Philadelphia Highlights

Of course we need to go to as many states as possible on our trips to the U.S. so why not throw in a random one like Pennsylvania? Back in July, our really good friends moved from Ra'anana back to Baltimore. Their son, Asher, was Simon's bestest friend and there was NO WAY that we were going to be in the same country as him without seeing him. We talked about lots of different options of how to work out seeing each other and finally decided that it made the most sense to just meet in Philadelphia for a day since it is equi-distant between Baltimore and Teaneck.
Turns out, it is actually exactly equi-distant. I called Lauren when we were leaving and she was just leaving as well. Then, as we got off the highway in Philadelphia, David said "I wonder if that is them in the car in front of us" because it was a Subaru with Maryland plates. Sure enough, it was them! The reunion was very happy. I got the best hug ever from Asher and he and Simon were inseperable from the moment they each got out of their cars. Sadly, Alan wasn't able to come too, but the rest of us had a great time. Even Eli and Meirav were happy to see each other and Eli didn't beat her up at all.
We went to the Please Touch Museum in Philly and the kids loved it. There was so much for them to do and they had the best time. We eventually dragged them away so that we could go get pizza for lunch. We had stayed at the museum longer than we had thought we would so it was getting late and we didn't want to get on the road too late so we just went to a nearby mall for a little while (so that we could buy another suitcase becasue we always need to buy at least 2 new suitcases on each trip) and then had to say our goodbyes.
We all managed to hold back the tears but then after about 1/2 hour on the road, Lauren called me and said that Asher was hysterical crying and saying that he misses Simon so much. He wanted to talk to Simon on the phone, but unfortunately Simon was sleeping and wouldn't wake up. So I talked to him and hopefully made him feel better. It was so sad!!