Last December I got the idea that it would be fun to have an extra special birthday for Mom when she turns 87. Mom has never met her great-granddaughter, Ruby, and she hasn't seen her granddaughter, Felicia, in five years. I decided it was time to have a meetin'!
Mom flew from Twin Falls, ID to Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake, she flew to Kansas City, MO. Rusty and I drove from Lincoln to KC to meet Mom at the airport. Every mile of our drive south on I-29 was snowier, windier, and we saw more cars in the ditch. Kansas City was experiencing it's second big snowstorm in 6 days. Just like 6 days earlier, the airport was closed. (Thank goodness we did not know the airport was closed.) Slowly and carefully we made our way south and eventually arrived at the airport. The airport opened the runways at 1:00 pm and Mom's plane landed at 1:20.
Olivia and Chad served us a wonderful dinner and we enjoyed playing with Pierce and Reece.
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| Olivia and her Grandma. |
The next morning Olivia dropped us off at the airport and we caught our flight to Philadelphia.
Felicia picked us up at the airport and thus began our wonderful week of fun.
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| The Caviezel home. |
Our first day in Philly started with a trip to the famous Barnes Foundation.
The Barnes Foundation houses the world’s largest collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and
early Modern paintings along with African sculpture Pennsylvania Dutch
decorative arts and other important works. They are arranged in rooms that replicate the way Dr. Abert C. Barnes intended for the art to be viewed.
After the Barnes Exhibit, Sam took us on a walk-through of the Kimmel Center. He even took us backstage so we could see what goes on behind the curtain.
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| The Kimmel Center is a gorgeous place. Two performance halls are enclosed by a glass structure. |
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| The smaller hall (front, white) has a garden on top. |
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| Felicia, Rusty, Pearl on the garden level. |
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| Pearl, Felicia & Sam |
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| The interior of Verizon Hall where we heard two concerts. |
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| The exterior of Verizon Hall |
The next evening, March 1, was Mom's 87th birthday. Sam and Felicia treated us to an evening at the Philadelphia Orchestra. We had front-and center seats, six rows back.
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| ...waiting for the performance to begin |
During the first half, we heard "Shostakovich: Notes for Stalin." This was a symphonic play that explained how Shostakovich was persecuted for his music under the Stalin regime. His very life depended upon the reception of his 5th Symphony. After the intermission we heard Symphony No.5 in D minor, Op.47 by Dimitri Shostakovich, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin. It was incredible!!!
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| Mom and me--enjoying the best music ever. |
Daily activities at the Caviezel house always include some dancing,
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| GiGi and Ruby bust a move |
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| Great Grandma Pearl and Ruby cut some rug. |
...and some reading,
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| Felicia reads to Ruby while Frannie listens |
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| Lily checks out the NYT while Ryan reads to Ruby. |
...and some play time.
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| Peas Porrige Hot |
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| Sam helps Ruby make a basket. |
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| Just being silly |
On Saturday, Ryan and Lily Wagner joined us for Mom's birthday celebration.
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| I'm so proud of my Mom! |
That evening we went to the Kimmel Center for another exciting performance. The first half was Bach/Orchestra Stokowski. After intermission was Stravinsky's incredible
Rite of Spring.
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| Sam, Felicia, Pearl, Ryan, Lily, Rusty, Di |
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| Four generation picture. |
Sunday is date night at the Caviezel house; Mom and Rusty and I were happy to join in. We had multiple courses of tappas at a Greek restaurant.
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| Date Night |
Our last big event on Monday was at the PHS Flower Show. The theme this year was "Brilliant!" All the displays were based on famous places in England.
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| The entry looked like the gates of Buckingham Pallace. |
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| back side of the gates |
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| red carpet leads from gates to center display of Big Ben |
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| four foot tall pots make a beautiful display |
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| unusual sculptures in front of Big Ben |
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| taking a break |
Monday afternoon we caught our plane back to Kansas City.
This four-generation picture has all of us still in our pajamas, except Mom, who always looks wonderful.
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| Pearl, Olivia, Reece, Pierce, DiAnn |
This trip was a fairy tale come true for me!
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