Help. I need help. School. Lilia and Alex need to go to school.
Philadelphia elementary schools are horrific. I am not exaggerating.
I think since we've moved here I've been praying about where Lilia will go to school, and inevitably Alex. Here are some of our options...
Samuel Powell School, 38th & Powelton (close by, but large class size, but her best friend might go there)
Greenfield, 23rd or 22nd and Spruce (touring it on Wednesday)
Russell Byers Charter School, 19th & Arch (I just looked at their website and it seems to fit our desires and values, but we haven't toured it. Plus there is a lottery system to get it with a huge waiting list.)
I am giving you all of these details, as my reader, to ask for your help. If you are not someone who prays, I would love your input and opinions about this if you have any, especially if you're a teacher. If you are someone who prays; please pray for us. (Also please give me your input and opinions.) Pray for direction, wisdom and clarity in the decision. We have to make a choice by this coming fall, probably October. This is a huge decision. The charter school goes through 6th grade and the Powell school goes through 4th. That's a big chunk of time and it's setting the foundations. BTW...homeschooling would not be a good option with Lilia nor Alex.
Thanks readers. I expect to hear from you! (email me or leave a comment)
I love church in the evenings. This morning we headed to Kelly Drive. Alex was in the stroller and Lilia was on her new bike. She is the proudest bike rider ever. She would stop her bike just to say hello to other kid riders. She would tell strangers how this is her 1st day riding her bike. They would comment back to her. I love her. She's so outgoing!
My parent's came down and we explored the city on Friday. Our Old City adventure took us down Elfreth's Alley, which is known as the nations oldest residential street. We also walked around Washington Square and saw the Liberty Bell. 
Do you remember Paddington Bear? 
That's the question Dave and I kept asking ourselves the whole time. It's called Bartram's Garden and it's only a 7 minute drive from our house! You drive through some somewhat rough area and then all of a sudden you are in this beautiful place. All you can ask yourself is where are we? The kids are walk down the trail towards the Schuylkill river.
I bought Alex these red boots at a consignment sale for $3. Great find! They are 2 sizes too big, but he insists on wearing them around. 
Saturday night we headed downtown to Broad street. We took the train down, which could have been all we did. The kids loved it!
Alex actually leaned into the camera for me to take a picture. His mouth was full of ice cream and he was having a blast!
We spent today at my in-laws house. It was such a good time. We went for a long walk, then headed over to Starbucks for my tea fix. We played outside for a good part of the day. Lilia rode her bike and we had fun sledding in May. I found these saucer sleds in the garage. We attached some rope and pulled the kids around the yard. Lilia loved it. It was so much fun running so fast then taking a curve so as to flip her out. I felt like a kid again today just enjoying the kids and playing outside with them and blowing bubbles. Yeah for the in-laws living in the burbs!
Who knew that without grass and a tiny plot of land you could do so much? Lilia and I planted tomatoes (which are starting to flower) and lettuce. In just 3 weeks our lettuce was big enough to cut down, wash & eat. 
