We had a snow day yesterday due to the very icy roads and winds. It snowed, rained, froze and snowed again. Not a good day to be on the roads. We stayed in and I baked Valentines cupcakes for Jack's class and did laundry. A very satisfying day!

The boys have next week off for winter break. They have both a winter break and a spring break, which is why they end school in the middle of June! Oh well...Brian and I decided to take advantage of the time off and take a short trip to Philadelphia. It is about 3.5 hours from here. We will leave on Saturday morning and drive to the Valley Forge area outside of Philly, where we will stay. Saturday night we may go to the King of Prussia mall which is the second largest mall in America, after you know where. It will probably be very disappointing to us native Minnesotans so we plan on mocking the people who shop there. Of course, when we can't find our car when it is time to leave, they may get the last laugh.

Sunday we will get up bright and early and explore our nation's history in downtown Philadelphia. We will all like it except for Sam, who is only coming along because the science museum has a Star Wars exhibit. The rest of us will enjoy seeing the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Museum and Independance Hall. We may also eat cheesesteak.

Monday morning we head for Gettysburg, where according to Sam, nothing much happened. (History is not his thing.) On the way, we will drive through Lancaster PA and hope to stop in some Amish communities. We hope for good weather so we can really get out and explore the countryside and battlefields.

After staying overnight in Gettysburg, we head to Hershey PA for a tour of Chocolate World! According to friends who have been there, the whole town smells like chocolate. Now this, Sam will dig.

Really, I am kidding about Sam. He is a trouper and loves to travel, but just does not get the whole interest in the history thing. It was so last year (or decade or century.) He and I made it through the Smithsonian in Washington DC in about 45 minutes flat.

We will be back in CT by Tuesday night. David has to see an eye doctor on Wednesday as he failed his eye exam at school. There goes his 4.0! (Just kidding) Then Jack has the dreaded oral surgery on Thursday, which we are not talking about in this house yet.

Will post some historical pictures next week.