

For Labor Day weekend, the kids and I tagged along with Rob to Philadelphia, where he was attending the American Political Science Association's annual conference. This is something that I've done our whole marriage - tag along to conferences - and it's a great way to explore cities, so I wasn't about to give it up despite the complications of traveling with a preschooler and an infant. We were very prepared, gear-wise, between the Baby Bjorn and the brand-new double stroller - both of which came in very handy while touring historical sites.






Oh, did I mention the hurricane? Because our eastern-seaboard geography is not quite what it should be, we had not realized that Philadelphia might be impacted by the outer bands of Hurricane Ernesto - but it was. We felt the first drops just as Haley and Rob hopped on the carousel. By late afternoon it was pouring. However, there was shopping to be done (online shopping can only keep us happy for so long in our little town), so we headed out. We had a rain cover for the stroller and I'm from Seattle, so we figured, How bad can it be? After 2 blocks we were wringing the water from our hair and clothes so we ensconced ourselves in a Barnes and Noble for the afternoon. Haley was excited to be in her "first hurricane", although she was disappointed that the hotel's outdoor pool had closed. Maybe next time...there were so many things that we didn't get to see that I'm sure we'll be back.

