Day Trip to Philly

We always talk about how nice it is to live so close to so many other large cities- and that we should take advantage of it while we are here! We traveled up the eastern seaboard quite a bit during the first 18 months after we moved here, but then it tapered off a bit.

So we decided to take a day trip to Philly last weekend. Its less than 2 hours away, and we didn't have to deal with the hassle of staying over night- which entails packing too much stuff, finding someone to watch the dog, and not getting much sleep anyway, since it takes the girls at least one night to acclimate to different surroundings. We had only 2 things on the itinerary: the "Please Touch Museum" for the kids, and then a local brewery for us!

First we traded the old car seats for new big kids ones that face forward- and even have cup holders! The girls were happy to be able to see us and the road... but truth be told, I think Dave and I were more excited about the whole change-of-seat thing in the end.

Stella and Lucy preparing for their first trip in their new seats!

We hit virtually no traffic and arrived at the "Please Touch Museum" less then 2 hours later. We spent almost 3 hours there. The museum is geared to 6 month- 6 years so in every section the girls had something to do.

There was a transit section where you could play on a train or bus and you could even be a race-car mechanic by changing tires (that were magnetized and oriented towards little ones) on mini cars. We visited the space section where you could climb in a space ship and run a whole bunch of machines that made things float. We played in the fake grocery store pushing the cart around and picking up plastic veggies while bumping into probably a few too many kids. We saw our childrens' budding science skills while at the "hospital" with their ability to take temperatures, check heart beats, and even run a MRI machine! We played in a little village that had houses and a garden where we picked potatoes. We went through Alice in Wonderland's maze and sat with the Mad Hatter for a tea party. We continued the adventure with a trip to the rain forest where we played with native instruments and then with tug boats in a 'river'. We ended the visit with sticking our heads into fun displays and then going down a log slide a good 20 times!

Lucy and Stella on the mini monorail 

The space tunnel

Race car station 

Lucy gives Mom a checkup at the 'hospital'

toddlers hanging out in the faux ER

Stella picks potatoes from the garden

Stella having fun in Alice in Wonderland's hallway of doors

Lucy and Dad bid farewell to a fun day!

Afterwards we met up with our friends Tiff and Ryan who just happened to be in Philly that weekend. We went to the Manayunk Brewery and had a couple brews and ate dinner. After 3 hours hanging out with them, we finally had to hit the road back to Baltimore.
It was a good day!

XOXO

Hug and Kisses... it was Valentine's Day last week and were able to time it just right so we had napping kids for the first half of our early dinner! We were able to have the appetizer and champagne while the ladies were still sleeping and then they joined us for dinner. We had a "love apple" appetizer... corny term for stuffed cherry tomatoes; then a chicken scallopine and chocolate mousse for dessert.. all courtesy of our lovely paper, the Baltimore Sun. It was deliciouso!

There also happened to be a very appropriate "first" for the girls this week. They learned to love one another (particularly one's sister) with a hug and kiss. We have been trying to promote peaceful playing, but who are we kidding, we have 19 month old twins:) Nevertheless, if one is upset.. her sister will wander over and give a big hug along with a slightly drool-laden kiss.

And a couple more bonus shots that illustrate that great things can indeed come in a 'little' box and while we all may have an 'outer' beast... its the inner beauty that shines through!

Stella in the Spotlight

A while back we filmed Lucy talking in her high chair.. saying "Opa". Its a roller coaster around here-- one day Lucy is jabbering away and then Stella takes over; Stella has taken the spotlight this week!

The Zygosity Test

I know Dave is sick of me telling this (what seems like) 15 minute story to strangers...
Stranger on the street/ in store etc.: "Oh look! How Cute! Twins? Are they twins? Well, of course they must be... are they identical?"


Dani: "We are pretty sure they are fraternal... they were in separate sacs etc. etc.; but we still don't know for sure. A lot of people think they are identical, including our pediatrician. But, we can tell them apart so they are probably fraternal; and, fraternal twins are a lot more common, so it's likely that they indeed are. On the other hand, all of the fraternal twins I have met look quite a bit different... and really, our girls don't except for their size... Stella always being a bit smaller; so maybe when she catches up we won't be able to tell them apart! But once again, we really don't know...


If someone asks Dave: "Are they identical?"... his response is short and to the point: "No, they are fraternal."


So, there are tests for these things.... and to alleviate some of Dave's pain in listening to my same spiel every single time someone asks this question, I decided to get a DNA test done as part of his birthday present.

So while us girls were still in Minnesota, I received the swab kit. I took 8 inner-cheek swabs on both the girls and sent it in for analysis. The company I used specializes in zygosity testing (determining whether twins are mono-zygotic or di-zygotic, or in other words, identical or fraternal).

I was looking up some stats on how common the two types of twins are and I found almost 70% of all twins are fraternal and the rest identical. Even though there has been an increase in fraternal twins due to fertility treatments, identical twins have remained constant.

So there are twins in Dave's family (and some in mine, but far removed) so I am thinking... ok, it's in the family, right? I learned that having fraternal twins can be partially attributed to heredity; I also found out that, despite popular belief, identical twins are not hereditary. With these facts, I was even more convinced that Dave was right all along and they are definitely fraternal.

The results came in a few weeks later.

After the analysis of a quantity of highly-variant DNA markers from the swabs of both girls, it was determined with over 99% probability that Lucy and Stella are mono-zygotic twins.

So guess what?
As it turns out, we do indeed have identical twins!