Philadelphia

Moving once a year every year for a decade has made me quite weekend planner, I don’t like to let a single weekend go by that we aren’t exploring our new city or checking an item off our bucket list. Living in NYC means were just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Philly, the home of Tim’s sister, Whitney, and her boyfriend Todd.

So, early Saturday morning we took the train down to Philly for a weekend of sightseeing and visiting with one of Wyatt’s favorite aunt-uncle duo. It was Wyatt’s first time on a train, and Tim and I were both amazed at how fast and easy the ride from NYC to Philly was. It only took an hour and twenty mins, plus the benefit of not having to go through security or worry about checking baggage was so nice! And although we almost missed the train (Tim had a little trouble remembering that Saturday isn’t a weekday), as soon as we actually made it to the station with a few minutes to spare, and just had to walk onto the train, we felt at ease!

Whitney and Todd were terrific tour guides and provided an itinerary that blended an unprecedented amount of hospitality, history, and local spots. We started out at the original La Colombe for some draft lattes (black + tan is the way to go). Tim is obsessed with coffee and it takes a lot to impress him in the coffee game, luckily this place knocked it out of the park! Tim was sold. We then made our way to Sabrina’s Cafe for a little al fresco breakfast. We had woken up at 5:15 am so a boozy brunch, at 9:30 am felt more than appropriate (let’s be honest, anytime is an appropriate time). I clearly don’t go out as much as I used to because, ya know, mom life…so I basically live for brunch. Unbeknownst to us, we had chosen a BYOB spot and unfortunately did not come prepared. (Is there anything worse than being excited for a pitcher of mimosas that you’re not actually getting?!) The early hour didn’t help our cause either, most of the liquor stores weren’t even open. Luckily after some frantic googling and some power walking by Toddy, our gracious host came back like a knight in shining armor with booze. Unfortunately, the only place open only sold beer, and of course to make matters worse, we had already ordered a large carafe of OJ in anticipation of the mimosas we were going to craft once he got back with the champagne. But, we weren’t letting our beverage misfortune get us down! Instead we improvised with some Gose-mosas (Gose makes for a great breakfast beer!), that we ended up very happy with! After two more coffees and a ‘mosa, this was one happy mama. Also Wyatt slept through half of brunch, which, let’s be real, makes a meal out a little more enjoyable. The food was delicious, our order of vanilla french toast for the table might have put us over the edge, but YOLO.

After we wrapped up what turned out to be a perfect brunch, we walked through the Italian Market, and stopped by Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. And by stopped by I mean, went out of our way in the wrong direction before realizing a half a mile down the road that we needed to be heading the other way. But #worthit for the pics (Tim would tell you otherwise) and steps.

It was hot and we were all sweaty so we headed over to Penn’s Landing for a drink on the floating beer garden and a swing in the hammocks. After poking around Old City – I just love the beautiful historic houses and skinny cobblestone streets, (Cue second photo shoot) we headed to Reading Terminal for a snack. We sampled 12 different (yes, 12) kinds of Pennsylvania Dutch donuts at Beiler’s Donuts. Somehow glazed is always my favorite anywhere, how boring. Feeling sufficiently ill, we rolled ourselves back to the car and headed to the apartment for a tour of Whitney and Todd’s place, a few bevs, and a dip in the pool.

The next morning, Tim and Wyatt ran out to get more La Colombe lattes for everyone that we sipped on as we got ready for brunch at Fare. With far too full bellies, we wrapped up the trip with a walk up the Rocky Steps (not really, we had to take the side ramp because of the stroller) before hopping back on the train to NYC!

Sometimes I like to end my posts with some #NewMomTips, so here ya go. We knew we’d be out and about for most of the weekend so we brought the RumbleSeat attachment for the stroller (as well as the carseat, which we needed to get to and from the apartment in Philly) so Wyatt could nap comfortably while we toured around. This is also so awesome to line the stroller with in the summer, it keeps the little babes cool for hours! We also brought our travel crib, which we LOVE and is super lightweight- again, the train was so easy gear-wise! I literally feel like I pack up my whole life when I travel with Wyatt, I’ve never been able to pack light, but momming has taken the amount I pack to a whole new level! I always start a list in my Wunderlist app that I add to in the days or weeks before a trip to help me plan what to bring, wince each trip is a little different. I usually end up thinking of things at random times so a mobile list tailored for a specific trip helps me stay organized! And now I already have a Philly packing list for our next visit!