Back from Philly!

I got back from Philly on Sunday evening and then I was up at the crack of dawn to head back into the office for a big dose of reality. I was dog tired and it was definitely a Monday in every sense of the word!!

I am SO glad I faced my fear of flying and got on that plane to Philly because I had an absolute BLAST with my Precious Panda "sisters"!!! I can't tell you the last time I laughed that much and felt that comfortable with a group of women. Even though we are from all over and have different stories of how we came to adopt, there is definitely a very special bond that we all share and an unspoken connection between all of us. I think we all felt the connection and will carry that with us during the rest of this wait and beyond.

Susan and I arrived on Thursday evening and stayed at Stephe's place in Deleware. On Friday afternoon, Cheryl (our 4th roomie) came in and the rest of the group trickled in later that day. Friday night we all got together at Stephe's place and Susan made baked ziti and meatballs (double click photos to enlarge).




Saturday morning we all met up and headed to Philly for our China town tour. It was raining at the beginning, but you can see that we made the best of it...plus, the weather cleared up pretty quick.





We had a great time on the tour and then headed to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, and then back to China town for some shopping. After we had our fill of shopping, we headed to Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell...



...then onto South Street to hang out and relax a bit over drinks and appetizers. Our night ended back at the hotel hanging out and letting our hair down...what happened in Philly, stays in Philly...right, ladies?



Stephe, thank you so much for organizing this wonderful trip and being our hostess with the mostess for the weekend! To the entire Philly group, it was a pleasure meeting and getting to know each and every one of you! Thank you all so much for a fantastic weekend.