the would-be writers guild

Alison, Bryant, Andrea and Dave arrived late Thursday night. The next morning we visited campus.

While there, we saw this.

I should have stopped to ask, “How do I avoid the emotional let-down when all of these goofballs go home?”

We spent the rest of the day putting up lights on our house.

HA! HA! HA! HO! HO! HO! HE! HE! HE! That was a good one! That’s not my house.

My house has way more lights.

The next day, we visited Philadelphia, or “Philly” as the locals call it. (That’s one more thing this blog offers, insider tips and information you won’t find anywhere else.) We toured Independence Hall.

Our tour guide was George W. Bush.

I swear, it was!

After the tour, we took a short walk to South Street.

We were in search of some lunch. We decided to go to a lunch spot for a little-known local favorite called the “Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich.” Here is my eldest, ordering all by himself.

Honestly, these sandwiches are so good. I can’t believe you can only find them in Philadelphia.

After lunch, we were so full! We were so, so, SO full! We just kept saying to each other, “I am SO FULL! I will never be able to eat AGAIN! I’m THAT FULL!” And we would respond to each other, “I KNOW! In my wildest dreams, I could never imagine being hungry again!”

We walked a half block and saw a frozen yogurt shop, and then we were all like, “I could probably have a frozen yogurt. What about you?”

The girls decided to burn some calories shopping and the boys waited patiently outside. Look how patient they are! Not a whisper of a complaint could be heard from their lips! Because if there’s anything this group of fellows enjoys, it’s standing around waiting for their wives to shop. We only wish we could indulge them more often.

There was still some time to take a peek at the Liberty Bell.

And Ben Franklin’s grave. Did you know his wife’s name was Deborah?

Outside his grave is this chronology of his life and accomplishments.

Man, he was SO lazy!

Later that night, we had dinner at our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant.


We were still pretty full from lunch, so we only ordered two appetizers, three salads, and six gargantuan entrees.

The next morning we headed to NYC. It was bitter cold outside. So cold, in fact, that I could not take any pictures.

So cold, in fact, that the boys and I spent the bulk of the day in Alyssa’s cozy warm apartment, shaking things up.

We also decorated Alyssa’s GINORMOUS tree.

Whew! That thing was a monster.

Finally, we all met up for dinner and then we bade Alison, Bryant, Andrea and Dave farewell. We drove back home and they flew out from JFK the next day.

I know that I felt blue after they left, but I wouldn’t change one bit of our time together. It’s like the old saying goes, “It’s better to have visitors who leave than never to have visitors at all. Or visitors that never leave.”