead of Saturday to avoid the big crowds. We were SO excited for Busch Gardens because not only did we get in free, thanks to the "Here's the Heroes" program, we also got to go with Sarah and Devin who are experts on the place. Within 15 minutes of being there we'd ridden "The Griffin" 3 times with NO lines. Amazing! Here are the kids waiting for the dads to get done with the brand new "Europe in the Air" ride.

They had a portion of the park like a mini Sesame Place and guess what? Lucy wasn't afraid anymore!! She loved the characters and got her picture with just about all of them.

Waiting in line with Sarah at our favorite roller coaster, "Apollo's Chariot."

It was especially exciting because Lucy, who has never exhibited any interest in rides, was suddenly a little daredevil!! She did the kids' roller coaster, the log ride (which was actually a big drop), and lots of other kiddie rides. Disney World here we come!!

Busch Gardens is themed like the countries from Europe, so naturally we got some Bratwurst and sauerkraut in Germany, as well as this enormous "Torte Cake," which translated means "Cake Cake." And that it was!! Unfortunately we discovered early on in the day that Jon is totally unable to ride any motion rides, and he was nauseated the rest of the day. He wasn't really able to help devour the Cake Cake.

After lunch it was SUPER hot so we let the kids cool off in one of the water play areas. I don't know what's up with my kids and bum cracks lately??

And what do you do with a kid who can't ride rides yet, but doesn't to sit still or miss any of the action?? Feed him chocolate! Poor little guy had chocolate beard all day...

Eva and Lucy--the frousins (friend+cousin) on the horsie ride!!

We had such a wonderful day at Busch Gardens with Devin and Sarah and Eva. We headed home the next morning bright and early back to Phillydelphia, much to Lucy's dismay, but we sure loved our time in Virginia!!