Allison's Visit

Allison came for a very special babysitting visit. The week started out with Olympia's fourth 1st Birthday party, this one with her friends at Birthmark. We took very few pictures because we were too busy chatting and refereeing.

Olympia taking advantage of Amelia's temporarily baby-free lap:

Here are, from left to right, Calvin, Ben, Michael and Olympia playing happily together:

After the party we went to the grocery store and Olympia had a lot to say about the woman she heard on the intercom:

We went out to a delicious lunch at a local nursery where you eat in a greenhouse. Here is Oly enjoying some bread that was baked in a terra cotta pot:

Don't worry, her pirate Patch was safely buckled into the high chair as well.

Here are the girls sharing an apple:

And then sharing a kiss:

This kid is trouble (this is her, "I'm coming to get that piece of fancy electronics you have there on the couch!" face:

On Friday we went to Longwood gardens with the bass player from Kings of Leon:

Here is Allison and Oly when we went in April:

Here they are in the orchid house this time around:

Ladies at the Gardens:

They were having the Fall Chrysanthemum show and it was beautiful. See the moss topiary bees hanging from the ceiling?

And yeah, yeah it was fun to hang out with Allison and all... but her real purpose was babysitting Oly while Mama and Papa went on an outing! We were celebrating Oly's birth, my birthday and the 10th anniversary of our first date (not too shabby). First we went for drinks and oysters at XIX (nineteen) which is on the top floor of the Philadelphia Hyatt and had an amazing view.

And then we went to Vetri, the best restaurant in the city by far- and had the many, many course tasting menu. There are no words to describe the wonderful food and how enjoyable the company was!

It was a night we will never forget- not least of all because Allison put the baby to bed with no problem- practically threw her into her crib and then successfully gave her tylenol for her teeth- while she slept! We think the 25 laps up and down the stairs had something to do with it. It will be added to the repertoire for sure.