I'm Home

It was a long drive but somehow we made it in one shot.  We left Atlanta at 7:30am and made it back to Philadelphia at 11:30pm.  I have a bunch of pictures and a couple funny stories I’ll post soon.  In the mean time I am living out of boxes… but living out of boxes in PHILLY!!!

Another Quick Update

Lot’s of things going on.

 

- I have a NIECE!  Ella Rose Pinkos was born on July 1^st 2007.  Mother and baby are healthy and doing well.  I’ll have more details and pictures soon.

 

- Thanks to Jenna I found a company called ABF that does relo-cubes for moving.  They basically deliver you a small storage shed.  You pack it, they pick it up and drive it to your new place, you unpack it and they come take it away.  It’s the best idea EVER!  I packed my relo-cube last weekend and they picked it up on Monday.  It will be waiting at my parent’s house on Saturday when I get there.  So now I just have to grab Jenna, the dog, some cloths and computers and drive my car home which is a TON less stressful that having to drive a U-Haul home and trailer the car.

 

I can’t believe it’s only 3 more days till I am back home for good.  Thanks to everyone who sent love and good wishes to get me home!!!  

Happy Independence Day

 

A couple fun Fourth of July facts:

 

The first official 4^th of July celebration was in 1777 in Philadelphia.  Warships along the docks fired a 13 gun salute in honor of the 13 states.  The soldiers that were in the area at the time paraded through the streets.

 

Not all members of the Continental Congress supported a formal Declaration of Independence, but those who did were passionate about it. One representative rode 80 miles by horseback to reach Philadelphia and break a tie in support of independence.

 

The first two versions of the Liberty Bell were defective and had to be melted down and recast. The third version rang every Fourth of July from 1778 to 1835, when, according to tradition, it cracked as it was being tolled for the death of Chief Justice John Marshall.

 

The American national anthem, the "Star-Spangled Banner," is set to the tune of an English drinking song ("To Anacreon in Heaven").

 

The term fireworks didn’t come about until 1777 when the first Fourth of July celebration took place.  Before that, they were simply called “rockets.” Because they were more visual than anything, they called them “fireworks.”  Later on, the ones that were made for noise (and not beauty) were called “Fire Crackers.”  And in 1880 “sparklers” were created.