One thing I forgot to mention about the Friday night excursion is this. If you notice, this title now appears. It was on sale at the Wal-Mart. Of course, I had to leave the wrapper in the parking lot, but it now sits on the shelf next to the sequel (which I still assert that I like).
Anyway, back to the story.
The cheesesteak mob lead us to this place. Since you have to get a steak with, ordering was pretty easy. We sat down and I endured looking at the Flyer's logo hanging on the roof across the street. The sandwiches are excellent, but a little pricey for food on the street basically. I guess it's protection money. The line around the place was pretty long so the drive by shooter would have to be pretty good.
After lunch we headed further into Philadelphia to check out some touristy things. After a strip search we were allowed to actually see the liberty bell. We didn't go into Independence Hall because no one could afford a second mortgage to pay for the parking fees. We'll save that for the next trip out.
After that we headed back into NJ for dinner. We went to a Moroccan restaurant where we had some authentic middle eastern food in a restaurant not much bigger than my living room, couches included. We had some grape leaves and some good la mishway, which is basically a lamb kabob for those who are unfamiliar with that type of food. Gage managed to grab a lemon wedge from the table so we decided to put the cause and effect routine into action. He saw that we weren't going to take it from him, so he decided to put it to the taste test. Needless to say, we got a pretty big laugh out of his facial expression. It was after this that we got our first scare as parents. Gage ran off with a dancer.
Yes, that statement is correct. The restaurant has their own belly dancer (who happens to work for Tom's company). She came in halfway through our meal, breezed by our table saying hi to Tom and headed into the back to change. When she came out in a blue "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit and began dancing Gage just stared. He had been sitting quietly in a high-chair amusing himself while we finished dinner. His little jaw hung open and he leaned forward just staring at her every move. I don't even think he blinked the whole time she was dancing. Once she finished her set, she went into the back to change into a cover-up. When she came back out she stopped at our table and Tom introduced everyone. She asked to hold Gage and we asked if we could take some pictures (although I wished we would have gotten some in her costume). Then some regular restaurant customers came in and she and Gage headed over to say hi. Gage didn't even look back at us. She sat across the restaurant for about 15 minutes while we finished dinner and paid the check. We then had to head over and collect our womanizing son.
That incident provided some pretty good conversation while we drove Adam home and said goodbye.
Sunday was another lazy start for us. By lunch we decided that we should head out and eat before the game. Tom wanted to try an Italian restaurant located in a little suburb. Unfortunately that place didn't open til 3 and we were hungry. So we headed over to the Mexican place across the street. The food there was pretty good as well. Gage got to try some frozen strawberry smoothie at this restaurant. After the mexican restaurant we headed to the Cherry Hill mall to kill a little time before the hockey game. And, that's where I'll leave this segment. I'll finish up the rest of the trip tomorrow hopefully and then get back on track with the almost daily postings.