Birthdays Escape, Easter Dinner and More!

 

As she did last Thanksgiving, Gina came up with another terrific idea for a family gathering, this time an escape room in Philadelphia to celebrate May birthdays and Mother's Day.  Covid-19 shut down our original plan to help get a message to Ben Franklin and thereby escape the room, so we instead we took on the mission of saving the Agency (and likely the world) on a top secret mission at Escape the Room.

Amy and Lukas agreed that would be fun, so both of our May birthday daughters joined us at Escape the Room in Philadelphia.

Because Gina's and Amy's birthdays fall near Mother's Day --- Amy was actually born on Mother's Day a few years ago --- the weekend was also a special celebration for Julie, though having Jay and Sasha with us would have made it even more ideal.  Rain tried to stop us from following through on our plan, but we pushed on through streets that had been flooded with sunlight a few days earlier when we joined Gina and Laszlo for lunch near Drexel University when we went to the big city to buy new Skechers.

Upon arriving damp but not deterred, we banded together as a team of secret agents to successfully break out of multiple traps by solving a series of puzzles.  We had about 15 minutes to spare, thanks to rapid sleuthing.  No photos were allowed, but they did email us the free photo above after we were successful.

I confess that it all unfolded so quickly that I was more trying to figure out how everyone else figured out clues than uncovering the answers myself, but eventually I came to my area of expertise, watching a video on a big TV screen that arose from a hidden compartment.  It revealed part of the puzzle, so we each had at least some level of participation.

The game's proctor, who said most people require more prompting and don't finish as quickly, smiled as she took our photo, but our reputation was tarnished when we walked away with an essential prop from the room and had to be called back.

Because by then we were already at the metro station, Gina and I doubled back while the others headed home.  Amy, who like Gina and me is always ready for an excuse to go on a new adventure also volunteered to join us, but unlike us doesn't have a free Septa transportation pass, so it just made more sense for her to stay with the primary group.

An hour break between trains gave Gina and me a chance to hit a couple of tourist attractions, Reading Terminal Market and Wanamaker's Grand Depot.  John Wannamaker's department store was founded in the 1800s inside the former Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal.  Of course, my juvenile mind went to "Take a Ride on the Reading Railroad" and Pennsylvania Railroad, two properties I always like to own in Monopoly, our family's favorite board game.

John Wannamaker introduced groundbreaking concepts like free exchanges or refunds, in-store restaurant and even price tags.  It's very spacious and feels quite luxurious, making it well worth a visit if you love shopping, which Amazon and other online retailers threaten to make obsolete in our lifetimes.

Wannamaker's gorgeous neoclassic architecture also features a multi-story pipe organ.  Scheduled concerts are still held a few times each week in what is now called Macy's Center City.  We missed the Saturday morning show by a few minutes.

Before heading home, we solved a mystery that had been playing out in Gina's mind.  What are Cow Tales?  Gina had seen the bag of snacks at 30th Street Station many times while waiting for a train and wondered what they were.  As a big birthday treat, I bought her a bag, and they are not in fact some kind of Slim Jim knock-off as I thought but in fact are cream filled caramel candy much like a clear wrapped confection my mom often had in her crystal candy dish.  Delicious!

But not as tasty as the beautiful berry-topped cake that Emma made for her mom and Aunt Amy to celebrate their birthdays.  When I uploaded the video from my phone to youtube, it was in a format (Shorts) I've never seen, probably because I filmed it in the vertical orientation.  For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to allow embedding, but click here for our rendition of Happy Birthday to Amy and Gina.

I could share more details about meals, including Easter Dinner (a week late due to our Bahamas cruise), but I've already gone on too long, so I'll share some photos with descriptive headings.  Unfortunately, I have no more photos of our family from the birthday celebrations.

Birthday Weekend Photos By Amy & Lukas

B

Easter Dinner

Green Eggs and Ham

Hildacy Farm Preserve Hikes

A chipmonk poses for Julie to snap a photo.

Gina's Actual Birthday and Merion Botanical Gardens Near Their Home

Hiking Wissahickon Creek