a day with leo.

A week ago I received this little guy by mail from a friend whose nephew has asked to take him to see interesting places in our part of the country. 

Leo the lion is small & precious. He has got to be one of the luckiest lions in the world because he gets to hang out with the Jorgensens! 

Since we like to drive everywhere we decided to take him to a few places nearby! He is so lucky to have been sent to us. 

Luckily Jon was off today, and we decided to take Leo to Philly, and to the beach! We pulled out our hats and scarfs again, and ventured out to start our day. 

I didn't eat nothing, but a cutie for breakfast, and we were starving! Guess where we went for lunch again...Chipotle. I swear I'm going to have to seriously watch our budget when it comes to this place. This was Jon's first time eating here, and he loved it just as much as I did. 

Noah loves this place. He instantly knows what he wants the minute we pull in the parking lot...brown rice & tortillas. Boy can he shove those in his mouth quick! 

I've been spoiling him a lot lately, and although we try to drink soda pop in moderation when we go out to eat it's almost impossible for us not to have any. I usually drink a coke or Mr. Pibb when i eat mexican food. Luckily we don't eat out too much otherwise that carbonated soda will have us looking like huge balloons. Noah is skinny enough that it doesn't hurt if he has a soda every once in while. Hey...you only live once. 

I think he drank a little too much though, and as soon as we got in the car he started talking up a storm. I wish I would have vined our conversation. After a while I noticed a different look on his face. Apparently he was coming down on his sugar high. Poor thing...after a while he gave up and just feel asleep. 

While Noah was sound asleep we ventured out to Philly, and the first place we went to was the  Philadelphia museum of Art, and had Leo sit on the steps where Rocky ran. I wanted to run up the steps with him, but it was too cold. Been there done that. 

 Here he is posing like Rocky.

There are so many places we wanted Leo to see in Philly, but we didn't have enough time. Besides, I really wanted to take him to one of my favorite places...the beach. 

As we were driving into Atlantic City it was snowing! How crazy is that! All we saw were trees, and branches covered with light snow. Quite a sight to see on the second day of spring. I have to admit...it was beautiful. 

We went to our favorite spot in Margate city, and took Leo to see an old, old friend of ours. 

Lucy the elephant.

Noah and I managed to get a picture with Lucy too!

It gets really cold when your near the ocean, but that didn't stop us from taking more photos! I love the beach in the winter time just as much as I do in the summer time. 

As we were walking along the beach we found an area in Margate where there is still some damage from hurricane Sandy. 

Here Leo is sitting on some boards that are laid out for people to walk on so that they don't step in the piles of sand underneath.

I am standing on them as well. It's still hard to believe that they are still cleaning up some of the damage that Sandy caused. The beaches in Atlantic city didn't get hit as bad as the beaches up north. Spring lake got it worse! It sure has taken a lot of time to rebuild, and I don't think they are quite finished yet. 

The snow subsided after awhile, and we really enjoyed this time spent on the beach. I have grown quite attached to this little guy. I'm not sure how much longer he'll stay with us. He has to be home before the end of April, and soon he'll be back home in Idaho with his family. 

This entire day was spent outdoors, and we loved it! 

I feel so privileged to live in an area where there is so much to see, and do. Taking our kids out to see the world is something that is an important part of our lives. We are surrounded by so much history, mountains, beaches, art, museums, and good food. 

There is no way I'm going to deprive our children of that, and take these amazing creations for granted. 

Even though Leo is just a small stuffed animal, I'm so glad he experienced a part of what we love.

Hope your weekend is just as happy as this day was for us!