New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York...Crazy weekend

This past weekend was...intense. My oldest neice, Taylor, is in the orchestra at her high school, Kirkwood, in St. Louis, and they were one of three from around the counrty to be invited to play at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Of course I had to go up to watch the performance...no way I was going to miss this once in a life time opportunity.

We decided to stay with an old friend of my dad's...they've been besties since like 3rd grade. They live in New Jersey, right on the state line basically between it and Pennsylvania. I left KCMO on Friday afternoon and got up there at night. I've flown over the ocean at night, but never cities so it was really awesome to fly over Philadelphia when it was all lit up. It was absolutely beautiful. On Saturday we drove into Philadelphia for the day. My family just loves history. I don't know how it happened that we all love it so much, but we do, and Philly is just a mecca of American history. We visited the Liberty Bell, the Franklin Museum, and Independence Hall, amoung other things.

The stairs in Independence Hall...if you've seen 1776, you love this:)

We also went to the City Tavern for lunch where they serve colonial period food and they brew beer using the recipes of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and others. I had glazed duck, and I don't think I've ever eaten anything so good. Anyway...we made our way back to New Jersey and we had a big dinner with the family friends. On Sunday, after mass, we took a train up to New York. We met up with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew at their hotel. We went for drinks and then to an irish pub for dinner where one of my aunts met us. We went to a bakery and cafe and had the best dessert ever. Finally we made our way over to Carnegie Hall. Taylor's orchestra was on first. They were so wonderful. My mom even cried a bit. It was so incredible to be there for that, to see my neice on that stage.

I snuck a shot before the performance...I had to be stealthy because they were yelling at people

We left after Kirkwood's orchestra. It was a long weekend for my dad and he couldn't sit through the other two groups, though we would have liked to if we could. So we headed back to New Jersey, and early the next morning Ben and I were driven to the airport so we could get back to school for our classes.

It was a wonderful weekend, but so exhausting.

Love and prayers