Philly and Baltimore Trip #1

Our summer vacation this year was a trip out East to visit friends and family. We were excited to go as it provided an opportunity to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and allow me to help host my friend Shelley's bridal shower. For those of you who don't know, Shelley has been a dear friend for the past 17 years. I met her when I moved from Texas to Virginia when I was seventeen. We had fun in high school, visited each other in college (even when I was going to school in Utah) and then had many fun years living in Baltimore. Shelley was even brave enough to have me as a roommate for a few years right before I met Corey. Anyway- I was really excited to be able to help her celebrate her wedding. We arrived in Philadelphia on a Friday afternoon. We had so much fun being at grandma and grandpa's. This was Maya's first trip to their home and to Philadelphia. On Saturday, we decided to enjoy a beautiful day by being outside. We met up with Shelley at a State Park in Delaware to go hiking, have a picnic and play around. It was a fun way to hang out and let the kids be kids. We had fun touring a cool nature center and the best part was eating ice cream at a local creamery. Sooo good! On Sunday, we went to church and then spent the day at Linda and Toby's adorable home to celebrate mom's birthday. That is a separate post. Since Corey and I were in charge of creating the scrapbook gift, Linda and Kelly were in charge of the party. They did a great job. The 50's decorations were so cute and of course there were games to play. They created some fun challenges such as ping pong, hula-hoop, and blowing the biggest bubble. They even had a candy bar filled with 50 and 60's style candy. I think mom liked the scrapbook and I hope she knows how much we love her. Noah's favorite part of the night was playing with the mylar balloon that played music when you hit it. I was one of several hosts to Shelley's bridal shower. Since her last name is Foote, we thought it would be fun to do a flip flop party. We also were having the shower at her Aunt's house next to the pool. It was initially a challenge to organize everything as the hosts live all over the place, me in Utah, friend in Philadelphia, friend in Texas, mom in Florida, mother in law in Baltimore and aunt in Maryland. But, thanks to email it all worked out. There was an adorable cake, fun games, nail polish favors and delicious food. It was a lot of fun thinking about Shelley and getting excited for her big day. It also wouldn't be a surprise that I caused a hiccup to the day as when I gave everyone a hug to say goodbye and then my car doesn't start. I needed a jump start. Ohhh good times. I was so grateful my friend Brittany took time to come and visit me with her two adorable boys. We spent the afternoon catching up with each other and having our boys play together. It was so fun to see them. I don't know if everyone knew this but Brittany is a great friend whom I met while attending Utah State. We were both in the social work program and learned as graduation approached that we were both moving to Baltimore to attend UMB graduate program. We played together as members of the Baltimore singles ward and even started working at the same foster care agency for a few years (thanks to her for getting me the job). I am so sad we are now far apart but have dreams of her moving to Utah. The whole family (grandma, grandpa, Linda, Toby, Kelly and us Burks) drove into Jersey to visit the aquarium. It was a hot and humid day so it was nice do an activity in doors. We enjoyed all the aquarium had to offer and would recommend it to anyone. Grandpa wanted to some special time with Maya so he took her to one of his favorite places, Valley Forge National Park. I have no idea what they did but I bet grandpa talked a lot and Maya pretended to listen. We appreciate that he wants to spend special time with her. Once we knew we were planning this family vacation I knew I needed to take Corey and Maya to New York City. With all the years Corey lived in Virginia he never made it up to New York City. As Noah was a big adjustment to the family we really looked forward to taking Maya alone for the day. The day in New York City was busy, hot and so much fun. We drove to New Jersey and rode the ferry into Manhattan so we could have a view of the Statue of Liberty. We walked to the subway and took the subway north to Time Square. We enjoyed Time Square, some lunch and shopping. We then rode on a bike rickshaw around Central Park. We then took a cab through the city back down to the ferry. We stopped at souvenir shops, the American Girl store, M&M World and the Swatch store. It was so fun being in the busyness of the city and spending a special day with Maya. While I was in Baltimore for Shelley's shower, Grandma took Corey, Maya and Noah miniature golfing. It was special grandma time. Maya even made a hole in one. Aunt Linda and Aunt Kelly planned a fun date with Maya and Linda's niece Emma who is close to Maya's age. They found a charming old home that hosts tea parties. The girls first went to the craft store and bought items to make fancy hats. They wore the hats to the restaurant where they ate sandwiches and lemonade in tea cups. Maya had a blast and loves spending time with her aunts. We had an allergy scare on the plane during the flight home, well actually while waiting to take off. Everything was going smoothly until we had to wait for take off after boarding. The weather was bad and we had to wait for planes to land before to could take of. Noah was getting restless, jumped off my lap and found a peanut on the floor. He ate it as most 18 month olds would do. We quickly had him a drink of some water and gave him some Benadryl. We waited anxiously to see what would happen and are grateful he was just fine. Unfortunately while we were gone, our small aquarium crashed, meaning that all of the fish, corals, snails and crabs died. We had a great trip, thanks to everyone for making it so fun.